Don’t throw out the food just yet as it can still be salvaged.
We’ve all been there before – the cover accidentally gets loose when you’re sprinkling salt and suddenly, there’s a mini mountain of salt in your dish and you have to throw everything away. Or, you forgot to turn off the fire in time and the food ends up too soggy, or worse, burnt.
Well, if it’s the latter, it would be pretty hard to salvage, however, there are some tricks which you can try to save your dish. It may not be good enough to impress the in-laws, but at least you don’t have to waste the ingredients and throw the lot away. — Compiled by PATSY KAM
1 Salty soup
If you’ve been heavy-handed and accidentally put too much salt into your stew or soup, try to counteract the saltiness by adding a raw, peeled potato to draw out the excess salt. Then, take out the potato before serving the dish. This may not always work, especially if it is very salty, but no harm giving it a go.
Too spicy? Drop in some lemon juice. — filepic
2 Too spicy
You know the drill – throw a lot of chillies into the curry (because you love super-spicy food) only to remember that your youngest son can’t handle the heat. If you end up with curry that’s too hot and spicy, try adding a few drops of lemon juice to neutralise the strong spicy note.
Cutting wet batter can be challenging. — filepic
3 Wet batter
When you’re baking biscuits, moulding them into shape is half the fun. But sometimes, the mixture is so soft and wet that it won’t even hold its shape, making it impossible to cut. You might feel you’ve failed miserably as you couldn’t seem to get a handle on the unwieldy dough. If you’ve baked shortbread biscuits before, you would understand this predicament.
The solution is simple, wrap the dough into smaller portions with clingwrap – this will make it easier for you to roll it out later. Then pop it into the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour for it to harden slightly. Moulding the biscuits will be much easier after this. Only take out one portion at a time and if that starts to melt and soften as you’re working with the dough, pop it into the freezer for a short while and work on the other firmer portion first.
Soggy pasta can sometimes still be saved.
4 Soggy pasta
You’re busy chatting to someone, playing on the phone or handling 101 chores at the same time and you’ve totally forgotten to check on your pasta. By which time, you might find it has become soft and soggy like Chinese mee sua (rice noodles). Don’t fret, drain the soggy spaghetti and saute in a pan with some olive oil until it hardens slightly and becomes more al dente. Frankly though, most Asians seem to prefer their pasta soft compared to the Italians who serve it so firm that it practically feels uncooked. So if you fall in this category, then it’s not an issue!
Line your bake tray with foil. — filepic
5 Greasy pans
This would seem like a no-brainer but it’s also something we always forget to do until it’s too late. If you don’t want to end up with oily and greasy trays that you have to scrub for hours later, just line oven pans and trays with aluminium foil when you’re baking. Once you’re done, just throw away the foil. Makes life so much easier, no?
Sprinkle salt into the oil before frying. — filepic
6 Oil splatters
If you’ve fried fish before, you would know this well. Rather than arming yourself with a wok lid as shield and standing three feet away when you’re cooking, try sprinkling a little salt into the oil to reduce the splatter, before you saute vegetables or meat, or deep-fry fish. It also helps if you use a deep pan or wok and control the heat well.
