Culinary knowledge is one of those skills that once you master it, changes your life. Let’s face it, we will always need to eat, so knowing how to squeeze every ounce of flavor from even the most simple ingredients will pay dividends for the rest of our lives. But behind cookbooks and old family recipes, there are mountains of secret techniques waiting to be discovered.
A netizen wanted to hear others' favorite cooking hacks and the internet delivered. Some were common sense ideas that people discovered too late, others were weird tricks that actually work, so get your notebooks and get comfortable, there are some great hacks listed here. Be sure to upvote your favorites and comment your own cooking secrets below.
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Prep everything first. Have all of your veggies cut and ingredients ready. You will be more relaxed.
Clean as you go. Wash your dishes while waiting for your food to finish cooking. Less dishes to deal with at the end of the night.
100% this and if you "line up" your veggies in the order they need to be cooked time wise, there's no guesswork.
If a recipe says to sauté onions and garlic together at the same time, DON'T. Do the onions first, and then add the garlic when the onions are just about done. Garlic can be over sautéed and it takes on a bitter flavor.
If your executive function is betraying you and you rely on microwaveable or premade meals, find something small you can add to make them more substantial and to feel more like a meal. Add chopped broccoli to ramen noodles. Cumin and red pepper flakes are great to toss in, too. Cook minute rice with a chicken boullion cube and some butter and pretend it’s risotto. Personal favorite is to dump a can of corn into a microwave-safe bowl and mix in a bunch of taco seasoning. And if clean-up is a struggle too, use paper plates and bamboo flatware. Disposable chopsticks are super cheap and easy to find online.
When you’re struggling with depression, fatigue, or anything that makes taking care of yourself harder, taking shortcuts isn’t laziness, it’s how you survive to make those more daunting tasks a little less scary.
Unrelated: if you’re making a soup or stir fry with lots of veggies, sauté the veggies a bit before adding other ingredients til the onions are translucent. I’m sure there’s some food science reason that this makes soups taste better but I have no idea what it is.
Cooking is an art but how creative are you actually while in the kitchen? Many of us tend to pick up tips and tricks from our parents, so when we get to cook for ourselves, we often repeat the already well-established pattern of actions and dishes. My grandmother’s favorite hack was to always fry the chicken a little bit before putting it into a soup to enhance the flavors of the broth, and now I do it myself when I am in the kitchen.
But for every great idea imparted by friends, family, or even random internet users, there are still hundreds more waiting to be discovered. This comes with that annoying risk that you find out about some mindblowing tip much too late. Imagine someone who never used my grandma’s trick, learning it in their fifties, finding out that they could have had hundreds of better bowls of chicken soup. So commit to lifelong learning.
Butter. That’s it. That’s the whole tip. Use more butter.
Not mine, but my wife browns the butter before she adds it to chocolate chip cookie dough and they're the best freakin cookies I've ever eaten!
Do you not like vegetables but want to learn to love them?
**Roast**.**That**.**S**t**.
Roasted veggies are like ambrosia of the gods. They taste amazing, require virtually no prep, and go with everything.
**Edit:** As a secondary hack - boil your dense/root vegetables *before* roasting if you're trying to get a crunchy exterior. Boiling something like a potato heats it evenly and causes moisture to be lost via steam as you let it cool. The result is a drier potato that will crisp more evenly and requires less time in the hot oven.
Roasted root vegetables are the most delicious vegetables. I've been baking roast pork dinner pasties for child's work lunches today. Slow roasted the pork shoulder in a roasting bag in the slow cooker yesterday, bag roasted the root veggies in the air fryer. Root veggies release their sugars when roasted.
A lot of good techniques just come down to mastering the order of operations and learning how to use your space effectively. If you have a massive kitchen, loads of equipment, and all the time in the world, you seem like you have the time and resources to do whatever you please. The rest of us, however, need to get every crumb of efficiency out of the things we already have. Take any yeasted dough, for example. Often, these have to sit in a bowl (sometimes multiple times) while they prove and rise. So now you have a large bowl that needs to stay warm, taking up space for hours. The solution? Leave it in your oven. Just make sure it’s off.
MSG m***********s.
You ever wonder why restaurant food tastes so good?
Why some food is so f****n rich in flavor?
Why you just can't stop eating that one kind of chip?
It's probably MSG.
It's perfectly safe in moderation, naturally occurs in many foods, and adds a delicious flavor to your food.
whats up with the downvotes on here? MSG is not good in every dishes tbh and everyone knows that. But it can make the dishes delish too but dont add too much on everything its bad
Sandwiches taste better when cut into triangles
I agree! I ordered a sandwich in this week and asked that it must be cut into triangles. The girl at the counter laughed and the asked if I was serious. I did not laugh and said yes please.
If your food is bland even though you've added salt then it's missing acidity. Lemon juice, lime juice, or vinegar are easy additions.
Now, planning is a large part of cooking and serving food. Plates need to be ready, cutlery and glasses cleaned, and so on. And of course, the beverages weren’t in the fridge long enough and now you risk serving lukewarm wine. Unacceptable. There are two methods. Fill a pitcher with ice and some water and dunk the bottle in. Nice, chilled beverages in minutes. A slightly more risky, but equally effective method is to wrap the bottle in a damp towel or piece of cloth and place it in the freezer. Just make sure you don’t forget it, as then you might end up with a block of flavored ice or even a shattered bottle.
Revive veggies that have lost their water by cutting their edges and soaking them in cold water. Lettuce, carrots, celery will be crisp again.
I did this with some floppy celery last thanksgiving and was amazed at how well it worked. Science is amazing 🤩
I'm coming in too late for anyone to ever see this.
Shallots are the vegan equivalent of bacon. They make just about everything better.
A quality set of **scissors** will save you so much hassle...
I've been using my kitchen scissors to cut stuff for many, many years. It started when my three kids were little.....I could cut up a slice of pizza into small pieces in seconds.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, a great way how to keep things cold is to wrap in in bubble wrap. It keeps warmth out, allowing your ice cream to hold its consistency and not become a container of soup. The downside is that it does look a bit silly and will not help your dining table look elegant in any way. But if you don’t have an ice box and need to transport ice cream or something similar, it’s a good bet. Just use more than one layer.
I always take my cookies out of the oven a couple minutes or so before they're supposed to come out. They still cook a little bit when they're cooling on the pan, and as a result they come out nice and soft.
I have burned many batches of cookies by stupidly leaving them in for so long- "oh, they're soft, so just one more minute!" Yeah, well, it only takes 60 seconds to turn golden-brown chocolate chip cookies into ash.
Knives, get good knives and a sharpener
Here is your complementary “a falling knife has no handle” and “dull knives are more dangerous than sharp knives” comment 😊
If you want to keep some veggies nice and crisp on a summer day, or you are going to have a fancy picnic with a cheese-covered charcuterie board, there are some ways to keep your ingredients nice and cool. Place ice in a ziplock bag (as long as it’s waterproof) then place, for example, a baking sheet or even lettuce leaves over it. Then put the whole thing in a walled container. This will create a nice, cool platform that will stop your cheeses from turning to mush and keep your carrots crunchy. Just make sure the vessel is actually waterproof, otherwise, you’ll have an impromptu soup. If you want to check out some other cooking hacks, Bored Panda has you covered, so click here, here, and here.
Boiling stuff in broth instead of water. Rice, potatoes etc. When making mashed potatoes, boiling them in chicken stock seriously makes a world of difference.
Adding a sour cream dip instead of milk adds a whole different taste and texture to mash.
Boxed chocolate cake - use cooled brewed coffee instead of the water. Richens the flavor so much. I do it with boxed brownies too.
Not everyone cooks, my advice…..
Take the time to learn how to cook from scratch or raw ingredients. Learn this as early as you can. You will eat better food and enjoy it far more by knowing exactly what’s in it and how it was made. As an added bonus it’s far cheaper in terms of monetary output. You still pay with your time but your overall quality of life will greatly improve.
Yes!! I wish schools worldwide would make children learn about cooking in their early teens. I had "Home Ec" in middle school that taught both cooking and sewing, as well as "industrial arts", which taught carpentry and metal working, and every student had to take these courses. Lots of boys discovered their cooking/sewing talents and girls, their wood and metal craft talents. I'm disappointed with French schools because they are focused on basic education of language, history and maths with very little diversity into these areas, and when a student reaches high school (lycée), they are supposed to choose a school that supports their academic interests without having supported their full potential, which they haven't fully explored.
Wet paper towel around most things I put in the microwave.
For instance, the kids love those sgitty frozen pancakes. I put them on a microwave safe plate and cover in a moist paper towel. No hard nasty edges that need to be cut away. They taste damn near "fresh," lol
My coupe de Gras > Reheating Pizza
Get a pan nice and hot with a little oil and put your pizza crust side down, of course. Let that baby cook to crispen up. Then have a lid for your pan and turn your heat off. Add a splash of water and cover it and let it sit. That will heat and melt the cheese again. It is the ONLY way to reheat pizza properly. It's an absolute gamechanger. I like all the fixens on my pizza, and even with 13 toppings, it comes out like I just ordered it.
If you’re making a savory dish that uses crushed/minced garlic, reserve a little bit of the fresh garlic and stir it in to the dish right before serving.
The fresh garlic adds a bit of a pop that you lose if it’s cooked.
That's if you like the taste of raw garlic, which I hate. I'm now having nightmares with garlic breath
If you're cutting up chicken or some other meat that will spoil, put the scraps into a Ziploc bag and put them in the freezer until garbage day. That way they will not make your garbage smell and you're throwing out chicken ice cubes basically.
pretty much every soup can use a lil drop of lemon juice
In cooking, acid is your friend. In the real world, maybe not so much.
Preheat. Preheat the oven every time. Let your pan heat up, and let the oil heat up.
When I sauté veggies, (chopped onions, bell peppers, etc.) I prep the veggies first, **add salt** to the prep bowl, and let it sit for 10-20 minutes before adding the veggies to the pan. The salt will penetrate the veggies, and drive water out. Veggies taste better, and take less time to sear and pick up color.
If your frozen food has instructions for cooking from *thawed*, move that food from the freezer to the fridge the day before and cook it from thawed. It will almost always be better.
If you're not sure if a pan is hot enough before adding oil/butter/fat, flick a little cold water in it. If it's silent, leave and repeat, if it sizzles add your fat.
Using almond extract in addition to vanilla when baking. It absolutely enhances the flavor.
Ice cube in the center of your leftover rice before you microwave it - makes the rice get soft and fluffy again
Something missing from your tomato pasta sauce? Add a splash of Worcestershire sauce. Makes it taste rich and fuller.
I find wine works better. Worcestershire sauce is a fish based condiment and can increase saltiness. If you're making a tomato based pasta sauce using a red meat mince, add the Worcestershire sauce to the meat whilst browning.
If your making a BLT or some kind of toasted sandwich, only toast one side of the bread and use that for the inside of the sandwich.
It stops you grating the roof of your mouth.
Steak.
1. Meat thermometers cost less than the steak you're about to ruin.
2. The whole "pinch this finger or that finger and that's rare or medium or whatever" thing when cooking steak is b******t. Everyone's hands are different as are our senses of touch.
3. 50⁰C is rare. 60⁰C is medium. 70⁰C is well done.
4. You don't need to bring steak up to temp before cooking unless it's very thick (like a rump). The inside warms and cooks slower than the rest because its insulated. If you're cooking a thick piece of meat straight from the fridge you're going to get an overdone outside and undercooked inside.
5. Never cook a wet steak. Pat it dry and season it with salt and pepper. The salt breaks the steak down and makes it more tender and forgiving in the cooking process. It releases more moisture so pat it dry again. The longer you leave it salted the more the protein gets broken down.
6. You lose 30-50% of your seasoning in a pan so always over do it.
7. Plain steak is nice, but cooking it with additional fats (like butter) and aromatics like garlic, rosemary etc. make it amazing.
8. Sticky burned stuff on the pan? Good. Stick it on a high heat and add any tasty liquid. Wine, sherry, port, whisky, bourbon, stock etc. will break down the protein left in the pan and remove it while creating what's called a pan-sauce. Add flour to thicken or cream or milk to add volume. This is the perfect thing to do while you..
9. Rest the meat after cooking I.e. stop cooking it and leave it alone for 5 minutes or longer.
If you don’t have cast iron pan, you are missing out on a lot.
- use an ice cream scoop with a sharp edge to spoon seeds out of a squash
- rub a raw clove of garlic on a piece of frozen bread to make quick garlic bread (the frozen texture of the bread kind of acts as a grater on the garlic)
- freeze left over tomato paste from a can into 1 table spoon chunks to use later - I also do this with freshly grated ginger to have it ready to go later
- keep grounded flax seeds in the freezer to use as an egg replacer in muffins (mix 1 table spoon of ground flax seeds with 3 table spoons of water)
- use a vege peeler to cut thin ribbons of vegetable (cucumber, carrots, etc.)
- use kitchen scissors to cut pizza
- get a bit more green onions out of your green onions if you don't need the bottom part, put the roots in water an the green part will regrow
Prep everything before you start cooking.
If it's "missing something" but you don't know what, then add a pinch of salt or a splash of acid.
Whoever didn't cook, cleans up afterwards.
Adding cacao powder to your beef stew for some extra depth
I use soy sauce in a lot of stews and soups to help bring out savory flavors. My minestrone, for instance, usually has some soy sauce in it.
Worcestershire sauce and HP sauce are my go to for salt and a meaty flavour.
Microwaving broccoli is not only ok to do, it can also preserve the most amount of nutrients than any other method of cooking it.
Dont fry bacon on a stove. Place the strips on a cookie sheet, throw in the oven at about 400 until the doneness you like. Use parchment paper or aluminum foil and there is virtually no clean up.
Leaving a potholder on the handle of a cleaned cast iron pan to let anyone who might put it away know it may be hot as it cools down.
Wear my contacts to cut onions. I’m unstoppable.
Just don't cut the root part was the best advice I had from a chef. Makes it easier to slice and dice the rest of the onion too. All the tips such as goggles, contacts, chilling the onion, lemon juice, under water (the onion, not me... though maybe 🤔), sharp knife, etc had never worked for me as I have super sensitive eyes (one is stinging right now from having super sensitive, hypoallergenic, suitable for eyes suncream near as a test to see if I could tolerate it - apparently not😭). Still, whatever works for you!
Put a damp paper towel under your cutting board to prevent it from sliding around when you are cutting.
Rinse your sauce jars with a bit of water to clean them out and not waste any sauce.
If you buy jarred pasta sauce, add just a few tablespoons of water to the jar after you dump it and put the lid back on - give it a few brisk shakes & dump it with the rest of the sauce.
Also on board with the clean while you cook crew. Far easier than having a ton of mess afterwards. And clean *everything* - don't just give the stovetop a swipe. If you have a gas stove, take the burner grates off and clean around the burners, etc - and if the grates are dirty, give those a wash as well. Grease & dirt build up FAST in these areas and that's how you end up with a crusty stovetop.
Or just get an induction cooktop and it's easier to clean than your countertop because nothing gets burned on it!
Whenever you make poultry in the oven, do not waste the sweet drippins' on the pan when it's done. Thats pure flavor right there bubba, grab u some red wine vinegar and scrape the pan with a spatula. Then pour that good stuff over the meat. Easier than a sonofabitch and tastes damn good too. Bless.
Well the drippings from roasting a chicken should be the start of the gravy. If they're sticking to the pan and burning while still in the oven add some wine or water to keep if liquid, then you don't need vinegar to deglaze it. Spoon off most of the fat before adding sherry, port or wine to taste, water, seasoning and a little cornflour mixed with water to thicken once you've got the flavours right.
Baked potato: 3-5 minutes in microwave before going in oven.
Wash berries in white vinegar, then, rinse them in water.
Greatly extends their shelf life, the vinegar does a good job of killing mold and such, without effecting the taste.
Wash in vinegar, not soak. And rinse in water immediately.
Do similar tasks all at once. Making potatoes and carrots? Peel both first, then chop, don't do one veg and then the other. You'll have a better rhythm with your tools and you'll only have to change tools once instead of three times. Breaking down a pack of chicken thighs? Do all the skins and fat at once, all the bones at once, then all the slicing at once.
Also, keep a damp rag next to your cutting board for cleaning your board and knife, and keep a dry rag over your shoulder for drying or wiping anything as needed. This saves a ton of trips over to the sink and/or towel holder.
I don’t like this tip. I understand cutting ready to eats at the same time but 100 percent do veg one then the other. You can run into cross contamination easily. Even if it’s not in terms of making someone Ill leached flavors and juices contaminating other foods.
If a veggie grows underground, put it in the pot before it comes to a boil. Any other veggie, and everything else (spaghetti, instant ramen, rice, meat, seafood) put it in when it is boiling
edit, not rice idk why I said that
Hard boiled eggs.
Steam them in a veggie basket and they peel perfectly, no old eggs or new eggs trick or anything
Steam for 13 min and put in cold water. 98% success rate.
A lot of kitchen gadgets are pretty dumb, but I love my electric egg steamer. If I want jammy yolks, it's a scant quarter cup of water. For hard yolks, it's a generous quarter cup. The machine does it's thing, and then I drop them in an ice water bath. The alarm on it sounds like a Dalek screaming, but the eggs come out perfect every time.
start cooking with an empty dishwasher and fill as you go.
always have a red and a white wine specifically for cooking lying around.
farmers market produce keeps longer than most other produce.
let your lettuce sit in ice water until your ready to serve to maximize crunch.
I don't have a dishwasher but I do this with my washing up bowl.
Never use margarine in a recipe, always use real butter. The taste of margarine is entirely different even if people claim it isn't.
When using Lipton's onion soup mix in a recipe, always add double what the recipe calls for.
When you get a roaster chicken at the store, make your own broth with the bones and carcass when you're done. It's time consuming, but it honest to god makes wherever you cook it smell like home.
I keep my chicken carcasses in the freezer, and when I've got half a dozen or so, I make stock. I then reduce it and reduce it until it is very concentrated. After cooling I pop it in small ziplock bags, label and freeze. Each baggie makes up to a litre of stock once diluted again.
salt and pepper goes in everything
When making sweet baked goods, you should add salt to the dough or batter. It enhances flavor, balances sweetness, and counters any bitterness (like molasses).
if you leave beans on water at least 12 hours before cooking will help release the gas, this will make them behave in your belly and not cause too much gas there🤣🙌
Microwaving potatoes before I roast them
Instead of buying umpteen cook books full of recipes, buy a good book about cooking and general food science instead (e.g. [Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Food_and_Cooking)). It'll teach you a lot of valuable stuff *about* cooking that you'll use every day regardless of what you're cooking.
It's *the* single best (non-fiction) book I've ever bought.
Have a "cheat sheet" for times things go in the oven and how long it takes so you can prepare side dishes to go with the entree.
Using gingerbread’s spice set in banana bread.
Starting bacon in an inch of water has been a game changer for me and I'll never go back. Renders the fat and raises the temperature of the meat, then when the water is boiled off it crisps up *perfectly* in 2-3 minutes at low-medium heat.
I only use this if I need the fat quickly in an emergency, otherwise just do your bacon in the oven
When making stuffed shells by hand, mix the filling in a zip top bag, then cut a corner off and use it as a makeshift piping bag to fill the shells.
may i suggest ditching the plastic bags and using a reusable ziplock of silicone? ziplocks are totally unnecessary and are destroying the ocean and planet and animals... reusable containers are better and the food stays fresh longer than in ziplocks... silicone bags are fine, you can snip the corners of one or buy a icing bag.
Whenever I use a pan, I preheat it by dropping a bit of water on it. When the water evaporates, I know the pan is hot. My sister taught me that trick about 15 years ago, and I do it every time. It helps things to cook more evenly
Cook meatloaf in a round bundt pan instead of a loaf pan. Increased surface area means more of the meatloaf is the outer crust, which is the best part of meatloaf.
I learned this from my wife and I'll never go back to making rectangular meatloaf.
Have no idea what a bundt pan is but will google it. A Bundt cake is a cake that is baked in a Bundt pan, shaping it into a distinctive doughnut shape. The shape is inspired by a traditional European cake known as Gugelhupf, but Bundt cakes are not generally associated with any single recipe. The style of mold in North America was popularized in the 1950s . Ah, ok, thanks google.
Freeze anything with liquid when there is extra. Open a tomato paste and need 1TB? Freeze the rest of the can in a flattened zip lock. Break a piece off when needed. Extra gravy from thanksgiving? Freeze it. Make extra sauce on pasta night and freeze the rest. Now you don’t have to settle for jarred stuff when having mozz sticks. Open a pineapple juice can for 2oz? Freeze the rest in 1oz increments. Leftover creamed spinach? Freeze it and either eat later or add to scrambled eggs for the best scrambled eggs you’ve ever had.
I use copious amounts of tomato paste and I always buy it in a jar. After taking out what I need I screw the lid on tightly and turn it upside down before putting it in the fridge. I read this somewhere and haven't had to throw away tomato paste, garlic, ginger or mustard since.
My wife makes chocolate chip cookies that feel like cookie dough, well after they've been cooked.
The things Ive seen her do
a) Get eggs to room temp
b) Place the dough in the fridge for several hours after mixing
c) Place the cookies on a tray as tall cylinder shape, so when the cookies bake, the will cook out and and become huge.
She only makes them for parties, and unfortunately, there are never any leftovers.
Buy a 5 lb bag of onions, caramelize all the onions at once, divide up into portions and package individually, then freeze.
The onions cook down to a manageable size during caramelization. Only needs to be done once every few months this way.
----
*edit to clarify*
Yes, the slow cooker trick works (olive oil, salt, set on low overnight).
And yes, it really takes longer to caramelize onions than many recipe writers claim. There's a whole rabbit hole about cooking time: In 2012 Tom Scocca wrote a takedown of onion caramelization lie, and in 2017 Scocca wrote a followup because a very faulty Google algorithm was still lying and citing him as its source. Six years later the top Google returns on cooking time are still a jumble: everywhere from 15 minutes to 65 minutes. The truth is it takes around an hour on the stove. LPT: slow cookers are the way to go if you have one.
https://slate.com/human-interest/2012/05/how-to-cook-onions-why-recipe-writers-lie-and-lie-about-how-long-they-take-to-caramelize.html
https://gizmodo.com/googles-algorithm-is-lying-to-you-about-onions-and-blam-1793057789
*edit #2*
A pressure cooker won't do the job as well. The website Serious Eats still publishes a recipe yet they no longer recommend it due to negative user feedback about texture.
At the end of the summer, I buy a 50-pound bag of onions. Over the winter, I peel and dice them and dry them in a low oven, then grind them and have a year's worth of roasted onion powder. I do the same with 25 pounds of tomatoes and various types of chiles. It's a lot of time-consuming work, but totally worth it.
Find a seasoning blend you like (pre-blended or not; if not, make your own blend ahead of time for ease), and put it in everything. Well, not everything, but a lot of things, and use your own judgment on how much of it for each dish, but even a little sprinkle can really do wonders.
Silpat or knock off Silpat mats are amazing (I've used both the actual brand and random ones from Costco, no difference). Put one down on your baking sheet, bake away, mats are super easy to clean and you'll have very little clean up on the baking sheet itself.
I never end up following this, but clean as you go.
Also my grandma thought us this trick- if you made the meal, or most of it, sit down for a bit before you eat, maybe have a glass of water or something while you wait. You'll relax and break the "cooking mode" and be able to go into "enjoy the meal mode." She cooked for five kids and a husband in addition to herself, so she knew the value of it.
Using the same spice blend for multiple dishes just means that they will all taste the same, no? I have one base mix (cloves, star anise, cinnamon) that I use in a few Mexican casserole-type dishes, but always just as a starting point before adding other spices. Only really do this because it needs to be ground up finely - if you're just mixing pre-ground spices there;'s really no point to this whatsoever.
My kids like hard boiled eggs. I only make them in the air fryer now. I haven’t had a hard time peeling them since doing this
Whatever amount of garlic is in the recipe, double it.
The biggest one that comes to mind when I think of home cooks is not using time well. A watched pot never boils, yeah, but most everything you're going to make at home does NOT need to be babysat. While your pan is heating, using that 3 minutes to cut an onion or some veggies you need. You can fully julienne an onion in under 2 minutes with just a little technique and practice. After you put the beef in the pan, go ahead and wash the cutting board and knife, since it's gonna take at least another 2-3 minutes for the bottom side of the beef to cook. Give it a quick stir, then grate cheese or prepare bread or setup your plates, ANYTHING else relevant to preparing dinner besides just standing and watching/stirring. And for gods sake, wash the f*****g dishes BEFORE you go to eat. It takes all of 5 minutes; If you're using so many dishes in cooking one average meal that it takes longer than 5 minutes at the end to finish what's left of dishes, you're using **too many dishes**.
Now, for quick tips that might be more in line with what you had in mind (for home cooks).
Destemming herbs? Don't waste money on a special tool! Just grab the bunch by the stem, stick the tines of a fork just behind where the leaves start, and pull down. Repeat a couple times until fully destemmed. Less than 10 seconds.
Don't use beef leaner than 80/20 for burgers. The burgers need that bit of fat to hold them together and for optimal flavor. It's also incredibly easy for them to come out dry if it is leaner than 80/20.
BUY AND USE A DIGITAL THERMOMETER FOR YOUR MEATS. Don't worry about learning to "feel" how done it is like a tv chef does; you only need to learn to do that if you're cooking 50+ steaks a night.
Whichever cabinet you put seasonings in, just put your USDA meat temps on a piece of paper and tape it on the inside of the door.
In the same vein, do NOT put the thermometer directly downward into the meat. You can hit a hot/cold spot, or push through and register the heat of the pan. Always put it long ways, into the thickest part of the meat. Think of it like landing on a piece of metal, and it going through your stomach, versus landing on it and it going up your a*s. You wanna use the "up the a*s" ideology of temping meats. If the thickest part is done, the thinner parts are done.
Tired of cooking chicken breast, and by the time the thickest part is finally done, then thinner parts are dry and overcooked? Cut the breast in half and make 2 thinner ones. If the cut is even, the cook is even, and vice versa. If it HAS to be thick, cook it in the oven with some kind of juice/broth to maintain moisture.
Burgers keep turning into thick pucks when you're cooking them? When you press the meat out, don't just throw a ball down, press it by hand, and done.
Imagine packing a tin can full of ground beef. The walls prevent the beef from going outwards, forcing the strand of meat to compact in on themselves. Use your other hand to emulate the walls of the can, one side at a time, and pack down with the opposite hand. You DON'T have to pack it in with your 'can hand', just prevent it from going outward as it wants. That takes care of 90% of the thickness, you can just press out whatever comes up after that. Don't f**k around with whatever that thumb in the center b******t is, it doesn't work worth a s**t.
Don't put the blade (the smooth, not cog-looking wheel) of the rotary can opener on TOP of the can, so that you have to fish the lid out of the inside. Instead, rotate the can opener 90° so that the blade is cutting into the label, and do it that way. It's easier on your hands and take the entire top off, no more fishing lids out and f*****g up my knife tips. You can also open a can from Campbells Soup to a #8 Bean can and beyond with the same manual rotary can opener you have in your house.
And remember, cooking is an *art*, NOT a science. What I mean by that is, baking requires your measurements to be exact. That's why professional level baking is generally done by weight and not by conventional 'cups' or anything of the sort.
Cooking, however, does NOT.
You do not have to put EXACTLY 1 cup (8oz) of oil into this dish. If it's a little one way or the other (not including sauces), it's going to be *fine*. You are NOT going to be able to tell if a dish had 8 oz of oil or 7.7oz of oil. The amount of times you've eaten something at a restaurant with an ingredient that doesn't even come with it would astonish you.
Have fun with it! Cook with your senses!
What food do you think of when you smell a certain spice? When I smell cumin, all I think is "Tacos/mexican food". So, to me, it would be a clear winner to include in a mexican dish. Oh, I want a philly cheese steak, but with a bit of a mexican food zing to it? Add some cumin, onion powder, and jalapeño powder to the meat when you cook it, throw some of that mix on the veggies, top it with... I'd say chipotle gouda for the spice complexity, softness, and how well it melts. But what if you thought there was enough seasoning, and now you wanted a little of the cream richness from the cheese to balance it out? Boom, goat cheese. Still in line with your theme, cuts out the seasoning, gives you that heaviness of the cream to counter the savory of the seasonings, and you get a nice little 'tangy' flavor that may inspire you for a better seasoning blend to complement that aspect next time. Was it a little too bland? Well, seasoning or salt on the cheese would definitely overwhelm the flavor and defeat the point. So, add herbs to the cheese, perhaps cilantro, to complement the theme further. Maybe you hate cilantro? F**k it, it's your show! Think a parsley and chive combo would go better, though it's not really in line with the theme/culture? Go for it!
I prefer my tacos at home to have extra sharp cheddar at home. Sure, that's a f*****g *gringo* taco if I've ever heard of one, but I like the way the sharpness of the cheddar cuts directly through the savory and salty richness of the beef seasoning, in much the same way the cold of the cheese is juxtaposed to the warmth of the beef; the heaviness of the cream balances the savory and salty in the taco.
Sure, don't put peppermints on pizza, but your taste is an offshoot of your smell; If it smells like it would go good in it, it would probably taste good in it, too. Did it ruin the whole dish and make it inedible? Ok, you found something that doesn't work in that dish (for YOUR tastes), so that's one thing off the possible list. Throw it out for animals, throw it away. Don't experiment with your entire dinner for the week.
You don't have to be an expert or know all kinds of food science.
Let your nose do the shopping, let your hands do the work, and let your mouth do the relaxing.
Half a star anise in any beef mince dish. It just adds a tiny lift that I really enjoy. Ragu, Chilli, Crispy beef and broccoli etc. Just half is enough. I’ll also add it to steamed rice sometimes but also cardomam pods work well to perfume it.
If you're making a rich meat sauce, try blending up about 8oz of chicken livers and adding it in. I do it in my Bolognese and it adds a real richness and doesn't taste like liver at all. I use an immersion blender and it completely liquifies them.
Not really cooking, but I’ll still give the tip lol
Any time I get sick or have a medical issue going on that involves tests and treatments that leave me tired and stressed..
I always order food from this one Chinese restaurant. The prices are amazing for 1 serving but you end up with 4 for what (to me) feels like the price of 1.
They reheat for a couple days better than anything I’ve ever reheated.
I can usually be sure there’s rice (easy on my stomach), chicken/protein, and vegetables.
I have begun stocking my freezer with enough leftovers that I can just grab one when my health/energy prevents me from cooking. It has helped me cut my cholesterol because I'm not just eating frozen pies etc from the supermarket.
Halving cherry tomatoes between two container lids
Unfortunately, too many people never learned how to cook at all. I especially lmao on the "boiled egg hacks" for better peeling eggs. There is no secret if you know how to boil eggs.
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Use a cast Iron pan for browning just about anything. And especially for cooking steaks. Takes a LOT longer to get the same level of caramelisation in nonstick, and ends up steaming rather than browning.
It's called the "Maillard reaction" and can be accomplished on a non-stick pan too.
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My contribution to this list: If you want to eat raw cookie dough but are concerned about getting sick: 1. Find a good cookie recipe 2. Leave out the eggs (they are only used as a binding agent and might make you sick if you eat them raw) 3. Put the flour into a pan or an oven and bake it at 180 degrees Celsius for 6 minutes (flour is raw wheat which can contain e. coli and salmonella) 4. If the recipe says to use cooking chocolate, it is safer (and in my opinion tastier) to use regular chocolate since you won't be cooking the dough 5. Mix all of the ingredients together as the recipe says 6. Enjoy! Let me know if I have forgotten something or made any mistakes, but this recipe seems to work for me!
What replaces the eggs as a fluid in the recipe? Did you compensate with water or oil? Are you afraid of the quality of flour you buy-- if I need to bake the flour per your description, I might as well just bake cookies! What is your definition of "regular chocolate" because baking cacao is a powder, and there's also baking chocolate which needs to be melted, but neither contain any sugar, so how should your recipe be augmented to consider any added sugar that "regular chocolate" might have compared to "baking chocolate" or cacao powder? You also don't mention the refrigeration that is essential for the ingredients to form a bond, and which is a present factor in all store bought choc chip cookie dough. Do you eat this concoction often? Inquiring minds want to know!
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Unfortunately, too many people never learned how to cook at all. I especially lmao on the "boiled egg hacks" for better peeling eggs. There is no secret if you know how to boil eggs.
Load More Replies... Use a cast Iron pan for browning just about anything. And especially for cooking steaks. Takes a LOT longer to get the same level of caramelisation in nonstick, and ends up steaming rather than browning.
It's called the "Maillard reaction" and can be accomplished on a non-stick pan too.
Load More Replies... My contribution to this list: If you want to eat raw cookie dough but are concerned about getting sick: 1. Find a good cookie recipe 2. Leave out the eggs (they are only used as a binding agent and might make you sick if you eat them raw) 3. Put the flour into a pan or an oven and bake it at 180 degrees Celsius for 6 minutes (flour is raw wheat which can contain e. coli and salmonella) 4. If the recipe says to use cooking chocolate, it is safer (and in my opinion tastier) to use regular chocolate since you won't be cooking the dough 5. Mix all of the ingredients together as the recipe says 6. Enjoy! Let me know if I have forgotten something or made any mistakes, but this recipe seems to work for me!
What replaces the eggs as a fluid in the recipe? Did you compensate with water or oil? Are you afraid of the quality of flour you buy-- if I need to bake the flour per your description, I might as well just bake cookies! What is your definition of "regular chocolate" because baking cacao is a powder, and there's also baking chocolate which needs to be melted, but neither contain any sugar, so how should your recipe be augmented to consider any added sugar that "regular chocolate" might have compared to "baking chocolate" or cacao powder? You also don't mention the refrigeration that is essential for the ingredients to form a bond, and which is a present factor in all store bought choc chip cookie dough. Do you eat this concoction often? Inquiring minds want to know!
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