Cooking Tips Braising Fennel Fennel can be a but crude in its flavour. To achieve the best results, before braising it, cook it gently in oil over a low flame for about 10 mins taking care to make sure that it does not become discoloured - idea is similar to the cooking of onions at a reasonably low temperature so that they cook until they become 'clear' but are not brown.   Chopping herbs With the more delicately flavoured herbs, remember that chopping them up will bruise the herb and also cause it to lose its flavour very quickly. Also, putting it into hot food too early will have the same effect. This particularly applies to basil, parsley and coriander. Also, remember that dried herbs are stronger than fresh ones, so allow the double the amount. It is the same effect as with dried tomatoes or dried mushrooms - the drying process intensifies the flavours.   Chopping Parsley and Coriander To attain the most flavour and to get the best results, always wash and dry the parsley/coriander before attempting to chop it.   Cooking dried beans For those with the patience to cook beans from their dried state, remember that cooking them in hard water makes them tougher skinned (therefore also make sure that you do not add salt). The best way to cook them is to heat them up in the water they have been soaking in (making sure there is plenty enough of course). This makes for a more tender product, assuming you have cooked them for long enough.   Enhancing the flavour of strawberries Really good strawberries are delicious on their own with no accompaniments but for the more ordinary fruit the following may be helpful:- 1. Try coating them with a dash of vodka; 2. Marinate them for a short while in lemon juice (then accompanied by some sugar unless the strawberries are very sweet); 3. You may even want to try them with ground black pepper for those "pepperholics"!   Freezing parsley and coriander Never freeze parsley or coriander whole unless you don't mind them being chewy. If you are freezing them for chopping, always make sure they are chopped before they are frozen.   How To Buy Fresh Fish When buying fish, it is worth taking care to make sure that it is genuinely fresh. First, have a general look over the fish. Look out for haziness in the eyes (they should be clear) and the skin/scales should be glistening and unbroken. If you can, smell the fish (if it smells unpleasant then it is probably not fresh). In particular, make sure that the flesh is firm and does not give way readily when touched.   How To Buy Fresh Shellfish When buying shellfish, if you can, look to see if they are tightly closed. If they are not, touch them and see if they close quickly. If they do not close at this stage then they are probably dead and therefore inedible. Freshness with shellfish is especially important since otherwise they can cause serious food poisoning.   How to neutralise garlic breath Although it is not possible to completely eradicate the odour of garlic when you have been eating it (garlic is for two!), it is possible to reduce the effect. Two tips:- 1. Chew some fresh parsley (it is for this reason that you will often find parsley in meals using plenty of garlic). 2. Make sure you take out the shoot at the centre of each clove.   Keeping fresh soup fresh Making good soup is usually quick and easy. However, it is easy to spoil it. Follow the recipe instructions carefully when making soup but also make sure that you do not spoil its fresh flavour by letting it cool down slowly. Avoid cooling it down, if possible (even when liquidising the contents) but if you are preparing it in advance then make sure it is cooled down quickly (over ice).   Lemon juice as a preservative Lemon juice can be very good for making a lot of things feel and taste fresher. It prevents bananas from going brown.   SPRUCE UP YOUR SPINACH - spinach ideas from Robert Geoff (1) Puree cooked spinach in a blender - add single ream and a pinch of garlic powder - eason to taste. (2) Puree cooked spinach in a blender and add some prepared on ion sauce - season to tate. (3) Cook spinach leaves in a little cooking oil, add seasoning and serve with a poached egg on top.   Browning meat ready for cooking Browning meat is often called for in a recipe. The theory is that it seals in the flavour and juices and at the same time it makes the meat more appealing to the eye than a colourless, greyish meat. To avoid the attempt at browning turning into dull grey flesh, make sure that the fat is very hot (but not so hot as to be burning) and make sure that you do not overfill the pan with meat as otherwise the juices escaping from the meat will not have time to evaporate and will steam the meat rather than brown it and therefore it remains grey in colour. It is better to do smaller amounts and then remove them from the pan as they are browned, topping up the oil if necessary and re-heating it before putting in more meat. If using oils which "spit" a lot when they are heated up to a high temperature (such as olive oil), it may be better to use a high-sided pan to keep the mess to a minimum.   Butter storage Be careful not to keep butter too near to anything strong smelling. Like all fats and quite a number of other foods, butter seems to soak up the smell of other strong smelling foods in the fridge, so make sure it is well-wrapped and ideally keep away from strong odours.   How to keep green vegetables green Everyone in England must have been a victim of over-cooked green vegetables at some time in their life - it is what gave English food a bad name. When boiling or steaming vegetables, if it stands for too long the greenness will be effected and the vegetables will not look fresh and crisp. On the other hand, many people do not like their vegetables underdone - getting the balance right is a matter of trial and error. However, two key tips can increase your chance of success:- 1. Do not heat the vegetables up with the water but pour them into a ready-boiled pan of salted water. Make sure you have enough water to prevent the vegetables bringing the water temperature down too much - when you put them in ideally the water should be 4-5 times the volume of the vegetables. 2. As soon as the vegetables are alone to your taste, take them out of the water. If the vegetables are not ready because you have to wait for the other foods to be ready, immediately plunge them into very cold water. This stops the cooking process which keeps the vegetable firm and crisp and does not lose its colour. When the vegetables are required, pop them into boiling water and serve immediately.   Peeling peaches For recipes calling for peeled peaches, the only way to do this effectively without losing significant amounts of the flesh is to plunge the peaches into boiling water for a minute or two. This cooks the outer most layer of the flesh, making it easy to remove. This leaves you with peaches that look perfect rather than being marked where a knife has cut into the flesh.   Peeling tomatoes For recipes calling for peeled tomatoes, the only way to do this effectively without losing significant amounts of the flesh is to plunge the tomatoes into boiling water for a minute or two. This cooks the outer most layer of the flesh, making it easy to remove (which will often peel back as soon as it is pierced).   Using wine in cooking For more delicate foods, it is better not to use too cheap a wine as otherwise it will ruin the sauce. Do not buy an expensive wine necessarily, but make sure it is dry (in the case of white wine) and not too acidic. With red wines, avoid wines that are too heavy in tannin as they give a bitter taste to the food.