People Online Trashed These Well-Known Food Hacks That Are Useless In Real Life (28 Responses)
Interview With Expert
Cooking is so much fun, and it will nourish your body and your soul, too. The interesting part is that people always share all kinds of amazing cooking hacks that are supposed to make the process easier.
The problem is that not all of the hacks are good. Some of them are pretty unnecessary and might even make cooking more complicated. That’s why when someone online asked about the weirdest food hacks that don’t make sense in real life, many netizens were quick to share.
More info: Reddit
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Cauliflower pizza crust. Whoever invented this healthy alternative should be jailed.
Cauliflower rice.
It's not rice. It will never be rice. Literally worse than nut juice.
Am I the only person who actually loves cauliflower? I've never tried the pizza crust or the cauliflower rice whatever that is.. but yeah no I love cauliflower. Sometimes steamed sometimes with a little cheese definitely cut in small pieces for salads and shocking but I actually like it on pizza. You cut it up in very small pieces cover it with some garlic and cheese and it's delicious
Nothing will top the disappointment I felt after swapping out butter for mayo on a grilled cheese.
I follow the rule 'If it sounds disgusting, it probably is disgusting'.
Cooking can be extremely fun or tiring, depending on whether you enjoy the process or not. A Gallup and Cookpad study of cooking across the world found that Northern, Southern, and Western Europe cooked the most, with an average of 7.8 home-cooked meals a week. That’s a lot of tasty dishes being prepared!
A survey about cooking habits of people in the United States found that 50% of the respondents were okay with spending 30–60 minutes cooking a weekday meal. Creating a meal from scratch can be time-consuming, especially if you have to wash the dishes afterward. Culinary hacks can make your life easier, but this list shows that not all tips are useful.
Peeling garlic by shaking the cloves around in a (covered) bowl. I exhausted myself and the cloves are just sitting there in their skins, mocking me.
Cracking eggs on flat surfaces. I can't for the life of me get a clean horizontal crack. I just get a circular web of smashed egg shell, and the inner membrane is still intact. Every time I try this technique that everyone says is superior to cracking on the edge of the bowl, I inevitably decide to go back to that trusty bowl edge that almost* never gives me the problems those same people say it does. (* Only almost, that's why I keep trying the flat surface thing.).
I tried the shaking method to little success. But, if you cover them individually with the flat of your knife and smash down with the heel of your hand, the skins slip right off.
>And, don’t get me started on microwaving potatoes. A microwaved potato will never compare to a real, baked potato.
To my mind they're 2 different things for 2 different times. A microwaved potato is for a quick Wednesday dinner when I've got zero energy, I'm absolutely starving, and I wasn't to avoid ordering takeout. Potato in the microwave, tin of baked beans heated up, some grated cheese. A hot, filling, reasonably nutritious dinner in under 15 minutes.
But if I want a baked potato as a show stopper or as part of a bigger, nicer meal then it's going to be done in the oven.
Microwave until mostly cooked and finish in an oven/air fryer. Saves energy.
I don't see the point of keeping a bottle around to hoover up egg yolks to separate eggs. We don't have soda or bottled water around usually anyway, and any tool that was made to do this is now an extra thing to clean. Using the shell or my hands is just fine w/ me and faster tbh after do so often and with lots of eggs in a bakery when I was younger.
Bored Panda reached out to Eb Gargano, the creator of Easy Peasy Foodie and a professional blogger and foodie. She shared examples of food hacks that didn’t work for her, along with great cooking hacks and tips to make the process simpler. One tip she didn’t like was: “Peeling ginger with a spoon: It’s super fiddly, and there’s absolutely no need – just leave the skin on and grate your ginger on the small side of a cheese grater! (Much cheaper than buying it pre-chopped, too!)”
Another interesting example that Eb Gargano shared was, “Removing the stone from an avocado with a knife: I’ve nearly sliced my hand so many times trying to do this until I realized that you can just cut lengthways down the middle of the remaining half avocado and the 2 avocado quarters just come right off. I reckon I’ve probably saved myself a trip to A&E (The ER) by avoiding this hack!” It’s shocking to note that there have been 50,413 avocado-related knife injuries from 1998 to 2017.
I tried making one of those viral recipes for pasta that involved putting a block of Feta in a baking dish, with cherry tomatoes, garlic, thyme, and enough olive oil to make the US Military invade my apartment on the pretense of harboring WMDs.
Well…the feta didn’t really melt too well. I kept adding pasta water, mashing…no dice. It looked like vomit, had the acidity of vomit, and smelled like garlic and thyme flavored vomit.
Of course I tried to still eat it. Of course it tasted like salty, oily, lumpy, chunky vomit with pasta in it. It was revolting!
I relented and had a hot pocket for dinner.
Not sure why the recipe was telling them to add loads of oil and pasta water, but I am guessing that may be the issue (and something sounds off about the feta). I basically make this on a regular basis as it's a quick easy dinner, but just roast the tomatoes and feta with a light drizzle of oil, then mix through the pasta when it's ready. Never had an issue of having to try and mash the feta, or had to add any additional liquid other than what came out of the tomatoes
Ever see the weird thing where you put spaghetti noodles through hotdog bits and then cook them and it looks cool?
Yeah, you know how the spaghetti inside of the hotdog gets cooked? It doesn't. Enjoy your needles.
Not exactly a hack, but I’ve watched so many tutorials on how to cleanly filet a whole fish and I am convinced they are all CGI. Mine always come out looking like they were filleted by feral cats. 😆.
Fileting takes a lot of time to develop the skill. I was really good at it and I still had pieces that looks like it was done by feral cats. I will say however, technique, a very very sharp knife (preferably a filet knife for the shape) will help greatly. Also, larger meatier fish would have a cleaner finish.
Eb had a few more examples to share with us, like: “Peeling chickpeas to make smoother hummus: Who on earth has time for that? Just invest in a decent blender, use canned chickpeas, and follow a good recipe… and you can make really great homemade hummus in 5 minutes.”
“A garlic press: Just why? They are so annoying and fiddly to use… and just about impossible to get clean! Again, just grate it on the small side of a cheese grater. Much cheaper than buying it pre-chopped, and you can just throw the cheese grater in the dishwasher afterwards… and it actually gets clean,” she stated. If you love cooking, you’ll probably also agree with most of the examples she shared.
After you boil chicken breast you can throw it in the kitchen aid mixer to shred it.
Makes a mess, the chicken clumps up, and you end up with more dishes to wash. I prefer to shred by hand and/or using two forks.
Not necessarily a hack, but any and every "easy sheet pan dinner" I've tried turns out awful. Something is always overcooked or undercooked, the meat texture is off, etc.
I found one sheet pan recipe that is now a staple - even my kids love it. But different veggies cook at different rates so you have to find ones that will cook correctly together. Onions, bell pepper, broccoli, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, and chicken. 450°, 20 minutes. Perfection.
Anything to do with peeling garlic is a crock of s***.
I find the crush under the knife works pretty well actually. Once you hear the crunch, not to break it too much, it pretty much falls off. Or maybe I'm lucky lol
All of these food hack examples might seem absurd when you actually think about it, but there are certain gems that you should definitely try. For example, meal prepping is something that can save you time and energy so that you don’t have to constantly plan what to cook. Research has found that nearly 9 out of 10 Americans have meal prepped at least once, and 44% tend to meal prep on a regular basis.
Boiling potatoes first then peeling.
It takes me much less effort to just peel the potatoes at first, rather than boil then either wait until the potatoes cool or burn my hands to peel off the skin, either way getting skin that come with large chunks of potato still attached.
Self taught cook, and I nevet developed the technique of curling your fingers when chipping vegetables. I'm pretty quick with a knife, and in 20+ years of cooking can't recall a single time I've ever cut myself. When I finally tried the technique a few weeks ago I sliced the tip of my thumb off within 10 seconds.
Same, I don't need chef speed so I go at my own pace and I'm careful. I just find it hard to control my thumb...opposable not only in direction.
Any mango cutting hack just doesn't work.
Just got to eat it and have mango juice all over your face, hands and clothes. Ask any Caribbean kid. Lol
Here are a few tips from Eb that you’ll actually find useful when cooking: “Traybakes: just throw a bunch of ingredients into a tray and then let the oven do all the hard work! Using plain microwave rice for egg fried rice: This saves so much time and palaver! You need rice to be cold to make good egg-fried rice, which means you either need to cook and cool rice or magically have some you made yesterday in the fridge… Instead, I use plain microwave rice, and it means I can have a really authentic-tasting egg-fried rice on the table in under 15 minutes.”
One I've tried and have a better way of doing. Putting heavy cream in a jar and shaking it till it turns to butter. It takes forever even if the cream is room temp. I put mine in a food processor and it takes minutes, if that.
If you have ever watched some churning butter, in an actual churn, you know that it is not something that is done quickly, you EARN that butter. The only met I've seen done, in a way that doesn't require a ton of time and lots of sore arm, is in a stand-mixer with those really big whisks. There's still work to be done once it's separated from the buttermilk.
This chef on tv lined up lobster legs and used a rolling pin on them. All the meat just popped right out in perfect pieces. Absolute shenanigans.
Well, chefs on television are often wrong. Don't believe their lies!
"A pinch of baking soda to help onions caramelize faster"
Maybe I have a heavy pinch, but every time I've tried this I get onion glop instead of caramelized onions.
If you're making caramelized onions just be prepared to take the time to do so and stop worrying about stupid hacks that don't work. The water and natural sugars that escape during the process are no friend to baking soda so it's no wonder you'll end up with "onion glop". If there's any "hack", keep a squeeze bottle of water around to deglaze and bring out the color in the onions. Other than that, be patient. Good food takes time.
A poll of 2000 adults found that 31% didn’t have enough time to cook, 24% didn’t have enough knowledge of cooking, and around 15% worked too late to be able to cook fresh meals. People find it daunting to start cooking, and many don’t even know what to begin with. To help beginners in the kitchen, here’s what Eb advises, “Find a good recipe book or website (ahem, like mine) that has simple, straightforward recipes that are written in plain English and just have a go!”
“Start with simple recipes, like traybakes, soup, egg fried rice, pasta dishes and easy cakes. And don’t be afraid of making mistakes. In fact, don’t think of them as mistakes at all, but rather ‘experiments’… you won’t love everything you cook, but that’s part of the fun! You learn through experimentation,” she says.
Using a fork to remove the tendon from chicken tenderloins. Firstly, this has never worked for me anytime I've tried. The tendon is stuck in there good and I end up making a mess of the chicken and my hands. Second, I just cooked and ate the tendon for years before I realized I was supposed to do anything with it. Does it actually need to be removed? I dunno. I've stopped trying.
The cherry tomatoes between two plates method works, I’ve seen it many times. However, it’s been in professional kitchens and not with serrated knives. Just really sharp, well maintained Japanese knives. Does it save time? Yes. I found the results were mixed. Not all cherry tomatoes are the same size, so they would end up cut in a weird way. To a home cook, does that matter at the end of the day? Probably not. In a high volume restaurant does it matter? Maybe not. But in a higher end restaurant it matters, and knife skills are an incredibly important thing to develop if it’s you’re trade.
Yeah, I've seen, attempted, done this, too, and it's something you're either good at or you're not, really. Definitely safer and more common to use a serrated knife to do so and your hand and a cutting board are all you need if you have the skill. Professionally, I just cut each tomato individually for better consistency and quality control. When care and the "higher end" attitude matter it's best to process each tomato to make sure the bad squishy ones aren't being served. At home, whatever.
I tried cooking hashbrowns in a waffle maker, and I just can’t make it work.
Cooking is an incredibly useful skill, and you should enjoy it with the help of the right food hacks. Eb Gargano also shares “Cooking is like a muscle – the more you do it, the stronger/better you get at it… and the more you’ll learn about your own tastes and preferences. (And the more useful hacks you’ll pick up along the way!)”
Let us know what weird cooking hacks you’ve tried and which ones definitely don’t work.
Swirliing the water before dropping in eggs to poach. I just get egg white bits everywhere in the pot. I've had much better luck bringing the water to a simmer, shutting off the heat, and waiting until it's still before dropping in the eggs.
Taking the pit of an avocado out with a knife. Everytime I've tried, I've nearly cut off my finger. I'd rather just scoop the seed out with a spoon and waste some of the meat.
Plus, so many people go to the ER for avocado accidents!
I always use the knife to twist the pit out of an avocado.... never cut myself.... ever. People cutting themselves doing this probably 1) don't have great knife skills to begin with, 2) have super dull knives, 3) are using way to much force when thwacking the blade into the pit, and 4) are probably not letting the avocado ripen enough - the pit should twist out easily if it doesn't your avocado is still to green. These may not apply to everyone.... but have done this for 30+ years to 1,000's of avocado's.
Nothing you said is wrong. There is a small technique modification I'll add and that is when you pit an avocado you shouldn't be using the blade at all, rather just the tip of the butt end near the handle. Just that little corner of the end of the knife to pierce the pit, should pull right out.
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With practice you can just thwack the avocado half on the chopping board. No need to cut it on your hand. Once successfully thwacked then you twist. 🙂
yeah they have ACTUAL NAME for the injuries from avocado knives / pits, It's called "Avocado Hand"
quarter the avocado, separate the quarters, remove the pit from one quarter,, peel them
The problem's not removing the pit (handle end of the blade does the trick), it's getting said pit off the blade again!
I've cut into thousands of avocados, and I've never cut myself when removing the pit. I don't cut into the fruit with it in my hand - that's just flexing, and it's dangerous. Getting the pit out safely with a knife takes skill.
You know you can just push it out with your fingers or thumb by pressing it from the back right?
just slice in half twice. One lengthwise slice gives you a clean half and a seed half. Now slice the seed one in half. Once the seed is in a quarter of the avocado, it comes out easily. And if you are slicing, dicing, or mashing the avocado, then who cares about 2 pretty halves?
I usually turn it so the fatter end of the avocado pit is facing me, take the tip of the knife to gently poke into it so that the knife is facing away from me, and it rolls right out with a bit of nudging. Going 'chock!' at my own hand goes against everything I learned as a butcher.
I'll set it on the counter to thwack it with the knife, and then, once the pit is gently twisted out, use a spoon to knock the pit off the knife blade, so that my hands stay safely clear of sharp edges.
I do the same, except I knock the handle of the knife against the edge of the trash can. Seed falls off most of the time.
Load More Replies... So I have no connection to this gadget other than owning one. If you do a lot of avocados, it works. Just don't wash it on the lower rack of a dishwasher. The heating/drying elements will warp it. https://www.amazon.com/OXO-Good-Grips-Avocado-Slicer/dp/B0088LR592/ref=sr_1_2?crid=5PD9FEMTAKEI&th=1
Putting roasted peppers in a paper bag to easily peel the skin off. Never works, never has.
I’ve been seeing a lot of “healthy” or “high protein” desserts/breakfast where they use egg and something. It’s disgusting. Every recipe I’ve tried doesn’t hold together and it just mostly tastes of egg.
Real "mousse au chocolat", yum! 6 eggs, 8 ounces of good dark chocolate, and nothing else.
I tried adding sodium citrate to Mac and cheese (following the SE recipe). Instead of rich and creamy it turned out hard and dry. Didn’t work *for me* but I’m guessing I accidentally skipped a step or something.
Sodium citrate is kind of a black magic in cooking. It's pretty much only good for making cheese sauce, and it only works in a VERY specific configuration. If you add too much or too little of anything, it won't turn out right. I've gotten it to work I think 3 times? Usually I just use milk + cornstarch as a thickener instead and add a bit of extra salt. Much more consistent, results are still plenty creamy.
Kenji Lopez Alt (who I usually trust) has you soak risotto rice and add the starchy soaking liquid during the cooking process and also cook the rice without stirring.
I have tried it several times and never enjoyed the results.
I'm no chef, but I'm Italian, so risotto is one of the dishes I grew up with, and it's done in almost every Italian household regularly. And you know that the rice for the risotto shouldn't be rinsed. This because rinsing it (even if you add the starchy water later) takes away the starch in every grain that is needed for the creamy texture that risotto is supposed to have. While in other rice dishes it's better if you have the grains easily separated, in risotto it's nicer when you have them in a more integrated way, because that it is how the texture is supposed to be.
Tried waffling stuffing. Disappointing mushy mess.
I have no idea what this is, but it sounds as though it should be a English name, “Have you met Lord Waffling-Stuffing?”
"Put some fine oil in the boiling water with your pasta!" - absolutely not. An Italian once said to me that, if he'd do that at home, he'd happily turn himself in to have a set of concrete boots adjusted. It literally deserves a lot of purposes, makes nothing better and is, at best, irrelevant. There are a lot of things that may be improved, even, by adding oil atop the traditional ingredients, but this case, just ... no. Also - any device that makes small bits of garlic by forcing it through some kind of gutter. No. Cut that stuff, even if you reduce the amount out of laziety, still better to have a bit less, but not that yikes'ish sad remains of garlic any and every garlic press leaves you with.
The only time I put a bit of oil in my pasta water while cooking my pasta is when I'm using too small a pot for some unfortunate reason. The teaspoon of oil helps prevent boil over. The pasta comes out better using a large enough pot with enough water for the amount of pasta you're cooking and no oil. Either way, salt your water.
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A lot of these are just opinions of flavor. It isn't that he trick didn't work, you just didn't like the food. A lot of people don't like broccoli but that doesn't make broccoli a "fail."
Well said and pretty much what I said about the cauliflower pizza crust. Had absolutely nothing to do with cooking nor "fail", just someone complaining about cauliflower pizza crust.
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I enjoy the act and process of making a meal. Chopping, seasoning, cooking, tasting…. Take your time. Enjoy the process of making fuel for yourself and anyone that's going to enjoy your creation. Eating is one of the few common threads of humanity. Everyone needs sustenance.
Wasted opportunity to use the word 'roasted' instead of 'trashed' in the title.
Many people love some shortcuts and don't understand why I avoid thermomix and lifehacks making you reach your meal faster. Take your time, enjoy to cut tomatoes one by one,caramelizing onions,stirring risotto,peeling garlic. It feeds your senses long before it feeds your stomach. If you don't have the time too cook slow,plan some meal prep days, so you have frozen portions of meals or prepped ingredients. I also use no dishwasher, just wash by hands and sing to the radio or listen podcasts. Was a great metime for 30 min. when the kids were young and avoided the kitchen,cause they didn't want to help here.
Very well said and good advice for those that find themselves short on time. As I stated in my comment on the caramelized onions, good food takes time. If you want quality results you have to spend quality time getting there. Cooking should be fun, an experience and treated like an art because it is and can be even for those that only do it at home for themselves or their family. One of the best chefs I've ever worked for that made me the chef I am today once said "I want it done right, not right now".
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How about ANY hack for hard-boiling eggs to make the shell come off easier? I've tried them all and I'm here to report: THEY ARE ALL LIES.
Cooking hack 101… peeling garlic, pay a chef. chopping anything finely or into batons or chiffonarde or into regular cubes, pay a chef. making a five course fine dining dinner for two, pay a couple of chefs. in fact anything kitchen related simply employ a couple of chefs, they’ll soon have it all sorted. Simple!
"Put some fine oil in the boiling water with your pasta!" - absolutely not. An Italian once said to me that, if he'd do that at home, he'd happily turn himself in to have a set of concrete boots adjusted. It literally deserves a lot of purposes, makes nothing better and is, at best, irrelevant. There are a lot of things that may be improved, even, by adding oil atop the traditional ingredients, but this case, just ... no. Also - any device that makes small bits of garlic by forcing it through some kind of gutter. No. Cut that stuff, even if you reduce the amount out of laziety, still better to have a bit less, but not that yikes'ish sad remains of garlic any and every garlic press leaves you with.
The only time I put a bit of oil in my pasta water while cooking my pasta is when I'm using too small a pot for some unfortunate reason. The teaspoon of oil helps prevent boil over. The pasta comes out better using a large enough pot with enough water for the amount of pasta you're cooking and no oil. Either way, salt your water.
Load More Replies... A lot of these are just opinions of flavor. It isn't that he trick didn't work, you just didn't like the food. A lot of people don't like broccoli but that doesn't make broccoli a "fail."
Well said and pretty much what I said about the cauliflower pizza crust. Had absolutely nothing to do with cooking nor "fail", just someone complaining about cauliflower pizza crust.
Load More Replies... I enjoy the act and process of making a meal. Chopping, seasoning, cooking, tasting…. Take your time. Enjoy the process of making fuel for yourself and anyone that's going to enjoy your creation. Eating is one of the few common threads of humanity. Everyone needs sustenance.
Wasted opportunity to use the word 'roasted' instead of 'trashed' in the title.
Many people love some shortcuts and don't understand why I avoid thermomix and lifehacks making you reach your meal faster. Take your time, enjoy to cut tomatoes one by one,caramelizing onions,stirring risotto,peeling garlic. It feeds your senses long before it feeds your stomach. If you don't have the time too cook slow,plan some meal prep days, so you have frozen portions of meals or prepped ingredients. I also use no dishwasher, just wash by hands and sing to the radio or listen podcasts. Was a great metime for 30 min. when the kids were young and avoided the kitchen,cause they didn't want to help here.
Very well said and good advice for those that find themselves short on time. As I stated in my comment on the caramelized onions, good food takes time. If you want quality results you have to spend quality time getting there. Cooking should be fun, an experience and treated like an art because it is and can be even for those that only do it at home for themselves or their family. One of the best chefs I've ever worked for that made me the chef I am today once said "I want it done right, not right now".
Load More Replies... How about ANY hack for hard-boiling eggs to make the shell come off easier? I've tried them all and I'm here to report: THEY ARE ALL LIES.
Cooking hack 101… peeling garlic, pay a chef. chopping anything finely or into batons or chiffonarde or into regular cubes, pay a chef. making a five course fine dining dinner for two, pay a couple of chefs. in fact anything kitchen related simply employ a couple of chefs, they’ll soon have it all sorted. Simple!
