Top 10 Tips to Handle Overly Salty or Spicy Food You Should Know

If you accidentally make your soup or stew too salty, simply adding water won't do the trick. It'll dilute the flavor of the dish. So, that's not an effective solution in this case.

How to Fix:

• Method 1: Place a small bag of rice in the pot. Rice is excellent at absorbing salt and will help reduce the saltiness in your soup or stew.
• Method 2: Use refined sugar, adding it gradually, stirring until the saltiness is reduced.
• Method 3: Use other foods like pasta, potatoes, or noodles (foods with the ability to absorb salt).

You've spent a lot of time and effort preparing a family meal, but unfortunately, you accidentally added too much chili, making the dish too spicy. When you've made your dish too spicy, refer to the following ways to tame it!

Check out these 3 methods:

• Method 1 (add sweetness): Add a little honey or a bit of sugar to the dish, the spicy taste will be neutralized and gradually reduced. Add just enough bit by bit, avoiding altering the original flavor of the dish.
• Method 2 (add broth): This is the simplest and most common way to reduce the spiciness of the dish.
• Method 3 (add vegetables): This method is also widely used when the dish is too spicy because the fiber in vegetables will help neutralize the spiciness and return to its original flavor.

Don't worry if you've made your dish too sweet. Use a little apple cider vinegar, salt, or lime juice for that dish!

In addition to the above ingredients, you can use butter or olive oil (fats) for your dish. These are effective methods to help you reduce the sweetness of the dish.

When cooking, it's common to accidentally add too many seasonings, ruining the dish, especially when it's too greasy. To reduce the amount of fat in soups or stews... try the following methods:

• Method 1: Add a little baking powder to the soup to dissolve some of the oil, making the flavor clearer.
• Method 2: Use curly kale placed on the surface of the cooking pot, the soup being cooked will also reduce the amount of fat in it.
• Method 3: Or you can use the usual method, that is, after cooking the dish, let it cool and then put it in the refrigerator for about 2 hours, then skim off the solidified fat.

No matter how skilled a housewife is, it's difficult to avoid buying tough meat. If you're worried about how to cook a piece of meat that's perfectly tender and delicious, consider some of the tips below:

• Method 1: Peel and thinly slice fruits like mangoes, pineapples, apples, or pears and cover the meat with them before cooking. When simmered, the fruit juices will help soften the meat, preventing it from being tough and chewy.
  
• Method 2: Use carbonated soda to perfectly tenderize the meat. Before frying the meat, soak the pieces in carbonated soda for about 10 minutes, then remove the meat, pat it dry, and sauté it with black pepper. With this method, your meat will have an incredibly delicious flavor that can't be criticized.
  
• Method 3: Use lemon juice to marinate the meat for about 30 minutes before cooking. This way, your meat will be softer and tastier when cooked.

A burnt dish is a common occurrence for those who are clumsy in the kitchen. So how do you salvage a burnt dish? First, when the food is burnt, turn off the stove and immediately remove the food to a cool place. Once the food has cooled down, for fried, grilled, or stewed dishes, remove the burnt parts and keep the edible parts.

For soups, porridges, and stews, scoop out the unburnt parts into another pot. Then, reheat the unburnt portion with additional seasoning and water to taste. If the dish still retains a burnt flavor, use garlic, onions, or add more sauce to eliminate the burnt taste.

When meat is too salty, the best method to salvage it is by using sour cream. Let the meat soak in sour cream for a while, and the saltiness of the meat will diminish.

Additionally, for minced beef that has been oversalted, chop some cabbage, crush raw potatoes, or squash and mix them with the meat. These foods not only reduce the saltiness of the meat but also make your meat dish softer, more appetizing, and more flavorful.

Usually, when you see mold in food, even a little, you'll immediately throw it away. However, if a canned product that hasn't been opened yet, still within its expiration date, shows mold, don't rush to discard it.

Remove the moldy part, then add vinegar, salt, or sugar depending on the type of food, and boil it. The food can still be used.

To keep food warm or cold, there's a very simple method that anyone can do. For dishes that need to be kept warm, place the plate or container into the microwave for about 5 minutes to heat it up before adding the food.

Conversely, for cold dishes, place the plate in the refrigerator. This is a method to help you maintain the warmth or coldness of the food for longer.

Instead of fixing overly salty vegetarian dishes by adding water, which diminishes the natural sweetness of vegetables, you can remedy them in other ways:

When facing a situation where a vegetarian dish is too salty, you can add a few tomatoes and cook them together with the dish. Alternatively, pour boiling water in and simmer for a few minutes. If it's a mushroom dish, you can salvage it by using sour cream or unsalted sauce.