Useful facts or tips that everyone should know

[gassor]

Always keep a baseball bat by your front door, in case you suddenly develop an interest in the game. Its also handy for seeing off unwanted intruders.

If you keep a bat ready for any intruders (by the door or under the bed) and use it you can land in hot water with the rozzers. If it just happens to be lying about and you use it for self-defence that is different. Put it in a sports bag by the door and you should be OK unless you use excessive force eg beat them to a pulp while they are unconscious. That's my impression anyway.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19886504

 

[Frankiesays]

If you live in a town plagued by beggars, make sure you always carry a pocket full of spare change, so when asked 'got any spare change please', you can tap your pocket and say 'plenty'.

 

[Sean K]

Shades of a Viz readers' top tip there..
..

There's more where that came from.

 

[Sean K]

A ping pong ball cut in half makes an ideal crash helmet for a hamster

 

[Dozey]

You can't polish a turd. But you can put glitter on it.

 

[JensenHealey]

You can't polish a turd. But you can put glitter on it.

If you freeze the turd it would probably polish up nicely. Keep it frozen.

 

[cutting42]

You can't polish a turd. But you can put glitter on it.

Mythbusters did manage to polish a turd:

 

[Joe]

You can't polish a turd. But you can put glitter on it.

coprolite would polish nicely.

 

[Big Tabs]

you can freeze cheese and butter.

add finely chopped chicken livers (not much) when making spag. bol. adds a supermeaty taste to the mince.

add sugar when cooking with tomatoes.

ignore okra.

don't over cook fish, it is a delicate thing.

you only need one knife.

buy bigger socks than you need, they always shrink.

 

[sean99]

add sugar when cooking with tomatoes.
ignore okra.

Definitely a bit of sugar to take the acid edge off tomato, but okra is delicious - whether in Indian or soul food.

you only need one knife.

Are we talking in general, or for place setting ? I find my stanley knife makes a real mess of the cakes I've cut with it, and my visitors complain about the splinters embedded in the cut.

 

[gintonic]

chicken livers

much better lightly fried in butter (must be pink) and served with mash and onion gravy

 

[Cheese]

add sugar when cooking with tomatoes.

Better idea: Find excellent tomatoes and don't cheat in any way. A little salt, ok, and half a clove of garlic for those who really can't be without.

you can freeze cheese and butter.

Butter ok but many sorts of cheese will fall apart when taken out of the freezer.

you only need one knife.

Two, a chef knife and a small one. Try peeling e.g. ginger with a chef knife, good luck.

 

[gintonic]

Try peeling e.g. ginger with a chef knife, good luck.

easy scrape it with the back of the knife.

I'd question why you need to peel ginger

 

[Cheese]

I'd question why you need to peel ginger

Imagine through how many hands it goes from Asia to here. And the skin must be rather chewy I reckon.

 

[cubastreet]

To peel ginger, scrape it with a teaspoon.

Two days after I landed in London in 2000, I was walking to my first job interview and learned this one:
Whitevanman won't drive AROUND that huge puddle.

 

[gintonic]

To peel ginger, scrape it with a teaspoon.

yes - if you need to. I spent alot of time working in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, and none of the people I met making food, and who used a ginger garlic paste base never peeled ginger.

In my time in SE Asia and China where ginger was finely chopped or shredded for stir fried etc...then they peeled.

Personally I rarely peel, I do clean up the knobly bits and give a good scrub in water.

 

[wacko]

Better idea: Find excellent tomatoes and don't cheat in any way. A little salt, ok, and half a clove of garlic for those who really can't be without.

I found that tomatoes from Holland look perfect and have no taste. The less developed the country of origin the better the taste.

 

[Cheese]

If, at the moment, Britain really has the 'Governement it deserves', then your tomatoes must be gorgeous

 

[avole]

yes - if you need to. I spent alot of time working in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, and none of the people I met making food, and who used a ginger garlic paste base never peeled ginger.

In my time in SE Asia and China where ginger was finely chopped or shredded for stir fried etc...then they peeled.

Personally I rarely peel, I do clean up the knobly bits and give a good scrub in water.

That comment of Cheese' wouldn't seem accurate, since ginger is washed anyway as part of the processing, plus again in any decent kitchen. That said, I do peel with a sharp knife, plus chop, mostly because the food I do is SE Asian in origin. gt, do you mean only in China? I've never seen ginger peeled after chopping, even in the street food you find in Thailand, and the lady who demonstrated this to us in Vietnam certainly peeled before chopping.

 

[Big Tabs]

Better idea: Find excellent tomatoes and don't cheat in any way. A little salt, ok, and half a clove of garlic for those who really can't be without.
Butter ok but many sorts of cheese will fall apart when taken out of the freezer.
Two, a chef knife and a small one. Try peeling e.g. ginger with a chef knife, good luck.

I don't regard it as cheating to add sugar, more 'cooking.'

Agreed, not all cheese suits the freezer, but a lot will be fine

you are wrong about knives. you only need one. Unless you are unskilled with a blade. maybe some training will help?

http://globalknives.uk/classic/g-5/


my dad was a chef, my eldest son is a chef, and I can use and sharpen a knife with great skill. One of my earliest kitchen skills was learning how to use a steel. I can do it with my eyes shut.