http://frugalliving.about.com/od/bak.../bscooking.htm

Bicarb, baking soda, sodium bicarbonate, bicarbonate of soda... whatever
you call it, is at home with foods of many kinds. It's a leavening
agent, of course, but its more than that. It's a tenderizer, a
neutralizer of acids and apparently helps in digestion of high fiber
foods. These tips show you what and how.

1. Most Asian restaurants tenderize their less tender cuts of beef
and pork with baking soda. It can be applied several ways. Mix baking
soda and water and let the meat soak in it for several hours in the
refrigerator. Later, rinse the meat thoroughly to get rid of the soda
residue. The meat will be very tender. You can also sprinkle baking soda
directly on the meat. Let it set for several hours in the refrigerator,
then rinse the meat thoroughly.

2. I put a pinch of it in my spagetti sauce.
It removes the acid taste from the tomatoes.

3. I love to cook Italian foods and when I cook tomato sauces for
spaghetti or lasagna I always add a half teaspoon of baking soda. It
removes the acidity of the tomato and gives the sauce a very gentle
taste without having to add sugar.

4. I have found that if I put a tablespoon of baking soda in a large
pot of beans while soaking them, the flatulence caused by beans is kept
to a minimum.

5. Add a teaspoon or so to your pot of dried beans while boiling.
Beans will cook in record time.

6. Rub a little baking soda on pork chops or chicken pieces before
frying or baking to make the surface crispy. This also seals the
surface, keeping the meat from drying out as it cooks.

7. If chicken still has fine feathers on it, remove them by rubbing
the skin with baking soda.

8. To cook cabbage faster, add a couple of teaspoons of baking soda
to the water in which you boil it.

9. Why wait until you already have acid indigestion to use baking
soda? Sprinkle it in the grease you fry foods in, in the liquid in which
you cook offending foods.

10. Instead of milk, add a half teaspooon per egg to make light and
fluffy scrambled eggs.

11. Sprinkle a small amount of baking soda on your hands after
chopping onions, then rinse with cool water. Takes the odor away
immediately!

12. When brewing tea, add a generous pinch of soda for each 2 quart
pitcher of tea to take out any bitterness. Drop the soda directly in the
brewed tea before you combine it with water in the pitcher. Make sure
the pot isn't still on the burner brewing. Makes a great brew!

13. Substitute 1/4 tsp. baking soda, 1/4 tsp. cornstarch plus 1/2 tsp.
cream of tartar for 1 tsp. baking powder.

14. I used to have trouble with my scalloped potatoes curdling. I now
put a pinch of baking soda between the layers and bake as usual. Works
great.

15. When simmering or boiling fresh rhubarb, add 1 or more teaspoons
of baking soda. It will decrease the amount of sugar required to sweeten
the batch. It does slightly change the appearance, but NOT the taste.

16. A reader learned this from a BBQ restaurant: Put a dash of baking
soda on top of tea filters and brew.

--
Peter Lucas
Brisbane
Australia

'Enjoy today, it was paid for by a veteran'

http://www.beccycole.com/albums/vide...ter_girl.shtml