Kitchen Notes!

When baking cakes in an oven, heat both the top and bottom coils. Keep ur baking dish in the centre unless mentioned otherwise in the recipe.


Always preheat the oven at a slightly higher temperature. Reduce the temperature to what the recipe calls for once your baking dish is in the oven. 


Use baking tins that have a shiny reflective surface while baking cakes and pies.


Glass baking dishes are good if used for baking pastas, lasagnas, puddings. Pretty ceramic baking dishes always work at dinner parties!


Greasing your baking dish with butter/vegetable oil and dusting with flour will ensure that your cake doesn't stick to the baking dish. I like to use butter wrappers to grease my baking dishes.


Be precise while baking. Measure ingredients carefully. 


Do not be scared of eggs, specially egg whites. You do not have to whisk eggs separately for cakes unless mentioned in the recipe. Otherwise it is OK to add whole eggs one by one to the creamed butter and sugar mixture. Whisk well and continue with the dry ingredients.


Always use good quality ingredients while cooking. A wine not suitable for drinking is certainly not suitable for cooking!


Use good quality cocoa and chocolate. You can never go wrong if you use dark chocolate with a high cocoa percentage. As my husband says, "the bitter, the better"!!! 


A lumpy muffin batter gives delightfully light muffins!


Add cola to an eggless cake for excellent results!


Double coating cutlets or rolls with egg and flour before frying gives a wonderful crunch as you bite into it and a delicious melt in mouth smoothness inside!


Always keep flavoured sugars. Grind some cinnamon sticks with sugar to get wonderful cinnamon flavoured sugar that u can sprinkle over muffins, pancakes and add to coffee. Same goes for cardamoms.....my mom's tip!


Adding a bit of buttermilk or curds will do wonders for your muffins and cakes giving a lovely tang and moistness.


Use a big vessel with a wide mouth while making pulao. This ensures a well separated and evenly cooked pulao....my mom in law's tip! 


Temperature Conversions



Degrees
Fahrenheit
Degrees
Celsius
Gas Mark
Temperature
250
130
½
Very cool (meringues)
300
150
2
Cool (meringues)
325
165
3
Warm ( plain and fruit cakes, cookies)
350
180
4
Moderate ( plain and fruit cakes, cookies)
400
200
6
Fairly hot (short crust. Choux, puff pastry, sponges, breads)
425
210-220
7
Hot (short crust. Choux, puff pastry, sponges, breads)
450
230
8
Very hot (breads, puffs)

Comments