Cooking tricks

I watch particular cooking shows for tricks and recipes.  One that I learned recently was to put some drops of water inside a plastic zip lock bag before pounding for chicken piccata.  The chicken will not stick to the bag and tear if there is moisture in the bag.  Who knew?

Instead of chopping herbs on a board, put the herbs in a water glass and scissor the herbs into submission.  You get a fine cut and it is safe. If  you insist on using the chopping block for herbs, throw some salt on the board and that will help to keep the herbs from flying everywhere.

When you are baking leave butter and eggs and cream cheese out on the counter over night.  If you are roasting meat, leave the meat out for an hour or so before roasting so that it is at room temperature through out and then it will roast evenly.

Do not use oil in the water when boiling pasta, it will keep the sauce from sticking to the pasta.