Tips and tricks for cooking and preparing meat

Change up your dinner plans and do something different with your traditional cuts of meat. From grilling and roasting to inventive seasonings, these mouth-watering suggestions will have you and your family running back for seconds!

Defrost frozen meats quickly and safely by soaking them in cold salt water for several hours. Mix 60 millilitres (1/4 cup) to 120 millilitres (1/2 cup) of kosher salt or any other coarse-grain salt with two quarts of water. Submerge the meat into the salted water and refrigerate. Once the meat has thawed, discard the salt water and get cooking!

To flavour and moisten hamburger patties, add 60 millilitres (1/4 cup) of finely minced onion and 30 millilitres (two tablespoons) of barbecue sauce. Blend the ingredients into the ground beef or turkey with your hands, taking care not to overwork the mixture.

Variations on the ingredients are endless — you can add everything from minced garlic or celery or other crisp vegetables paired with chili sauce, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce or steak sauce. For a hint of Tex-Mex flavour, mix one teaspoon of chili powder or cumin (or 1/2 teaspoon of both) into the meat. Add a drop of curry powder for a spicy Indian style.

A clean paintbrush dipped in vegetable or canola oil is perfect for making your grill nonstick before slapping on burgers or any other meat. Season your steak, chicken or fish with the same brush, now dipped in grilling sauce, not oil.

Give your flank steak an Asian touch with this easy and delicious marinade.

• 175 millilitres (3/4 cup) of ginger ale mixed with three minced garlic cloves
• 175 millilitres (3/4 cup) orange juice
• 60 millilitres (1/4 cup) soy sauce
• 2.5 millilitres (1/2 teaspoon) sesame oil.

Cover and keep in the refrigerator for four to eight hours. This recipe makes enough marinade for 1.5 pounds of flank steak.

Use coffee and chili sauce to give brisket a new flavour. To enjoy this twice-cooked dish, combine in a mixing bowl 475 millilitres (two cups) of brewed coffee with 355 millilitres (1.5 cups) of store-bought chili sauce. Stir in one chopped onion, two tablespoons of brown sugar, salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Place a roughly 2.27 kilogram (five-pound) brisket in a roasting pan and pour the sauce over the meat. Cover tightly with a lid or foil and bake for two hours in a preheated 160°C (325°F) oven. Remove the pan from the oven and transfer the meat to a platter to cool. Slice the meat, lay the slices in the sauce in the pan and cover again. Bake at160°C (325°F) for another two hours or until the brisket is fork-tender. Yum!

Put all the ingredients for a meatloaf into a large self-sealing plastic bag and squish it with both hands to evenly distribute the seasonings throughout the meat. Turn the bag inside out into a prepared loaf pan, gently press it into shape and bake. Voilà! No messy hands and no bowl to wash!

Give store-bought, "fully cooked" ham a taste test before warming the slices. If the ham's on the salty side, place the slices in a dish of low-fat milk for 20 minutes before heating them. Once you remove the slices from the milk, rinse them under cold running water and pat dry with paper towels. The ham won't pick up the taste of milk but will lose some of its saltiness. Soak whole precooked hams in milk for an hour before heating and remember to drain, rinse and pat the meat dry.

There are so many ways to be creative when cooking meat. These super-easy tips and recipes will up the flavour quotient on all your traditional favourites so even the fussiest eater at your table will be asking for more.

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