Kitchen Hints and How to .... (& Oma's Tips)

by: Gerhild Fulson  / Using her extensive experience and cultural knowledge, Oma Gerhild provides trusted, authentic, and easy-to-follow German recipes both here and in her many cookbooks.

Kitchen hints help make our lives in the kitchen easier.

These hints are collected over years of cooking, cleaning, preparing, as well as watching others while preparing traditional German foods.

So, browse through the hints, take them, change them, share them, and then add some of your own. This way we make life easier for us all!

Have a great way to sharpen knives?  

A quick way to clean the dishwasher?

A "secret" hint to unclog the drain? Tell us about it!

Use the form below to add your own tips to help other Quick German Recipe readers in the kitchen.

Check out these Kitchen Hints ...

Hard Boil Eggs on Stove or in Oven

How to Boil Potatoes

Homemade Quark Recipe

How to boil rice

Homemade Vanilla Sugar

Sous Vide Quark - EASY!

How to Roast Almonds

Restoring Wood Cutting Boards

How to Sharpen Scissors & Fix Them

Sometimes we don't even realize that what we do is different from the norm, or you may think that everyone already knows how. Well, that's not true. I thought everyone knew how to hard boil eggs. But I thought wrong!

You may think that your cooking tips are too simple. Rest assured, that's not the case. I was talking with someone the other day and she mentioned that she didn't know how to make whipped cream. Having purchased the carton of whipping cream, she realized that it didn't have instructions on it. She had to phone her Mom to find out.

Mom said, "just whip it". And that sounds simple enough. But her Mom didn't say for how long though. Her daughter almost made butter!

So, use this site to add your hints. Hints you think others need. Hints you've given your daughter. Hints you wish someone would have given you - that you learned the hard way.

You'll find an easy way to make rice, rice that never overcooks or sticks. It's a combination of boiling and steaming. Or how about hard "boiling" a whole bunch of eggs without really boiling them. Then there's a great way to restore your wooden cutting boards. 

Tired of the fuzzy stuff your paper towel leaves behind?

Silvia (Hayward, CA) writes:

"To avoid the fuzzy stuff paper towels leave behind,when cleaning any type of glass surface or your windows use the pages of your news paper along with your glass cleaner. 

Works great for me! Give it a try. 

It's also a great way to save money on paper towels. It's a great way to get some use out of the paper before you recycle it!"

Window Cleaning Recipe!

Anna (Hamilton, ON) writes:

"I've tried all sorts of window cleaning "recipes" in the past, none that I was too happy with.

After some googling and mixing, I came up with my "new" recipe, below. Give it a try with your newspaper. I think you'll like it. I usually use a "professional" squeegee and micro-fiber window cleaning cloth to wipe the edges. Love the squeaky clean windows.

Window Cleaning Solution Recipe

1 gallon hot water
1 cup vinegar
4 Tbsp corn starch (dissolve in a bit of cold water first)
Mix and use!

I rinse a microfiber cloth in the solution, wipe the window with it, squeegee, and then wipe the edges that were missed by the squeegee with another clean, dry microfiber cloth."

Natural Way to Colour Eggs Easily

Helen (Powassan, ON) writes:

"To naturally colour eggs, when making hard boiled eggs just add onion skins. Depending on the amount of skins used, white eggs will turn various shades of brown. Works well with brown eggs too. They will just be darker brown. 

Red beet juice is another good dye."

How to Open almost any Glass Jar

Silvia (Hayward, CA) writes:

Ever had problems opening a glass jar? Try opening it with your rubber cleaning gloves. It works great for me.

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Comments?  Questions?

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Meet with us around Oma's virtual table, pull up a chair, grab a coffee and a piece of Apfelstrudel, and enjoy the visit.

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Hi, I'm Oma Gerhild! As a food writer and cookbook author, I'm always looking to find ways to pass on my German heritage using local ingredients. Quick and easy. That's my goal. Wunderbar food. That's the result.