Does this seem Long Winded to you?

I was interested, recently, to see that one of my books, 500+ Truly Useful Cooking Tips & Techniques: No Silly Hacks!, had received a new review so scrolled down to have a look.

All it said was ..

I know that one shouldn’t get upset by bad reviews for some reason but I can’t remember what it is! ***

This review, however, didn’t so much upset me as discombobulate me. The book in question is just a collection of useful cooking tips (as opposed to daft “hacks” which you can read more about here!) written in what I believe to be a fairly compact and useful manner. Here is a random sample on kitchen equipment, it is all in the same style …

~ Keep your knives sharp.

~ If your bin isn’t conveniently close to where you are working keep a bowl beside you to collect peelings, wrappers, trimmings and other rubbish (garbage, trash!) and empty it later.

~ To save cross contamination have two chopping boards; one specifically for raw meat and fish and the other for everything else.

~ Use large chopping boards to give you plenty of room to work.

~ Glass, marble, or Corian chopping boards are useless – they are slippery (so possibly dangerous if your knife skids) and they blunt knives. They are, however, quite good for rolling out pastry as they are cool.

~ Put a damp cloth or piece of kitchen roll/paper towel under a chopping board to hold it in place whilst working.

~ Similarly use a damp cloth to secure a bowl when whisking something in it.

~ Make sure pot and pan handles are not overhanging the edge of the stove top, they can so easily and dangerously be knocked off.

“Oven gas taps must be turned off with the hands – not the feet.”

The Manual of Army Catering Services 1945

~ DON’T heat non-stick pans to high temperatures; they can release toxic gases and particles.

~ Slow cookers are at their best when about two-thirds to three-quarters full. Less and the food will cook faster and may burn, too full and it may take longer than you hoped.

~ Soak wooden kebab sticks in water before using; they are much less likely to char or catch fire that way.

~ When cooking kebabs stop the food spinning by inserting two parallel kebab sticks or skewers instead of one.

~ Rub the cut side of a raw potato over the hot surface of the barbeque to stop food sticking as it cooks.

~ If your oven or hob needs cleaning bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) and vinegar is a good option. Make a paste of the two ingredients and rub gently on the surfaces. Leave to dry and wash off.

Does that seem long winded to you?

Bad Reviews ***

I think I’ve remembered why bad reviews are not bad after all!

It’s the old “there’s no such thing as bad publicity” thing although, if that is the case, I wonder why I once read on Indie Author News the suggestion that one send a dead fish (anonymously of course) to the nasty reviewer!

Luckily, being a cook, I have better things to do with a dead fish.