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Kitchen tips for soups, meat, and fish

Learn how to rescue oversalted soup, tenderize chops, keep grated potatoes from darkening, and prepare fish, meat, and salads.

Translated from Slovak · October 25, 2026 · 2 min read

In shortKitchen tips and tricks complement everyday recipes with small techniques that experienced home cooks and chefs have used for years.

This article explains how to rescue oversalted soup, tenderize a chop with a vinegar and oil marinade, and keep grated potatoes from darkening with a little milk. It also includes tips for cooking older potatoes and preparing okroshka, a Russian cold soup.

Soups

Give okroshka (Russian cold soup) a sharper flavor by mashing green onions with garlic and salt. You can also add grated horseradish.
Rescue oversalted soup by diluting it with unsalted broth or water, then adjust the seasoning as needed.

Meat dishes

For a more tender chop, marinate it in a mixture of vinegar and vegetable oil for several hours before cooking. Use the same method for meat intended for grilling.
To keep meat from burning in the oven, place an ovenproof glass dish on the bottom rack.
To keep meat juicier, dip it in boiling water for a few seconds before cooking.
For juicy ground meat patties, add finely chopped onion and raw potato to the ground meat, using a 1:1 ratio of onion to potato.
When making huspenina (meat in aspic), discard the first water in which the meat was cooked, cover the meat again with cold water, and bring to a boil over low heat.

Potatoes

Add a little milk to grated potato mixtures to keep them from darkening.
To improve the flavor of older potatoes, add 1 tsp vinegar, several cloves of garlic, and a bay leaf to the cooking water.
If potatoes have been exposed to freezing temperatures and have an unpleasant flavor, soak them in ice water before cooking.

Fish

Reduce the strong smell of frying fish in the kitchen by placing a raw potato cut into four pieces in the oil.
For crisp fish that holds together, pat it dry with a kitchen towel and salt it 10 minutes before cooking. Then shake it in a resealable bag with flour, salt, and pepper, shake off the excess coating, and fry.