Sodium bicarbonate has multiple uses, as a cleaning and deodorizing element, in home remedies for health and of course in the kitchen, where It can be used in many recipes and not only in baking preparations.
1. Baked potatoes
Baking soda can make baked potatoes or roast potatoes have a crispier, more golden crust. The trick is to boil the potatoes a bit in water with baking soda; half a teaspoon for every two liters. The alkaline water breaks down the pectin on the outside of the potatoes, causing them to become covered in starch that will dehydrate in the oven.
2. Tomato cream
Baking soda can reduce the acidity of tomatoes and prevent milk from curdling. Baking soda by itself has a high pH. Epicurious explains that acidic tomatoes can lower the pH of milk or cream, which will denature dairy proteins like casein, causing them to break down and then clump together.
3. Beans, chickpeas or other legumes
Adding a little baking soda to the boiling water of beans or chickpeas can make these vegetables soften faster. Boiling water increases the alkalinity of the bicarbonate and this helps to break down the pectin in the legumes making the skin more flexible and expand more easily.
4. Chicken wings
Baking soda can make the skin of chicken wings extra crispy even without frying them. Bon Appetit shares the trick of adding a half teaspoon of baking soda to the salt, garlic, and onion powder mixture that you brush wings with before baking.
Baking the chicken on a wire rack set in a pan helps keep hot air circulating around the wings so they brown evenly. Start baking at a low temperature so that the fat from the chicken skin breaks down, then raise the temperature to higher.
5. Shrimp
A mixture of salt and baking soda improves the texture of your shrimp on skewers, in garlic sauce, or in other recipes. Seriouseats points out that baking soda speeds up the Maillard reaction, the chemical process responsible for the complex flavors of cooked and browned foods.
Mix a teaspoon of kosher salt and a quarter teaspoon of baking soda for each pound of shrimp; Stir shrimp into mixture and let sit in refrigerator 15 minutes to an hour before cooking.
6. Turn spaghetti into ramen
If you don’t have any ramen noodles, you can get a solution by adding a little baking soda to a pot of boiling spaghetti. The baking soda will replace an alkaline component that gives ramen noodles their rubbery texture. Just be careful not to overuse the baking soda to avoid developing a bitter taste. Use two teaspoons of baking soda for every liter of water.
It may interest you:
–Frozen meat: 6 mistakes you make when storing and cooking it
–How to safely cook chicken that has not been thawed
–How to add mayonnaise to your homemade cake: the secret to make it softer and moister
Source-eldiariony.com