In our shops we are often asked why a salt mill has stopped working. So many times the culprit is damp. Salt extracts damp or steam from the kitchen and as a result the grinder becomes clogged and nothing will come out. To sort the problem you can put a few grains of rice into the mill or make a home for it away from steam and in a warmer drier place such as near a radiator.
Do bear in mind though that some salt such as Malden salt is too flaky to go through the grinders of most mills apart from the crush grind style ceramic grinders.
Pepper Mills
The main thing with pepper corns is that they should be small rather than large as this will ensure that they go through the mill system properly. Also coloured pepper corns, e.g. pink, can cause problems as they can be too soft and clog the mechanism. Finally it is always better to avoid buying peppercorns in bulk as they may not have been sorted properly and can include bits of twig or even stone.
I was asked the other day why a stainless steel pan, for which the customer paid a lot of money, acquired a blue hue after cooking pasta.
Well I am afraid it’s the usual suspect – heat. Quite often a pan will get a blue tinge from heat. Some say overheating but I have found it happening on a gas hob which is not the hottest and occasionally even in the dishwasher. Sometimes a gold colour will also appear up the sides of the pan.
The discolouration comes and goes and in no way compromises the integrity of the pan so you can either live with it or use a stainless cleaner such as the Fissler Proline Cleaner. This will also deal with the dreaded salt marking (white spots) caused by putting salt into the pan which then gets trapped by the food against the pan’s bottom. To avoid this only add salt to the boiling water after the food has been put in the pan
Incidentally “salts” can also come from the water itself so even if you don’t use salt in cooking you can still get salt spotting.
We get a lovely email every month from Caroline at Caroline Trotter Photography www.carolinetrotter.co.uk with some of her stunning photos – we’ve put one of her latest on our October cooking page. This fabulous looking pie was made by her husband Chris and you can find the recipe here www.christophertrotter.co.uk.
A wonderful way of using all the tomatoes that you may have ripening in your garden. This is a light curry packed with delicious fresh flavours.
Serves 4
Vegetable oil
2 onions cut into wedges
6 ripe tomatoes cut into wedges
Large knob of fresh root ginger, chopped
6 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
Curry powder according to taste
400g shelled king prawns
250g frozen peas
Small bunch of coriander
Heat the oil in the frying pan then fry the onions for a few minutes until they are softening and beginning to brown. Whilst they’re frying reserve some of the tomato wedges and then blend the rest in a food processor with the ginger and the garlic.
Add the curry powder to the pan then after about 30 seconds stir in the tomato, ginger and garlic mix and the tomato wedges. Let it all bubble for about 5 minutes then mix in the prawns and the peas. Simmer until the peas and the prawns are heated through.
Scatter with coriander and serve with basmati rice.
Non-stick coated pans have been a wonderful convenience for forty years. They enable you to fry sticky foods such as eggs and make sauces and porridge without having to use industrial cleaner to remove burnt on food afterwards.
But there are drawbacks and inconveniences associated with their use. Here are some tips from my time in product development and as a shopkeeper which may help you get the most from your non stick pans and help you to keep them longer.
1) Use less heat
Non-stick is a relatively fragile coating and works best when applied to aluminium pans as the heat is insufficient to cause the coating to break down. Cast iron, stainless steel and mild steel generate so much heat, particularly when stir frying in a wok, that the temperature of the coating can reach critical and it can then start to disintegrate. So when using any of these pans it is best to use less heat and to start frying as soon as possible rather than pre heating the pan for too long.
2) Use the correct oil
Always use the correct oil. Some oils burn before you’ve even reached a high enough temperature for frying – olive oil and rapeseed oil are the main culprits. When the pan is preheated with olive oil and it starts to smoke the oil is burning and coating the non stick with a glaze of carbonised oil which is not non stick. The trend for spray olive oil makes things worse when the pan is pre heated as a fine mist of oil sprayed onto the hot pan immediately burns and forms an instant coating which is not non stick – ideal for burning your food. It has to be remembered that it is heat that causes sticking.
3) Cleaning
Carbon steel/blue steel frying pans without a non-stick coating need to be seasoned with oil but this does not apply to pans with a non-stick coating. All you need to do is wash your pan thoroughly in soap and water inside and out prior to putting it away. Unfortunately I’ve seen so many filthy pans that are covered in burnt on food. Non stick does not mean non burn. If you do burn food onto the surface try Lady Jane scourers which are non abrasive or in really bad cases try boiling up biological washing powder for half an hour and agitating with a stiff brush. The results can be amazing and might save you the cost of a new pan following a Friday night burn out. Putting your non-stick pan in the dishwasher should always be avoided whatever the manufacturer says. Dishwashers gradually erode the surface of whatever you put into them so a non-stick pan will begin to lose its slipperiness.
4) Don’t use metal tools
Don’t use metal tools – they destroy the surface. There is not a pan made that can withstand a prod from a fork or a cut from a knife and when your teenage son brings his friends back for a Friday night fry up keep your best pans under lock and key.
If friends offer to wash up don’t let them plunge the cutlery into your non stick pan to soak as the resulting damage to the surface can be worse than using a knife on it.
5) Eggs
Eggs straight from the fridge will stick immediately to the best non stick ever made so it’s much better to allow them to come to room temperature before use.
6) Eco friendly ceramic non-stick
The new eco friendly ceramic non-sticks are, in my opinion, superb but again it depends on the quality of the manufacturer as to how well they cope. You can still burn them with olive oil and still destroy them with excess heat but I must say after letting my teenage son loose on one of ours I was amazed how well it cleaned up even though it is not quite as pristine as it once was.
7) Non-stick versus uncoated
Finally – non stick versus uncoated? Well non stick will only degrade over time but offers great convenience. If you can look after a non-stick pan well it will give huge satisfaction but don’t expect to keep it for life. Other pans such as stainless steel will go on getting better but you will have to go through the agony of sticking before they improve with age.
Salt Mills