7 great fixes for common cooking errors

It's easy to slip up in the kitchen. Thankfully, this list of reliable tips and tricks helps save the day every time.

1. Have you ever over-salted your favourite stew as it burbled away on your stove? Did you know you could save it with a teaspoon of granulated sugar, which will absorb excess salt and help balance the taste? If you have no sugar handy, stir in a teaspoon of honey.

2. Sometimes the cooking juices you've used in your gravy are so greasy that they look like an oil slick. Counteract the problem with a pinch or two of baking soda, stirred into the juices just enough to absorb the grease. (Be careful, though: If you overdo it, you'll taint the flavour and it will taste metallic.)

3. Tone it down with applesauce. Add 120 millilitres (1/2 cup) of applesauce for each cup of curry sauce, then taste. If necessary, continue stirring in a bit of applesauce until the curry is acceptable.

4. You cooked the perfect-sized roast for a small get-together and guess what? Meat shrinks when cooked, so your entrée is a third smaller than you started out with. Then the doorbell rings. What to do? Carve the entire roast into thin strips, toss that large salad you were planning on, top with the beef and you'll have just ratcheted up the size of your main course.

5. You're boiling an egg and the shell cracks. No reason to throw it out if you have white vinegar in the cupboard. Simply add five millilitres (one teaspoon) of vinegar to the cooking water to coagulate the egg white and stop it from seeping out.

6. Those commercially grown pink tennis balls that pass for tomatoes do have flavour hiding deep inside: Just drizzle tomato slices with a little rice vinegar (on supermarket shelves everywhere). You'll be amazed at the difference it makes!

7. Do you skim the fat off your simmering stew, soup or sauce with a teaspoon? Stop! Here are three easy and effective ways to reduce artery-clogging fat in the pot:

• Float a large lettuce leaf on the surface and it will draw the fat right in. Repeat the process with fresh leaves as necessary.
• Float two or three ice cubes on the surface and you'll soon see fat globules clinging to them. Scoop the cubes out (before they melt) and continue cooking your now-healthful dish.
• Slip an uncooked egg white onto the simmering soup, stew or sauce. Left alone for a few minutes, it will absorb the fat as it cooks; simply scoop out the solidified egg white with a slotted spoon and discard it.

Everyone makes a mistake in the kitchen now and then, but don't worry. These handy fix-it tips will help turn your cooking snafus into success stories every time.

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