Recently I chatted with Sally Fallon, author of Nourishing Traditions. You can catch the podcast here where we talk about how to get more enzymes into your body and how to look younger longer. It’s a rippa chat.
Image by Christoph Niemann
I thought I’d share some of her ingenious household tips. I’ve been collecting them for a while…the kind of stuff our grandmothers talked about.
You might also like to check out my previous post of cooking tips. And this one.
1. To remove insects from organic or homegrown Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, artichokes, etc., soak thirty minutes in water to which 2 tablespoons of salt and vinegar have been added. Rinse well.
2. Use wooden cutting boards – they harbour less pathogenic bacteria than plastic.
3. Do not add garlic to sauteing onions or other vegetables, because it has a tendency to burn. Add garlic after you have added your liquid—stock, wine, stir-fry sauce, tomatoes, etc.
4. Use duck or bacon lard for frying potatoes.
5. Don’t use a pressure cooker. Just don’t. It cooks too fast and denatures food.
6. Use only unrefined salt, preferably Celtic sea salt.
7. Always skim foam off stock, sauces, soups, legumes and stews. Many impurities rise to the top with the foam. Add spices and seasoning to stock, sauces, soups, legumes and stews after skimming.
8. Grated lemon and orange rind should always be organic. If not, wash the skins well with soap, rinse and dry before grating.
9. If you’re to grow one herb, make it thyme. Nothing beats fresh thyme for flavor.
10. To dry lettuce, watercress, spinach or parsley, wash well, shake dry and place in a pillow case (in the case of lettuce) or small cloth bag (in the case of watercress or parsley.) Tie up and place in your washing machine. Run on the last spin cycle to remove water by centrifugal force.
11. To peel tomatoes and other thin-skinned fruits: bring a pan of filtered water to a boil. Using a slotted spoon, dip tomatoes in, one at a time, for about 5 seconds each. The skin should peel off easily. To seed tomatoes, cut in half at the equator, hold tomato half in the palm of your hand and gently squeeze out seeds.
12. To get offal into your diet (which you should), ask your butcher for ‘organ blend’. Organ blend can be used in any spicy mince dishes. Just use 1/3 organ blend and the rest mince.
13. To peel large amounts of garlic, place whole bulbs in the oven and bake at 150 C until the individual cloves open. Remove from oven and pick out individual cloves.
14. Always dry meat well before browning or it will stew rather than brown. Throw out browning fat when all pieces have browned and add more fat to pan, if necessary, to saute vegetables.
15. Always put meat juices back into sauces and stews—they are rich in important amino acids.
16. When beating egg whites and cream, best results will be obtained by using a wire whisk rather than an electric beater. Beat egg whites in a very clean stainless steel or glass bowl with a pinch of salt.
17. Dishwasher powder is extremely poisonous and should be used with great care. Use half the recommended amount and only for one cycle of the dishwasher. Do not fill the second cycle receptacle with dish powder, but let it be a rinse cycle so that your dishes are rinsed twice. If you are caring for a cancer patient or anyone who is very sick, wash their dishes by hand in a mild liquid soap and rinse well.
Find these helpful? Feel free to add your own below…or share your feedback on some of these…do they work?
You know, it’s so funny you should say to grow thyme. I planted a few pots of various herbs last year – thyme, rosemary, parsley and basil and the only one that has died is the thyme, all the rest are thriving. Seems like it’s a bit harder to grow!
Interesting about the dishwashing powder. Are there any brands that are better out there (such as some of the ‘enviro’ type brands?
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May 22nd, 2012 at 9:21 am
Eco Store (in most supermarkets) is great
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So true about the wooden chopping boards! The plastic ones are horrible
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good tip for the brussels sprouts, i spent ages trying to pick the brown bits off my baby organic ones i bought the other day!
I use ecosore dishwahing powder too – it’s great. i think i have their hand sap thing too, i love it.
i saw my man washing a lemon with soap before rinding it the other day and i freaked out – i was like “what are you doing, using SOAP to get any spray off it?!” he said “yeah but it’s eco-soap?” …
see what i knew!!
thanks sarah!
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Can I ask what the benefits are on eating offal?
I’m very interested in trying it.. is it hard to find butchers who do an organ blend?
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The lettuce suggestion is ridiculous!!! It’s a complete waste of energy to turn on the washing machine for a few lettuce leaves, surely a manual salad spinner would do the job??!
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May 22nd, 2012 at 5:17 pm
hmmm, tend to agree. Tho, the spin option briefly wouldn’t cost much….and is prob more eco than buying ANOTHER piece of kitchen equipment.
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May 25th, 2012 at 9:51 am
I would suggest that whirling the pillow case around your head ( outdoors, obviously) would do much the same job as a salad spinner.
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May 27th, 2012 at 8:35 pm
I agree! Here’s a technique I read in a cooking magazine. it takee and uses no extra equipment. lay the lettuce pieces in a single layer on a cloth towel then roll it up from one end like you are making a cinnamon roll. Voila, dry lettuce! The magazine even suggested storing the lettuce in the wrapped towel haha.
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May 25th, 2012 at 11:19 am
I agree. I have a lettuce spinner and its fabulous.
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May 25th, 2012 at 11:24 am
I agree, its completely absurd.
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May 25th, 2012 at 3:39 pm
Me too! That sounds so odd….why would you waste that energy when we should all be reducing our consumption? The good ol’ manual spinner is perfect!
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What a nice to do and not to do list for the kitchen, it’s really helpfull. Thanks! Have a nice evening!
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hi sarah thanks for the ideas. does anyone know whether pressure cookers denature the proteins in dried beans? and why denatured proteins are less beneficial to our health? i thought that by cooking we would denature most proteins we eat…
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May 27th, 2012 at 9:28 am
Yes, that’s true. For example, if you boil (or use any method of cooking) an egg, the white will change from clear and runny to opaque and solid – hey presto, you have ‘denatured’ the protein. Food changes when you cook it. Food begins to be broken down into its components as soon as you put it into your mouth and start chewing. It is therefore changed, or ‘denatured’. What ‘harm’ is there in this?
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Why are Pressure cookers bad? I’m so confused by that comment. I use mine to make curries, bolognaise sauce and chicken stock in a fraction of the time it would otherwise take. Its been an amazing addition to my kitchen. Please explain…..
Thanks!
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use the spin cycle of the washing machine to dry lettuce? Is that really necessary? Thats one step too far for me.
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I grow thyme, rosemary, basil and coriander – they are my must have herbs!
Can I just ask why we should be eating more offal? Mum used to cook it when we were kids – we used to eat black pudding, steak and kidney pie, tripe, pigs trotters, but we haven’t eaten it for years.
Also – great tip for browning meat – that is probably why mine usually stews, but why do you throw the fat away and add fresh fat – surely the flavours would be in the initial browning?
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Hi Sarah, thanks for those tips, they are really helpful. I love your blog and your approach to food. I saw you on the circle this week, you are such a natural on tv, loved the chocolate rasperry shard thingy. Looked delicious and im definitely going to trey the cheesecake recipe out.
I want to inquire about the Integrated Nutrition course you did. Is it nationally recognised in Australia in order to operate as a health coach etc? How long did it take to complete and how did you find it? Sorry about all the questions but I’ve been thinking about it for a while and would love your perspective on it.
Thanks a million
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What does she mean by drying meat? like patting it down with a tea towel? what if its beef mince?
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May 25th, 2012 at 12:12 pm
I think it means to pat it dry with a tea towel.. but I think its needed. A hot pan that isnt over crowded will result in browned meat. Never crowd the pan. Batch cook your meat if needed, including mince.
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May 25th, 2012 at 12:13 pm
blah.. I meant ‘I DONT think its needed’
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I’d like to know more about the pressure cooker, I love mine, have been using it for years. Would love to know why it is recommended not to. Thanks
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I saw Jamie Oliver swing salad leaves round in a tea towel. No need for the spin cycle on your washing machine and no need for a salad spinner. I just blot mine dry on a tea towel…
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I love my pressure cooker! I use it mainly for making stocks and cooking lentils etc. I have osteoporosis so need as many of the nutrients from bones as I can get – pressure cooking of meat stocks with bones was recommended by various osteo nutrition experts. Cooking proteins de-natures them – so what is the issue? There is a certain aesthetic pleasure to be gained from slow cooking – but other issues such as susceptibility of slow cooked food to growing bacteria makes that risky too!
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Pressure cookers RETAIN more nutrients than regular cooking. And they’re quicker – and the issue there is??? Most people are scared of pressure cookers because their grandmothers had them and they used to blow up. This is no longer possible with today’s modern pressure cookers due to safety valve design.
If you don’t own a pressure cooker you are missing out on amazing meals cooked in a fraction of the time. Supreme stocks in an hour, dried chickpeas to perfectly cooked in 45 minutes, lamb shank stew in 30 minutes, vegetable stew in 15…. What’s not to love???
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