You can tell if fish is fresh by checking five things: a mild, clean smell, clear and shiny eyes, red gills, firm flesh that springs back when pressed, and fillets with no dark, discolored or dried edges. Buy only fish kept refrigerated or on a thick bed of fresh ice, per the FDA.
Cooking Times
Substitutes
Kitchen Tools
Baking sheets pop and twist because hot spots expand faster than the rest of the metal. Thicker, rimmed pans, even loading, and slow cooling stop most warping.
Your Instant Pot reads the pot floor, not the total liquid. Thick sauces, starch, or stuck fond on the bottom trigger Burn even when the pot is half full.
A smooth honing steel doesn't sharpen; it pushes a bent edge back into line. Grooved and ceramic rods remove a little metal, but only a stone fixes a dull edge.
Techniques
Measurements & ConversionsMultiply each cup amount by that ingredient's own weight per cup, such as 120 g for flour and 198 g for sugar. One rate for every ingredient gives wrong results.
Picking Produce
A pineapple is ripe when the base smells lightly sweet, it feels heavy for its size and gives slightly when pressed. Green skin can still be ripe and sweet.
Pick fresh sweet corn by its tight bright green husk, moist brown silk tips and plump kernels you can feel through the husk. Then chill it and cook it within 2 days.
Quick Bites
Food Storage
