Skimming Soups

Homemade soups and some meat dishes like braised short ribs, can contain a lot of grease. You can of course cool it and wait until the fat bunches up at the top – but what if you want to eat it the same day? Here’s a trick.  Take a metal ladle and fill it with ice cubes.  Glide the bottom of the spoon along the surface, and the fat will cling to the bottom of the spoon. You could also freeze a few leaves of lettuce and do the same thing. The cold temperature attracts the fat.  Another idea although more work is to pour to sauce/soup into a large zip lock bag. Snip one of the corners and pour it back into the pot.  A lot of the grease will stick to the bag. Visit our Food News and recipes section for more tips.