Cleaning up after cooking a big family meal has to be one of my least favorite chores. However, we all know that the sooner things are cleaned up the easier the cleaning seems to be. Well, this is not always the case, especially if you are a firm believer in the soak before your scrub philosophy of housekeeping.
Soaking pots and pans does make it easier to get the baked on and fried on food off, but it also adds time to your workload. If you need to clean up in a hurry there are ways to utilize the principles behind soaking in a much faster cleaning process.
The first option works well for pots and pans that have burned on or fired on food messes. For this cleaning strategy you will start by removing the Jewish recipes that you just cooked in the pot or pan and put it into a serving dish or a storage dish. With the edible food out of the way you will put the pan back on the stove and add about an inch of water or enough water to cover the burned on food. Now bring the water to a boil and use a plastic spatula to gently remove the food particles from the metal. Do not allow the water to completely boil away or you will be left with the same mess that you started with. Instead, after the food has been loosened from the side you can pour the water out.
Steam can also be used to freshen up the look of your glassware. Steam cleaners will provide a burst of focused steam which can be used to remove spots and soap residue from your glasses and your glass cookware. Steam cleaners also are great for quickly sanitizing silverware and children’s dish sets.
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There is nothing like a dinner made from traditional Jewish recipes. The dishes bring back warm memories and generate conversation. However, there is one drawback, the cleaning up after.
Cleaning up after preparing a traditional Jewish meal can be a challenge. This is especially true if you slow cooked a large cut of meat or if you prepared something with syrups or caramelized sugar. The key is to know what to soak and what to clean right away.
Generally you will want to allow any dishes that have burnt or stuck on food particles that have hardened already to soak. If you want to speed up this process you can pour boiling water into the dishes, or if it is a pot or pan you can add water to the pan and bring the water up to a boil. This will help loosen up the mess.
If you are working with a dish that has fresh residue that is still moist then you will want to clean it right away. This tip will prevent you from having to scrub the dish hard and it will also help to protect the dish from damage.
What tips do you have for cleaning up after a traditional meal?
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Over the past few months this blog has focused on the cooking aspects of Jewish recipes. For today’s blog I’d like to go in a slightly different direction, the clean up. Cleaning up after cooking a big meal is not something I particularly enjoy, and because of this I have devised ways to make this chore easier and quicker to do.
The first thing that I do is line all my baking dishes with aluminum foil. After lining the dish I spray it with non-stick cooking spray. This will allow the food to slide off the foil easily when I’m ready to serve my meal. Clean-up is also a breeze because instead of having to scrub away cheese, starch and bits of burnt on food, all I have to do is lift the foil from the pan, rinse it, crumple the foil and place it in the recycle bin. No elbow grease required.
Another tip that I have utilized in my own kitchen is the wipe and sweep method for cleaning up after baking. When I bake from scratch I get flour on the counter and on the floor. I used to try and wipe the flour into a dust pan or a towel and dump this in the garbage and then sweep the floor. Now I wipe everything onto the floor and then sweep up the mess. This quicker version helps to reduce the amount of work you have to do after a day of baking.
Saving a few steps during the cleanup process after preparing your favorite Jewish recipes will make cooking traditional dishes more enjoyable. For more tips return to this blog next week.
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