The following cooking tips are brought to you by Fresh with the Australian Women's Weekly, weekdays at 11.30am on the Nine Network.
• When making pastry, it is important to keep it as cool as possible. Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips as opposed to your whole hand, as your fingertips are the coolest part of the body.
• When rolling out dough, roll between pieces of baking paper to prevent the dough from sticking.
• Home made custard: stir on the stove in a "figure 8" movement to ensure you include all the mixture.
• Preserved food should be kept in a glass jar which has been sterilised to prevent bacteria growing (heat jar in an oven at 120°C for 20 minutes).
• Lime juice is great with curries, but add it at the end of cooking to keep its sharpness.
• If the oil gets too hot when deep-frying, the easiest way to reduce the temperature of the oil to an acceptable temperature is to add a little more cold oil to the pan — this will instantly reduce the temperature. Turning off the heat will also work, but it will take 10 minutes to cool the oil sufficiently.
• Use a bunch of sturdy herbs, like rosemary, tied together by their stalk and dipped in oil to baste meat or fish or vegetables on the barbecue. The herbs impart extra flavour.
• Diagonal slashes on the sides of a fish before cooking ensure the heat penetrates through to the centre of the fish more evenly, so the fattest part of the fish cooks in a similar length of time to the tail end.
• To soften cream cheese for a cheesecake, chop coarsely and leave at room temperature overnight, or microwave on 80 percent for 30 seconds.
• When frying anything in butter, add a little oil to the pan. This will stop the butter burning. Using oil and butter still gives you a 'butter flavour' but without the risk of a 'burnt butter taste'.
• Chocolate can easily be melted in the microwave, chop it coarsely or break it up into small pieces and microwave at 50 percent in 1 minute bursts. Stir after every minute as the chocolate will melt without losing its shape and you want to make sure you don't overheat.
• Vegetables can be cooked in advance by boiling them for no longer than 3 minutes. Drain and plunge into iced water and then drain again. This is called blanching. Plunge again into boiling water for 2 minutes before draining and serving immediately. Vegetables can also be frozen successfully after the first blanch.

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