Cookaholics Bulletin Board

I have used both a peeler and a spoon on ginger. I usually find the peeler faster, but use a grapefruit spoon sometimes around the bumps. I buy TJ's peeled garlic and use and have found no difference from fresh. When I only use half of the little bags, I just reseal them with the food saver.

I so agree with #12 and every time I don't follow it, I regret it. When I put recipes in my LC, I always add divided to ingredients that are used more than once. I also always add a paragraph at the beginning of the procedure with needed prep, e.g. chop onions, mince parsley, etc. I put the ingredients in the order used and do the same in the prep paragraph. I find that I work faster and make less mistakes with those recipes.

I have not tried the avocado thing, but it makes sense to me to slice first and peel later, ditto for mangoes and basically anything that does not need a peeler to remove the rind.

I have been doing the lemon/lime/vinegar thing at the end forever. My first memory of it is as a little girl, seeing vinegar added to the black bean pot before serving.

I'd not seen the egg poaching one, but I don't like any kind of soft egg, so won't be trying that one. The cheese water one I'd not heard, but it makes sense and gives me ideas. In the same vein, using the liquid left from making ricotta for rice made sense too. So I'll be trying that.

I tried the egg in a strainer and it didn't work for me, thought it might be that it was a too fine mesh but may try again since it works for Mary.

I love the egg strainer trick - it makes the difference between successfully poaching 8 eggs at the same time (no wisps of egg white to muddy the water)

I use a sharp vegetable peeler. If it's particularly knobby, I use a paring knife, cutting off the knobs. Takes seconds. The only reason I can imagine for using a spoon is that you're trying to preserve every gram of ginger possible. Why? Ginger is what, $4/lbs, and it's pretty rare for any recipe I make to use more than 2 cu.in. of ginger, so I usually throw away more than I use.

The best way to peel and slice and avocado is as follows:

1. Slice the avocado longitudinally around the pit.
2. Remove the pit by cutting into it with the knife and twisting.
3. Get a medium, thin-edged, tapered metal serving spoon, with a bowl around 3" long.
4. Use the spoon to scoop the avocado out of its half-shell.
5. Flip out cut-side down onto a cutting board. Slice however you like.
6. Repeat with other half.

This takes me less than 60 seconds per avocado, and is much easier and less fussy than slicing the avocado in the skin, which requires careful knife work lest you cut through the skin (and, possibly, your hand). The only benefit I can imagine to "slice in shell" is not getting avocado on the cutting board.

Lindsay, Mary: What size/shape/material/mesh density strainer are you using?

Just regular wire mesh strainers that I bought in the grocery store (like a screen). I either use a tea strainer or one that Is about 6 inches across. I just crack the egg into it and give it a couple swirls and then tip it into a tiny bowl. Each egg gets its own tiny bowl and then I slip them into simmering water that I has a bit of vinegar. I also give the water a swirl before adding the eggs. He also says there is a difference between fresh and older eggs, I just use what I have in the fridge though.

For ginger, I use one of those serrated peelers. It is also great on things like peaches or tomatoes.

Mary

I imagine the material of the strainer is not that important, just so the mesh is fine enough that the egg doesn't slip through.

Dude, how much pressure are you exerting on these avocados? I almost never get slice-through, and when I do, I'm not pushing nearly hard enough to cut my hand.

I'm with you JB. I almost always slice my avocados in the skin.

The BEST way? Them be fightin' words.

Amy

Anybody have any tips on grating ginger.... I've not been successful using a long narrow microplane grater that I have (ditto for the box grater). I often wind up with a bit of ginger juice/puree on one side while the stump of the ginger is very stringy. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Gerard

I had the same problem and started using a bigger microplane grater. Much easier. The ginger is chunkier, but I like that.

Mary

I usually get that problem when the ginger isn't fresh. When I get the good stuff from an Asian market, it grates up nicely no matter which microplane I use.