Preparing Pudding

A simple custard made with sweetened, cooked milk and eggs, pudding has a creamy consistency that's supremely comforting. When made with rice or bread, it is known as rice pudding or bread pudding. When preparing pudding, remove immediately from the heat and whisk vigorously when it begins to curdle. By whisking vigorously, it will help to work out the clumps. To get a smooth texture with a finished pudding, press it through a fine-mesh sieve. And when a pudding has been burned on the bottom, simply transfer it to a new pan, leaving the burned bottom behind.

To crisp up a soggy crust on bread pudding, sprinkle it with sugar and place it under a broiler to caramelize the sugar. Occasionally, bread pudding can be dried and overcooked. When that happened, pour warm milk or cream over the pudding and warm it in the oven to rescue it. You can also mask the dryness by serving it with ice cream, a generous dollop of whipped cream, a warm fruit sauce, or caramel sauce.

Speeding up the cooling process could be achieved by transferring the pudding from the hot saucepan into a bowl or other container. To cool it even faster, spread pudding in a rimmed baking sheet. The more exposed surface, the quicker it will cool.

You can also flavor rice pudding. Simmer 6 to 8 whole cardamom pods in the milk before making your favorite rice pudding recipe. Remove the pods before serving. Also, choose a short-grain rice, which will create a creamier consistency.

To flavor bread pudding, add thinly sliced apples and dabs of apple butter to your favorite bread pudding. Bake as usual (in a hot water bath is best). You can also replace traditional bread with leftover quick breads such as pancakes, muffins, scones or biscuits.

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Preserving Fresh Herbs

The faster the herbs dry, the more flavorful the resulting dried herb will be.

Conventional Oven: Place clean dry herb sprigs on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake at the lowest setting until herbs are dry and brittle. This should take about 12 hours. Strip leaves from stems & place in small airtight storage containers.

Air Drying: Tie small bunches of herbs with string and hang upside down by the stems in a dry warm spot out of direct sunlight. Be sure air circulates freely around the bunches. Let dry till leaves are brittle. This usually takes a few days to a week, depending on the thickness of the leaves. Pick off the dried leaves & store them in tightly covered containers in a cool, dry place for about two weeks or until dry and brittle.

Microwave Drying: Pick when the dew has just gone off. Put on paper towels on a plate in the microwave. Zap on high for a minute to start (at that point they appear "wet"). Stir them, zap again for another minute, move around again, and zap approximately 30 seconds more or until they are dry and crumbly. Rub between your hands to break up, pick out any twiggy parts and put in small jars or baggies.

Freezing Herbs: Wrap in foil or plastic wrap. You can also chop clean herbs, place in ice cube trays & fill with water. When needed, remove herb ice cubes and drop them into hot cooking liquid. You can also wrap bunches of fresh herbs in foil or plastic wrap and freeze them for several weeks. You should expect some discoloration of frozen herbs. Mark the date on the container of your dried herbs. They can be kept for one year. Heat, moisture and light rob herbs of flavor. You can also make herb butters and herb vinegars.

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Pressure Cookers

Practically anything that is cooked in liquid can be cooked faster in a pressure cooker. A special, airtight, locking lid makes a pressure cooker different form an ordinary pot. The lid forces pressure to build inside the pot as the liquid inside comes to a boil. The trapped steam causes the internal temperature to rise beyond what it would be capable of under normal pressure, decreasing cooking times by two-thirds or more. The increased pressure also softens the fibers in foods, which makes pressure cookers ideal for cooking tough cuts of meat. While early-model pressure cookers sometimes exploded under pressure and were considered dangerous by some cooks, current second-generation pressure cooker designs include safety features that make such explosions next to impossible.

To choose, buy a pressure cooker that has a minimum 6-quart capacity. Since safety precautions demand that pressure cookers never be completely filled, anything smaller will be too limiting. When using, never fill the cooker to more than one-half to two-thirds of its capacity, depending on the design of the cooker and the type of food you're preparing. Most cookers have maximum-fill lines marked inside the pot.

In general, pressure-cooked foods will cook in one-quarter to one-third of the time that it would take using a conventional cooking method. Reduce the amount of liquid by 20 to 40 percent to compensate for the lack of moisture evaporation in a pressure cooker. Also, look in the pressure cooker's instruction booklet for a similar recipe that will give you general cooking guidelines.

Once you've combined the ingredients inside the pot, seal it by locking on the lid. Set the pot over high heat to bring it up to pressure as quickly as possible. Once the desired pressure level is reached, reduce the heat to maintain the pressure without increasing it or letting it drop. Begin calculating the cooking time at the moment that the pot reaches high pressure. Once the timer goes off, reduce the pressure completely before removing the lid. To speed the time it takes for the cooker to reach high pressure, boil any liquid before adding it to the pot.

In order to prevent overcooking tender foods like chicken and vegetables, quickly release pressure by holding the pressure valve down with a long-handled spoon until all of the pressure has been released. Then, move the cooker to the sink and let cold water run down one side of the cover. Tilt the pot slightly to keep the water running away from the pressure vents or regulator.

To release pressure naturally, remove the pot from the heat and let the pressure drop of its own accord. Use this pressure-release technique for foods such as beans and potatoes, and for other foods that have a skin that you wish to keep intact. Also use it when cooking beef, which will toughen when pressure is released too quickly, and to preserve the creamy texture of puddings.

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