I saw a thread for kitchen and general household tips that was absolutely marvelous, and I thought perhaps these tips for making specific cooking tasks easier could also be expanded, so forgive me if this seems to distract from the other thread. That was actually the opposite of my intentions. Please feel free to add to these cooking tips.

Add a professional look to your chocolate cakes, and they'll even taste better! Try coating your greased baking pans with cocoa instead of flour.

For fried foods that look like those masterpiece photos in your cookbooks and magazines, add a few drops of yellow food coloring to the deep-frying oil, especially fish and chicken. The coloring won't spoil the taste.

To make fresh garlic easier to peel, soak garlic in hot water a few minutes.

To keep ginger root fresh, try this: Find a jar with a tight-fitting lid, and fill the jar with sherry. Next, slice the ginger root into 25-cent-sized pieces, and add it to the sherry-filled jar. Close the jar and put it in your refrigerator, and you'll have fresh ginger root whenever you need it!