Lateral thinking
August14
I was just over at Foodlovers.co.nz and saw a wonderful tip. That was to use empty tuna tins, with both ends cut out, as crumpet rings.
So often there’s a free alternative to buying expensive equipment. This is a great one. I’ve got some silicone rings that I picked up in a garage sale. But the tuna tin idea is even better, being free.
I’ve done this – and actually, even full-sized (e.g. from tinned tomatoes) ones work – they’re not as ideal but only a little more cumbersome. 🙂 It is always great when you can repurpose something heading towards the rubbish/recycling for another worthy cause – like crumpets!
And clean, empty salmon or tuna tins are the perfect size for making mini cakes, especially at xmas time! Great for gifts (the mini cakes, not the empty tins!)
Be very careful when you re-purpose tins for things that will expose them to heat! Most modern tins are lined with something and I’ve found that they can give off quite noxious fumes when heated. I’ve not tried this at typical oven temps – I used a propane blow torch to burn stuff off because i intended to use a tin as a cheap smokebox for wood chips in the barbie. [works great and you use much less wood]
I’m not sure if oven temps would cause a problem but the stuff I smelled was so nasty that i wouldn’t want it in my food – even in low amounts.