DEAR HELOISE: I scrambled six dozen eggs and placed them in a hot slow cooker for Sunday brunch after church services. I covered the pot with aluminum foil, put the lid on, then covered with more aluminum foil for transport. The eggs were fine when I left the house and fine when I got to church.
We left the foil on the slow cooker until the brunch. When we removed it, the eggs were yucky! They looked grayish-green and smelled somewhere between sulfur and fish. We had to throw them out. What a waste! I guess the sulfur in the eggs reacted with the aluminum. Never again!
-- Z., via email
DEAR READER: Don't give up! There was a reaction -- yes, the sulfur, but not with the aluminum foil. The iron and sulfur in the eggs caused the reaction, turning them green, which is not harmful to eat. Follow these Heloise hints next time:
Don't cook at a high temperature -- lower is better.
Don't "hold" them too long.
Don't hold them using a direct heat source. They will continue to cook!
Don't use a cast-iron skillet.
Do "undercook" the scrambled eggs, or they become rubbery.
Do use stainless steel to cook.
Do use indirect heat to hold them, such as hot water, like at a steam table.
Do cook in smaller batches so you don't have one big pot of eggs!
DEAR HELOISE: Cooking a cup or mug of soup, stew or other food in a microwave and don't want it to "explode" in the oven? Cover the top with a coffee filter. Works like a charm.
--A Reader, via email
DEAR HELOISE: I use baking soda in my refrigerator to absorb odors. When I change the box every month or so, I use the old baking soda as scouring powder rather than throwing it away.
-- Lynda C., via email
DEAR READER: Lynda, this is a classic Heloise hint. You are getting double duty from one of my favorite products, are saving money and are using an environmentally friendly cleaner to boot! Did dinner leave stuck-on food that just won't come clean with dishwashing liquid alone? Add a sprinkle of baking soda, then a squirt of dish soap, and yuck begone!
DEAR HELOISE: Every morning for breakfast, I eat a large shredded biscuit made of wheat. I found that when I "scrunched" it up, some of it went flying all over the countertops. Here is my hint: I scrunch it in the sink on the disposal side. Flying debris goes down the drain!
-- Linda W., Bella Vista, Ark.
Send a money- or time-saving hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, Texas 78279-5000; fax to (210) 435-6473; or email
Heloise@Heloise.com
Food on 05/20/2015