QUICK KITCHEN TIPS WITH CHEF JOHN FOLSE

Freezing Ingredients in Ice Cubes
Freezing ice cubes of herbs, garlic, wine or stock. Place chopped herbs or garlic in ice trays. Pour a tablespoon or two of water on top of the herbs or garlic then freeze. Transfer cubes from ice trays to freezer bags and keep frozen up to 6 months. To use, simply toss a cube into a skillet when the recipe calls for herbs or garlic and let the water cook off. You can even freeze leftover wine or stock. When ready to use, throw it in a hot pan for a quick sauce or cool down sangria with wine ice cubes without diluting it.

Measuring Sticky Ingredients
When measuring honey, molasses or any sticky ingredient, spray the measuring spoon or cup with nonstick cooking spray. When emptying, the sticky liquid will slip right out.

Tong Bottle Opener
Did your bottle opener go missing during your family barbecue? Try using your grill tongs, which has an opening inside the handles just large enough to catch the edge of a bottle cap so you can gently pop the cap off.

Substitute for Juicing
Kitchen Tongs are a great tool to use when juicing fruits such as lemons, limes or oranges. Hold the tongs closed, stick the pinchers into the halved fruit and twist the tongs to extract juice.

Pure Homemade Vanilla
Split 1 vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrap out inside. Place vanilla bean halves and scrapings into a half-pint-sized jar and fill with bourbon or vodka. Allow to steep 1–6 months, depending on strength you wish to achieve, longer is better. Shake bottle occasionally to disperse ingredients.