Miss Jo Says 2

Seems like the cooking tips are popular, so skimmed thru my memory for a few more that I use.

1. When making yeast dough, you can let it proof overnight in the fridge. Just mix up your favorite dough, put it in a bag or plastic container and put it in the fridge. Make sure the container or bag is big enough, cause the dough WILL double in size. The next day, just get it out, knead it a bit and form your bread or rolls and then let it rise before baking. If you are making pizza, you just press it out on the baking sheet, but you don't have to wait for it to rise. The dough can actually stay in the fridge for a couple of days, so if you wanted, you can just take out enough each day to use. I find this trick to be a real time saver, especially on holidays when you want to have nice rolls. (I have only done this with the instant yeast in packets or a jar, not the fresh yeast in a cube)

2. Making sauces look nice. If you are making a chicken soup or gravy and want it to have a golden color, you can either use a little bit of tumeric or a drop or two of yellow food coloring. This also works when making fresh pasta. It makes it look richer. If you are making spinach pasta, use a couple of drops of green food coloring.
If you are making a brown sauce, gravy or stew and you would like it to be darker, depending on the flavor, you can either use Worchestershire sauce, or a teaspoon or so of instant coffee. The coffee won't change the flavor too much and in fact makes it a bit tastier.

3. Ribs. When preparing ribs, please, do not just put them on the grill. They will be burnt before you ever get them done enough to eat, plus they will be tough. Try this method:
Turn the ribs over to the bone side. This is usually covered with a tough, transparent skin. Using a fork, pierce this skin and rip it off. This might take a few tries til you figure out how to do it, but it is easy and will make the ribs more tender. Then, if you have Liquid Smoke, make a mixture of that and some water and dip your ribs in it. (you can do this with chicken too) Put the ribs in a deep baking pan, criss-crossing the racks of ribs, or flip every other one over, so the bone side is up on one and down on the next one. Add some liquid, (you can use your liquid smoke mixture) Cover with either a lid or foil and bake at 350° for at least 1 & 1/2 hours, or even 2 hours. Now, you can brush the ribs in BBQ sauce and grill them. Or if you don't have a grill, put them on a baking sheet in the oven with the sauce on them. As soon as the sauce looks fabulous, they are ready to eat. Yumm. Your picnic guests won't have to wait so long and the meat will be tender and falling off the bone.

4. Corn on the Cob. Well, living here in Germany isn't the best place for corn on the cob, but maybe some one will read this in the states. I have seen all kinds of elaborate methods, like peeling the husks down, cleaning off the silk, pulling the husks back up, tying with string, etc., but it is just not that difficult. Waste of time really. So try this:
Soak your Unhusked ears of corn in water, in the sink or a clean container for about a half hour, throw them on the grill, turning often (or put them in the oven) for a half hour. The husks and silk will fall right off and the corn tastes so good, you will wonder why you ever did it any other way. You can even use this method in the microwave, but you don't have to soak them first. You can only do 2-3 ears at a time though and they take about 10 minutes.
I have got to say, I really do miss good sweet corn. I don't know why they can't grow it here. The corn here is like field corn, something left over from the cattle feed. Someone could make a fortune in Germany selling crops of "Salt & Pepper" or "Sugar & Cream" or "Silver & Gold" or whatever other kinds of yummy corn we have in Ohio. You can take the Buckeye out of Ohio, but we still miss our corn.

So, heres to some good cooking and please, send me your favorite tips to make life in the kitchen easier and tastier!