Cooking clean
The award to the cleanest cook does not go to those who rub the most, but to those who cook clean.
Take note of these tricks to keep your kitchen clean when you cook. Take note of these tricks to keep your kitchen clean at all times with the minimum effort.
Tips for cooking clean
The award to the cleanest cook does not go to those who rub the most, but to those who cook clean. Take note of these tricks to keep your kitchen clean when you cook.
Organization
Spoon rest: Use a spoon rest, or keep an empty plate by the side of the stove to use as spoon rest.
Chopping board: Use a chopping board for all kinds of chopping and cutting. They are easy to clean and protect the worktop. Ideally, keep one for meat, one for fish and one for vegetables.
Speed-cleaning: Peel fruits and vegetables over a paper or kitchen towel. Tidying up when you finish is a breeze, just pick the paper and throw it into the trash.
Breadcrumbs and flour: Put breadcrumbs or flour on kitchen foil instead of a plate; if there are leftovers, it will be easy to store them, and if all it is finished, throw the foil away and there is no dish to wash. You can also do this with flour.
Flour: To coat meat pieces in flour, put them in a bag with the flour, close the top, and shake the bag. This way, you will need to use less flour, you'll get perfectly coated meat pieces, and no washing up, as you can throw the bag when you are done.
Floor: Keep always a clean towel or rag under the sink and clean immediately even the tiniest drop on your floor, before anyone steps on it. Remember to wash kitchen towels once a week, even if they look perfectly clean.
Dish brush: Have a dish brush better long handle- by the side of the kitchen sink and clean quickly and use the same pan whenever you can, instead of piling dirty ones.
Sea shells: Not by the sea shore, by the kitchen bowl, to have your soap ready. A large empty clam shell with a little washing up liquid by the kitchen sink will let you dip the dish brush and be able to clean up quickly any pan you want to use again; convenient, cheap and chic.
Easy cleaning grater: Spray or rub a little flavorless cooking oil before using it.
Cleaning up: Make clean up after entertaining easier…make sure your dishwasher is empty before you start.
A place for everything
Untangled tongs: Prevent your tongs from tangling with other cooking utensils in your draw by wrapping them in a paper towel tube.
Scratch free non-stick: Don't stack them, if possible, or separate pans and pots with plastic lids or kitchen paper towels.
Cleaner kitchen cupboards: If you place individual non slip placemats or vinyl placemats under dishes or pans. These mats are easy to replace and clean, even in the washing machine.
Prevent oil dripping: Oil always drips a little on the side. You can avoid a sticky worktop or cupboard, though, if you place the bottle on a bread and butter plate under the bottle, or use an oil and vinegar set with a holder.
Clean it with
Lemon or vinegar: To eliminate fruit and vegetable stains on your hands rub them first with lemon or vinegar, wash your hands with soap afterwards. Finish with pumice stone for very difficult stains.
Vinegar: White spots on your recipients, cookware and electric kettle disappear if you fill them with water and add a good amount of vinegar. For heavy deposits, leave it to soak for a couple of days.
Salt: to remove egg stains from silverware, rub with damp fine salt first; then wash with warm soapy water.
Water, bleach and coarse salt: Bottles and containers with a narrow neck.
Warm water and ammonia: Tiles and a tiled floor, cheaper than buying a special product for tiles. Soaking your dirty burner in warm water with a few drops of ammonia will make them clean and shiny again.
Cola: That rust from metal burners that prevents easy and uniform gas flow it is difficult to clean. Clean the burners with cola, a little soak for stubborn rust.
Boiling water and washing up liquid: To clean up a very dirty, sticky pan, boil water with a little washing up liquid. To make it white and shiny, boil water with bleach only a few drops, mind.
Water: Soak in water or add water to the pans as soon as you finish using them, if you do not have time to clean them straight away. This will not make them clean, but it will make easier to clean them later, as the bits of food at the bottom or clinging to the sides will not dry up.
Table Linen
Beer stains: Sponge with white vinegar and warm water, rinse then wash. Liquid detergent or biological powder is the best option when you wash the table cloth.
Beet stains: It may look bad, but the red liquid from boiled bet is only a type of sugar and most of it will go with warm water. Soak the tablecloth in warm water with detergent. Then wash as normal but use the maximum temperature allowed for your tablecloth type of fabric. If it is a sauce that has more than beet, use the red food stains procedure.
Chocolate stains: Scrape off first what you can, then sponge with warm soapy water and rinse immediately with cold water. Wash with biological detergent.
Coffee or tea stains: Soak in detergent and wash as soon as possible. Use the highest temperature the tablecloth can stand. If the tea stain is black and dry and the cloth can stand it, place over the sink, cover with borax and pour hot water around the stain - repeat if necessary - then wash as usual. Dry coffee stains respond better to a solution of equal parts of glycerin and warm water, as per fruit stains, then soak in detergent and wash as usual.
Fruit stains: Rinse straight away in cold water. A solution of glycerin and warm water, equal parts, can loosen dried fruit stains.
Grease stains: Some heavy stains will need a pre-wash treatment with liquid detergent or a special grease solvent. If you don´t have any at hand, soak in warm water with detergent and wash at the maximum temperature your tablecloth can stand. If you cannot soak the cloth straight away, try to sprinkle talcum powder. It will absorb part of the grease. Remove powder with a brush before soaking.
Colored table linen general: Soak in detergent. Hydorgen peroxyde can be used safely on many colored fabrics, but do a test first.
Milk or cream stains: Soaking in a strong borax solution followed by a wash will get rid of any milk or cream stain. Meat tenderizer - with no seasoning - can also be used to remove milk stains and other protein stains.
Jam or preserve stains: Just sugars. Any fresh stain should wash with no problem. Soak old, dried up stains in a detergent solution and then wash as normal. A mild borax solution will work better than detergent.
Lipstick stains: You should not get these on tablecloths but they are very common on napkins. Spray with lubricant, the kind used to oil hinges, and leave for about 8-10 minutes. Apply then a little pure washing-up liquid or liquid detergent, rinse and wash as usual.
Red food stains: Pour soda water over the red stain - do this over the sink, of course - then pre-treat the stain with detergent paste or your favorite stain removal and wash as usual. This is good to remove fruit punch, cranberry juice, soda or red wine stains. You can also try the procedure for red wine stains.
Stain Proof: Spraying the tablecloth with a fabric protector before using would make any stain to wash out later. Spray it on the clothes line or similar place, never on top of the table - the fabric protector may harm the table finish.
Vinyl: Clean by wiping with a damp cloth and rinse well. A mixture of lemon juice and cream of tartar will help to wipe out stubborn stains. Dry well before storing. If you live in a humid place, fold together with anti-damp bags or sprinkle talcum powder to prevent mildew.
White table linen general: Bleach white table linen, preferably with hydrogen peroxide. You can use 1/2 cup lemon juice dissolved in 7 1/2 cups of water as a natural alternative to soak white linens. If you don't have it hydrogen peroxyde, you can improvise by dissolving 2 denture cleaning tablets in warm water - they are usually made of hydrogen peroxyde, check composition. To soak in the washing machine, try hydrogen peroxide or a little dishwasher powder as it does not foam in excess, is a great whitener and you can add your normal detergent to the washing machine and wash as normal later.
Wine stains: Remove any excess and cover the stain with salt. Sponge with warm water and detergent, rinse with cold water and wash normally. For red wine, pouring a little white wine on the red wine stain will remove it fast, or follow the advice for red food stains.
Stove
Rug: Set a rug right in front of the stove. It will protect the floor form spills and splatters.
Cover the stove top in foil: If your stove is electric or gas, cover the top in foil. First, spray lightly with a general purpose cleaning liquid to make the foil stick better and last longer. Also cover those sources of heat not in use when the food you are cooking splatters.
Splatter not
Water and oil: Remember any drop of water or steam that falls into hot cooking oil will make it splatter. Avoid it.
Oven: Sprinkle salt on the bottom of the roasting pan and splatter will be reduced to a minimum, keeping your oven clean and preventing any burnt smell.
Pan or skillet: Use a splatter screen. It will prevent oil splatters or those from tomato sauce.
Microwave: It is easy to overheat food and make it splatter. Happily, there are splatter screens suitable for use in a microwave.
Spillovers: Not in your kitchen if you grease lightly the top of the pan about 3/4 of an inch when boiling liquids. If you are heating milk in a pan the old fashioned way- remember it expands rapidly and overflows when beginning to boil, if you are heating a large amount, place a heat resistant glass saucer in the pan; it will prevent the spillover.
Cover: When asked to “cover and simmer†do not adjust the lid perfectly. A slightly slanted lid will let steam escape and prevent the steam or the boiling liquid from spilling over the top of the pan.
Cloths and towels
Kitchen roll: Priceless to wipe out grease from the stove top, or from a pan before washing it up. Kitchen roll will save you plenty of tea towel and kitchen cloth washing, and if you used recycled paper, it shouldn't be hard on the environment.
Like chefs do: Use an apron to prevent staining your cloths. Talking about cloths, have a kitchen cloth hanging from the waist to dry your hands in a flash, and have a clean, damp cloth close to the stove when you are cooking. You will be able to wipe quickly any liquid that splatters or wipe your hands at any time you need and avoid touching door handles and knobs with dirty fingers.