Dear Heloise: I’m getting married in the beginning of this year. My cooking skills aren’t just bad — they’re horrible. I burn far too many dishes and ruin pots and pans. The majority of my dishes are totally bland. My husband-to-be has suffered through a number of disgusting dinners because I don’t know what I’m doing. We both work, and sometimes I have to work overtime, which means that dinner is often thrown together.

I’m writing to ask about certain terms that are used in cooking because maybe if I understood these terms, I might be able to improve and stop making watery rice with burnt chicken. Can you tell me what these terms mean: score, roux, ragout, frizzle and mirpois? — Cindy, in Bloomfield, Michigan

Cindy, here are the meanings of these terms:

— Score: to cut gashes into the meat surface. This is often done on a meat that is tough, such as flank steak.

— Roux: a mixture of butter and flour cooked to a smooth paste, until it is either just thickened or thickened and lightly brown.

— Ragout: a rich brown stew.

— Frizzle: to fry in hot fat until the edges of the food curl.

— Mirpois: a French term for a combination of finely chopped and sauteed vegetables, which are then usually added to a casserole or a dish where you will be braising the meat. — Heloise

GETTING ORGANIZED

Dear Heloise: I have two cabinets in the cellar, and I have a small house with no space in the kitchen. One cabinet is for items that are used weekly such as pasta, rice, peanut butter, soup, dry items, tomato sauce/paste, bathroom supplies, etc. However, on one Saturday, my daughter went to retrieve something in the cabinet and told me, “Mom, this expired two years ago!”

I reorganized each of the four shelves so that the top shelf is for items that expire in the current year, then the next, and so forth. Each shelf is labeled by year. The other one is full of items for “what if!” (Nonperishables, pasta and other dry items, dry milk, water, toilet paper, towels, warm blankets, etc.) I’m now organized! — M.P., via email

ABANDONED PUPPIES

Dear Heloise: Last week, my husband and I were taking a walk through a wooded area near our home. We came across a cardboard box with two puppies of about 5 or 6 weeks old. There was no food or water and only a towel on the bottom of the box. Clearly, they had been abandoned. They shivered with the cold and clung to each other because they were frightened. Our vet said if they spent one or two more freezing nights in the cold, the puppies would have died.

Why do people do things like this? The mother should have been spayed, and no one has the right to treat any animal like trash to be tossed away. They feel the cold and rejection; they also feel hunger and need someone to take them in and care for them.

If you have a dog, cat or any animal, it’s your responsibility to take good care of them! We decided to keep these little guys, and what a joy they are to have! — Matthew and Diane, in New Hampshire

SEND A GREAT HINT TO:

Heloise@Heloise.com