With small tricks, small failures can often be put right.

Every cook has a few tricks they have learnt themselves through trial and error or that have been passed on from previous generations. Sometimes just the addition of one sepecial herb can make the biggest difference to a dish. Here are just a few tips, please send us any you have, sharing is so much fun!

· If the coffee is too strong, it can be rescued by adding a little cocoa powder.

· Burnt saucepans can be much more easily cleaned by adding salt and water to let the saucepan soak for a while or by disolving a little dishwasher powder in water in the soaking water.

· If egg white can’t be stiffly whisked, try adding a little lemon juice or salt

· Try putting a little lemon juice in the cooking water with rice, the rice will be extra white.

· When making meringue or other recipes using just egg whites, if a little egg yolk goes into the bowl, take the broken egg shell, hold it next to the egg yolk and the yolk will spring into the shell. Egg yolks can be frozen, don’t forget to write how many yolks are being frozen every time.

· If the parsley you want to use is a little limp and old, put it in a little warm water and it will be fresh again.

· Onions wrapped in aluminium foil, don’t begin to root, and they remain firm and fresh.

· Apples, bananas and pears don’t go brown when the cut side is rubbed with a little lemon juice. For fruit cocktail just put the cut pieces of fruit in lemon juice to cover, then the fruit can be added to the other fruits in the salad.

· Fried onions cook much quicker, when they are first microwaved for a few minutes.

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Cooking