What are the best cooking hacks you've learned over the years?
What are the best practices you've learned to save time or make a meal better.
What are the best practices you've learned to save time or make a meal better.
Ok I might get downvoted to oblivion but I use MSG. It enhances the flavors so much that I have stopped going to restaurants.
Edit- I did my research and found no credible source that says MSG is harmful.
Edit2- If you go to a restaurant or order KFC chances are they use MSG as well
Anti-MSG propaganda actually comes from Asian racism, and was born out of the idea that Chinese food with its MSG was causing headaches and other health effects that were entirely made up. MSG is perfectly fine for you, and it makes a ton of things even tastier. I use it all the time in home cooking.
I use MSG in some limited applications, but I always prefer generating glutamates via general cooking techniques. I think there's a layer of complexity that's lost when MSG is used in lieu of browning, for example.
Only thing I'd add is that, on 8, learn what rancid oil smells like. Most people keep things like olive oil in poor conditions (that's without us even getting into quality of oil, or how people buy FAR MORE oil than they'll reasonably be able to use), and the oil goes bad far faster than they think it will.
yeahhh, Hell, there are a couple exceptions, but nothing that goes into a dish should smell bad.
By far my favorite is to have a squirt bottle of water next to my stove. It's great to have throughout the cooking process, especially if you've moved on from Teflon bullshit and are using a pan you pre-heat. To start, you put the pan on the heat and squirt a little water in it. When the water evaporates, the pan is usually in the 350F-400F range. Then when the pan is dry and heated a little more, you can squirt a few more drops in to see if the Leidenfrost effect has taken, uhhh, effect. The way you tell is that the water just dances around on the pan instead of behaving like water normally does, and it's how you know your food won't stick, it is at this point that you add the oil.
Moving on to the actual cooking, let's say you've thrown some chicken thighs in the pan and you've built up a lot of fond (the brown bits that form in the bottom of the pan) and the chicken is almost done, but you're not planning on making a sauce. Deglaze the pan with little squirts of water targeted directly at the fond and rub the chicken thighs over the area where the water is deglazing and suddenly that fond is sticking to your chicken thighs, resulting in a better crust and a cleaner pan.
Speaking of cleaner pan, once you're done cooking and plating and you have a hot dirty pan, squirt enough water in to cover the bottom of the pan and then go eat. When you come back to the kitchen to clean up, the water will have broken down the shit on the bottom of the pan and will steam the sides of the pan, so the pan will wipe clean as easy if all you did was fry an egg.
Finally, I stopped putting milk (of any variety) in my coffee, but I wanna be able to drink my coffee right away and it's too hot when it's made fresh, but I've got a bottle full of room temperature water (all the filtered water in my house comes out ice cold) sitting right there so I can cool it down that way (I brew my coffee pretty strong so watering it down isn't a big deal).
Very interesting, ty 4 sharing! Never heard of this but will definitely give it a try. I've got a spare unused squirtbottle already too
Eh.
For pan temperature: Just get an IR thermometer. Squirt a bit of oil in and you have enough that you can get a good reading. And then you don't have to worry about making sure the oil heats up before you put the meat/whatever in. For something like a (cantonese street vendor style) stir fry you may want to superheat the pan to the point that the oil would smoke, but (regardless of what the people who hate electricity say) that is not the norm. And is generally very difficult to do indoors anyway.
Deglazing: In almost every situation, I would rather use a splash of a more flavorful liquid. Even a glug of chicken stock goes a long way. And I have definitely been known to do the "one for me, one for you" approach to booze while cooking.
Leaving an empty heated pan on the hob: Don't do this if you at all care about your pots and pans. Or if you have pets or (stupid) kids. You are right in that "deglazing" the pan after you cook is a great idea. But I just use a glass of water to dump maybe a few tablespoons-ish in there, scrape it up with a wooden spatula, and then wash the pan. Pretty much every dish benefits from resting for a minute or two (at least) and that is really all you need to clean up.
The problem with squirting the oil into the pan as it heats is that the metal of the pan heats up a lot slower than the oil so you will burn the oil before your pan is up to temp. Also, pre heating pans will not harm them in any way at all. It sounds like you're applying my comment to Teflon coated pans, which I excluded at the beginning of my comment.
Preheating is not an issue. Leaving it on the stove with nothing to dissipate heat for twenty to thirty minutes (during dinner) is a good way to make a fire hazard and get pans past their rated heat. Which results in potential damage to rivets or even layers in the good stuff.
And if your oil can't take the heat at which you are cooking, it is just burning and adding nasty flavors.
I definitely didn't say to leave the pan on the hob for 20-30 minutes, it takes about 5 minutes. But if putting an empty pot or pan on the heat for 20-30 minutes ruins anything at all on your pans, you need better pans. Every single pan in my kitchen, and I have some budget ones, would just be too hot to handle for a while. On the oil handling the heat, your way puts more heat into the oil than my way and you are way more likely to burn your oil.
If you use nothing but cheap aluminum or steel pans: You still might damage the rivets but are probably fine.
If you have a multiple layer pan (all-clad is the popular brand but things are now cheap enough that you can get some really nice department store brands with similar characteristics for a fraction of the price), which is great for a "best of most worlds" situation as you get uniform heat distribution while still having a stainless steel surface and so forth, then you are very much playing the game of finding out just how well it was made, how well everything was bonded, and what the heat expansion rates are.
This is why every pot and pan has a maximum temperature and it is good to be aware of that before you finish things in an oven or whatever. For something like cast iron? That is more or less the melting point of iron. For layered pans? Check your own but high 400F sounds about right (so actually 500-600). It isn't going to instantly break if you get it that hot, but it is going to lower the lifespan of the pan.
Speaking of cleaner pan, once you’re done cooking and plating and you have a hot dirty pan, squirt enough water in to cover the bottom of the pan and then go eat. When you come back to the kitchen to clean up, the water will have broken down the shit on the bottom of the pan and will steam the sides of the pan, so the pan will wipe clean as easy if all you did was fry an egg.
If you finish your entire meal in 5 minutes? Have fun. If you are like a normal person and are looking at closer to 10-30 (longer if you have guests): Maybe don't leave the pan on the stove for that long.
As for oil: my oil gets as hot as the temperature readout says. Which is about as hot as the pan itself, barring any hot spots (which those composite pans really help with...).
on the pan test, I just run a bit of water onto my hand and flick droplets off my fingers. My reason is that I absolutely LOATHE having anything plastic near the stove. I've had far more mishaps involving errant plastic containers than any other.
Besides, If my hand bacteria can make it into the water and survive a 300+ degree pan, it deserves to outlive all of us.
I'll echo the other comment about deglazing with other flavorful juices to make a better pan sauce (even if it's not going to be a sauce), since I just prefer it that way. BUT, a splash of water into a pan sauce that's simmered for too long WILL restore its glossiness and re-thin it.
When I have to use parchment paper, I crumple the paper ip into a little ball first, then press it out flat into the cooking vessel (sheet pan or loaf pan or whatnot) and it lays flatter/conforms to the pan better without rolling up all over the place rather than trying to just use a pristine sheet of parchment. It really works great.
THANK YOU! I was baking cookies last night and struggled through placing the dough while trying to keep the sheet from rolling up. I will do this in the future!
LPT - go buy a box of half-size sheets from a restaurant supply store. Webstaurant was my go to until they sent their shipping prices into the stratosphere. I buy 1000 sheets at a time and store it with the sheet pans (the box is only a couple inches tall) and it lasts forever. Costs about $50-60 a box iirc which is way cheaper than buying in rolls.
This is a great idea. Alternatively you can buy silicone mats online for cheap that always sit flat too and work just as well.
Use a meat thermometer! All your meat will come out perfect, without being under or over cooked.
Imo this is the single most important tip that made me cook better. Get one of the instant-read ones, they are worth the money.
Also, flatten your chicken so it cooks evenly.
deglazing. it's when you use an acid to pull all the glaze off the bottom of a pan. it flavors the dish and makes cleaning your pan easier.
rice vinegar and red or white wines are favorites
I also like to freeze leftover stock into an ice cube tray for deglazing, when I just need a little but and not have to open a whole new carton.
If you can take 1 or 2 cubes (or how many you need) out before cooking so they're melted before, great, but I've also had success just throwing the frozen cubes directly into the pan in a pinch.
Reverse taring - instead of placing the bowl on the scale and taring before weighing, place your ingredients on the scale and tare, and you can then scoop out and see the negative weight of how much you have used. This is especially helpful if you are trying to weigh an ingredient into a hot pan you can’t just set on the scale
Biggest hack? Realizing that humans have been cooking for millennia, and that it's in the best interest of big business to convince you that it's difficult/expensive/extremely complicated.
You don't NEED the fancy equipment every company out there is trying to sell you.
Not everything needs to be gorgeous on the plate, or a whole production to make.
The poorest people in the world cook delicious food every day.
For instance, you don't need NEED a +$150 Japanese chef knife to cook at home. What you need is something that can hold an edge through general maintenance, a whet stone, a kitchen towel to dry off your blade immediately after you hand wash it, and a little bit of patience.
IKEA sells some surprisingly great single construction (steel blade, steel handle) knives, and their single body chef knife is like $25. Just get an honing rod for use before you start slicing, and a whet stone for periodic sharpening (there's TONS of YouTube videos of all the different ways of sharpening your knife), and remember to wash and hand-dry after you're finished. My chef knife cost me barely anything, and I've used it for years and years, and it still slices through a tomato without a problem. Also, I only cook for myself, so I can absolutely 100% guarantee my whet stone will "outlive" me.
That being said, a mandoline can save a lot of time, and a kevlar glove paired with that will save a lot of fingers.
Not exactly a mandoline, but I used to work at a place with a cheese slicer named "Old Nubby." It had blooded the entire team at least once.
I've had >$150 knives. But my favorite one might still be the first one I bought that was just $30 and pretty unspectacular
Don't be afraid of spices. Use more than you think is necessary. Onion and garlic can make a meal 100x better.
This is why restaurant food tastes so good. Fat is flavor. But beware, restaurants don't give a shit about your cholesterol. They want you to have good food that you want to come back for. They'll give you butter and grease all day long. You can cook tasty food at home that won't clog your heart, but it takes a lot to meet the flavor standards of bacon or butter using poultry or vegetable oil. The trick is moderation. Not every meal needs to be a greasy bacon cheeseburger, but you don't have to completely boycott that either.
Unless baking or doing a watery/clear soup, never add just water. Anything with flavor that matches the style of cooking will be better.. could be just stock/boujong, wine, beer, cola or acids like vinegar or fruit juices, clam juice, etc. Anything liquid is an opportunity to add flavors.
Grilled cheese hack: assemble the sandwich open-faced on a baking sheet and place under the broiler for a few minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbling and slightly browned, then close it up and cook it like normal in a covered skillet on medium heat with butter. The cheese will be completely melted and (more importantly) it will stay melted while you're actually eating the sandwich, and the browning on the cheese adds a big flavor component.
I used to make them the normal way just in a skillet, and even if the cheese was just barely melted it would cool off and re-solidify before I started eating it. And often I would burn the crust just trying to get the cheese melted.
I worship at the altar of Alton Brown, but I almost think he was kidding with that video. So much extra work just to melt the cheese.
It was a bit of a high effort shitpost. But that doesn't mean we can't learn anything from it. I'm definitely not pulling out a grill and full chimney of charcoal just to make literally grilled cheeses but fresh shredded cheese blends with spices as the filling? Hell yeah! Premelt the cheese so it gets bubbly and crispy? Do it under a broiler! Use something other than Wonderbread? Yes please!
Alternate grilled cheese hack. Heat the skillet on medium till the skillet is hot. Really wait a couple minutes till it has come up to temperature. Melt a pat of butter on the skillet - don't tear up you bread trying to spread butter on it. Cook the sandwich for one minute in the butter, move it to the side then melt another pat of butter in the empty space. Flip and cook the other side of the sandwich in the new butter. One min+ a little on this side.
Bonus look up inside out grilled cheese sandwiches and do them this way.
I cannot stress this one enough. This turns simple white rice in practically a risotto. And if you REALLY want to make a risotto, you're just three steps away from this.
when dicing onions cut radially first, then slice across, it saves you that weird half slice that's traditionally used for dicing onions.
I use cast iron for nearly everything, it survives a hundred years because it's bulletproof not because it's gingerly handled every time it's removed from it's velvet case. People dragged them around on Chuck wagons, you will not kill it with soap. Worst case it gets a little sticky and now you need to cook some bacon in it.
A splash of acid in your soup or stew at the end really wakes it up.
Never cook rice without at least a couple bay leaves. Ideally you'll cook it in chicken stock as well, add flavour where you can.
The best chicken stock in a jar is Better Than Bullion. Hands down. No contest.
With a splash of oil you can cook eggs even in a sticky cast iron pan.
Always use hand protection of some kind with a mandolin. I've never seen a non-pro chef go without and not fuck up their hand. Even pros lose the tips of their fingers sometimes too.
If you want to recreate movie theater popcorn at home you need the following things:
A whirlypop or other stovetop cooker
Coconut oil, refined
Popcorn kernels, quality varies, find a good brand
Fine salt
"Popcorn oil" - this is butter flavored oil sold next to the kernels
Here's what you do, set up a bowl to dump your popcorn in, throw some salt in the whirlypop with a spoon of coconut oil, and just a tiny glug of the popcorn oil, not much just a tad. Add your kernels, crank the heat to high and start cranking. Do. Not. Stop. The popcorn will begin to pop after an interminable wait. Keep cranking until it either gets hard to crank or the popping slows down significantly. Then quickly dump your popcorn into the waiting bowl. Do not add salt, you already did this, the fine salt will be well distributed this way. Add a bit of popcorn oil. Shake the bowl a bit to distribute, add more if desired etc. Then enjoy your movie theater popcorn.
It took me years to work out how to do it without the Naks oil, which I bought from a local popcorn shop for awhile.
A splash of acid in your soup or stew at the end really wakes it up.
What kind of acid are we talking about here, the weak stuff or the stuff that melts through your pot
/s
Often recipes are really inefficient and sequenced wrong... Read the whole thing and find the "long pole" , and do that first.. could be starting the oven preheat early, starting the rice cooker right away vs at step 6 or run things in parallel.
Let your protein equalize to room temperature before you cook it. This is a great time to season it as well. Pat dry, then cook.
Rest any grilled or pan fried meat on a non-heated surface for at least 5 minutes after cooking.
“Carry Over Cooking” is a thing that usually results in overcooked food if you don’t account for it.
Learn to make a pan sauce. Easy, quick, and worth it.
That trick of reserving a cup of “pasta water” that you never do? Yeah…
Almost without exception dried herbs/spices go in at the beginning of the cooking process, and fresh go in at the end.
If you work with a group of people start having an “Autumn Potluck” at work. It’s perfect for trying out holiday recipes, before the holiday, and get back constructive feedback and/or nice compliments.
Bake bacon on cookie sheets at 375 for about 20 minutes. You can make a ton of bacon very quickly, with almost no mess, and all the bacon is perfectly flat. We have a double oven and we can make about 4 pounds of bacon in about 30 minutes this way. :)
And then save the bacon grease in a jar to add to gravys! I add a tablespoon or so to my sausage gravy for biscuits and gravy and it is freaking delicious. Can also use it to grease a cast iron pan before making a pizzookie for a little extra flavor.
Yes and no. A substantial amount of grease will be aerosolized and condense on the interior of your oven when it cools. It's nasty looking and the next three cakes you bake will taste slightly of bacon. You can decide whether that's a bug or a feature.
If I could figure out how to make my electric smoker get to 375F I would only do bacon outside in the smoker as I essentially have to clean the over every time I do bacon in it. And, yes, you can smoke bacon. It's not bad, but it also is a bit more like jerky than the crispy bacon I like. Again - bug/feature territory.
I just throw bacon on the barbecue at the same time as my burgers. It takes almost the same amount of time to cook, and it's super crispy - just how I like it.
Cookiesheet bacon is the best! If you like it crispy it helps to broil it for a minute or so at the end of cooking it.
I do pretty much the same but at a lower temp (~350F) so it doesn't hit the smoke point. I also prefer my bacon a bit floppy instead of crispy.
I hate the idea of a "hack" but:
Don't worry too much about making sure all cuts are uniform and everything is cooked to the exact same level. Yes, restaurants pride themselves on that and so do many of the youtube chefs (who got their start or even still work in restaurants)
You aren't making hundreds of plates a night where two people on a date might think it is "unprofessional" that their green onion bits aren't uniform.
And the advantage to doing a more rough chop is that you tend to get a much greater variety of texture. Obviously you don't want that for everything, but getting that sudden burst of scallion flavor in one bite can really keep a meal "interesting" and so forth.
And it also makes life a LOT easier and means you can focus less on mise en place and more on not making a weeknight meal take 3 hours.
Boil spaghetti in a small amount of water in a frying pan. You won't need to push the pasta down and you'll have lovely starchy water to finish off your sauce — perfect for something like a carbonara!
Another fun fact, you barely need enough water to cover the pasta and it doesn’t even need to be boiling to be working. If you just slightly more than cover the spaghetti with water it heats up much faster and therefor you are done cooking much faster. No need for a giant full pot.
It's really great! I use an electric kettle to shove boiling water on immediately which gets things going quickly too 😄