By Lane Holman
Illustrations by Tray Butler
September 18, 2016

Yes, you too can rise to meet irksome cooking challenges with our handy kitchen tips. Follow along and find a bonus recipe for left-over turkey gumbo!

Don’t you hate it when a baguette goes bad? You can bring it back from the dead easily. Rinse the loaf lightly under the faucet, then roll it tightly in aluminum foil. Place it directly into a cold oven, then heat the oven to 300. Leave it in 12-15 minutes until bread is soft. To re-crisp bread, unwrap and put it back in the oven for five minutes. If you end up having more stale bread than you can revive, saw it into rough 1” cubes with a good serrated knife or an electric carving knife, put it into a freezer bag, label and freeze. When you want breadcrumbs, just grab a few cubes, toast them in the oven and whiz them in the blender. Frozen stale bread is also ideal for making bread puddings and various breakfast casseroles, both savory and sweet.

Water your bird – when roasting turkey or chicken, add water or broth to roasting pan, or put separate pan of water/broth into oven while bird roasts.

Peeling garlic trick – Ideally, you’ll want two stainless steel bowls, one slightly larger than the other. Place the whole garlic head in the larger bowl; mash it with the smaller bowl. Then, put smaller bowl atop the larger bowl upside down, so you have a giant “ball.” This is the fun part: shake it up and down roughly for 20 - 30 seconds. This is an ideal task for any big kids, teens or others who need to work off some energy.

Using two round plastic lids that are either the same size or close in size, lay one on the counter, lip up. Put the tomatoes on it, and then put the other lid, lip down, on top. Use a large serrated (bread) knife and gently press it between the lids, sawing as you go. Move your knife from one side until it comes out the other side for easily halved tomatoes.

Left over from holiday cooking – canned pumpkin has many uses. Add to chili for a bit of thickening and added fiber and nutrition (bonus: it’s a way to add a vegetable that no one can taste); freeze in ice tray to make cubes, pop out and put in container, keep in freezer. Also good for a pet who needs more roughage in their diet.

If you don’t run it for a few days while dirty dishes sit, it’s more likely develop that musty pond water smell, which will then transfer itself to whatever you wash in it. Ugh! Tackle it with one cup of white vinegar, placed in the top rack of the empty machine, and run the dishwasher on the hottest cycle. Once it’s done, sprinkle a cup of baking soda across the bottom of the dishwasher and run on the hottest short cycle. A fresh dishwasher is yours!

You can totally run it through the dishwasher if you follow these guidelines.

Solid flatware only; no pearl handles, knives, or reinforced or weighted items should go in the dishwasher.Fill a large bowl with water and soap and leave it in the sink. Immediately after a meal, put the silverware in and swish it around vigorously to rinse. When food is left on sterling, it causes pitting and corrosion.When you put the silver in the dishwasher, keep it separate from stainless steel flatware. You can put stainless and silver in the same load, just put them in different compartments and don’t let them touch, as stainless can leave marks on silver that are very hard to get out.Use the “normal” cycle; if you need to run a heavier cycle, leave the silver out. Don’t use lemon (or other citrus)-scented detergent, and don’t use detergent containing phosphates.

Yuck! You’ve put too much salt in the soup! If you put a whole unpeeled potato in soup and let it simmer until the potato is cooked, will remove some of the salt.

So often you’ll have left over ingredients you’ve worked hard to chop or dice. Save them! You can put them into ice cube trays, freeze, then pop out. Then, put the cubes in plastic containers, label them and put them back in the freezer.

Save that bird carcass – our family eats a lot of rotisserie chicken from the store; when the meat is more or less gone, wrap the carcass tightly in plastic wrap, then pop it into a freezer bag, then date and label it and put in the freezer. Use it next time you want to start a pot of soup or gumbo. { sidebar BONUS: “YARD BIRD” GUMBO RECIPE}

Stainless steel to the rescue! Run your hands under water while rubbing a stainless steel pot or spoon to kill those fumes. If you have a steel sink, it’s even easier. Or, try scrubbing your hands and nails with coffee grounds.

Quick, grab the salt and pour a heap on the stain. Leave it alone as the salt soaks up the wine; let it sit overnight. Take it to the cleaners the next day.

Our favorite host whips up his Yard Bird Gumbo for a hearty, easy meal when friends and family show up. It’s a great way to use up a couple of leftover chicken carcasses or one turkey carcass.

PREP TIME: 2 hours (includes time for making stock)
TOTAL TIME: 3 1/2 hours
YIELD: 8 to 10 servings

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup flour
2 cups chopped onions
1/2 cup chopped bell peppers
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 pound smoked sausage, such as Conecuh Original Smoked Sausage, chopped
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried oregano
3 quarts Turkey Broth
Reserved turkey meat from broth
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 tablespoons chopped green onions

DIRECTIONS

Combine the oil and flour in a large cast-iron pot or enameled cast-iron Dutch oven, over medium heat. Stirring slowly and constantly for 20 to 25 minutes, make a dark brown roux, the color of chocolate.

Season the onions, bell peppers, and celery with the salt and cayenne. Add this to the roux and stir until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the sausage, the dried thyme and oregano, and cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, for 45 minutes. Add the reserved turkey meat and the reserved onions and celery and cook for 15 minutes. Add the parsley and green onions.

Serve in soup bowls with rice. (File powder can be added at the table according to personal taste.)

Note: If you want to make a Turkey Gumbo and don’t have a carcass, roast 3 1/2 pounds of turkey wings until browned and use them for your broth instead and add roasted turkey to the gumbo.

Chicken or Turkey Broth

INGREDIENTS

2 chicken carcasses or 1 turkey carcass
3 ribs celery, cut into 4-inch pieces
2 medium onions, quartered
4 quarts water, or enough to cover the carcass
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
4 bay leaves

DIRECTIONS

Place the carcass in a large stockpot. Add the celery, onions, water, salt, peppercorns, and bay leaves.

Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium, and simmer, uncovered, for 2 hours. Remove from the heat. Skim any fat that has risen to the surface.

Strain through a large fine-mesh sieve. Reserve any meat that has fallen off the bones and pick off any meat that may still remain on the carcass.

Reserve the onions and celery for gumbo. Use right away or store the broth in quart containers in the freezer.