We all like to eat but none of us want to spend all of our time cooking and preparing our food in the kitchen. You can cut down on that time significantly if you know a few tricks.
Here are 23 of the most clever kitchen tricks that only professionals know.
1. Preserve Your Herbs
Don’t let your herbs dry out or go bad. You can preserve them by placing them in an ice tray with olive oil or water. Freeze them and take them out when you’re ready to cook with them.
2. Parchment Paper Cupcakes
Need to make cupcakes but don’t have a muffin tin or cupcakes cups? You can still make your muffins. Use parchment paper instead.
3. Keep Plastic Wrap Cold
Plastic wrap is super annoying when it sticks to itself or rips. Keep your plastic wrap in the refrigerator. This will make the wrap stretch evenly and properly.
4. Make Pitting Cherries Easy
Place a cherry on top of an empty beer bottle. Use a chopstick to squeeze the pit out of the cherry. The pit will fall into the bottle.
5. Prevent Microwave Dryness
Microwaves can cause food to dry out. But there is a way to combat this. Place a cup of water next to your food in the microwave when you cook it.
6. Salt A Cast Iron Pan
Cast iron pans can rust up if you don’t properly care for them. The best way to do that is with salt. Scrub your cast iron pans with salt instead of dish soap.
7. Keep Brown Sugar Soft
Brown sugar can clump up and harden if you don’t store it properly. Once it hardens it’s useless. Place an orange peel or apple slice inside the bag and put the bag in an airtight container to prevent this.
8. The Perfect Basted Egg
Here’s how to make the perfect basted egg. Break your egg in a pan and pour in some water. Put it on the heater and watch your eggs come out perfectly.
9. Makeshift Parchment Brush
Need a pastry brush or don’t have one? No problem! Fold a piece of parchment paper at least four times. Use a scissor to cut some fringe into the paper. Use the fringe side as a brush.
10. DIY Powdered Sugar
Do you have a recipe that calls for powdered sugar? You can make your own. Just pulverize granulated sugar in a spice grinder to make your own.
11. Clean A Hydration Pack
Don’t burn what you’re sautéing. If you find that your food is getting too brown too quickly, toss in an ice cube to cool the pan down. The water quickly evaporates and your food won’t burn.
12. Muffin Tin Meatloaf
Meatloaf can take more than an hour to cook. You can speed it up by placing the meat into individual portions of a muffin tin. Bake your meatloaf at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.
13. Tea For Flavorful Grains
Make your grains tastier with tea. Cook your quinoa, millet, brown rice, or bulgur with teat-infused water. Lapsang souchong, Earl Grey, and chai work well for this.
14. Don’t Waste The Rest of The Wine
If you have the rest of the bottle of wine that you know you’re not going to drink within a few days, you can still salvage it. Pour the wine out into an ice cube tray. Use the cubes in a cooking recipe, wine spritzer, or pitcher of sangria.
15. Easy Way To Chop Up Squash
Need to prepare a butternut squash to cook. Place your squash in the microwave for 2 to 3 minutes. This will make it a lot easier to peel, seed, and cube.
16. Get Rid Of The Fat
Get rid of excess fat from stocks, stews, and sauces by skimming an ice cube along the top of the surface of your liquid with a spoon. This will cause the fat to rise and solidify. Then scoop it out with a spoon or a piece of toast.
17. Extract The Most Juice Possible
Refrigerate your lemon. Then microwave it for 15 to 20 seconds. Roll your fruit, cut lengthwise then use tongs to get the most juice out of your lemons.
18. De-Kernal Corn On The Cob
Put the pointy end of your corn in the center hole of the pan. This will stead the cob. Then use a knife to slice downward. The pan will collect the kernels.
19. How To Cut Cherry Tomatoes
Here’s the secret to safely cutting cherry tomatoes. Place your cherry tomatoes in between two plates. The bottom plate should be upsidedown. Run a knife in between the two plates.
20. No-Stick Measuring Spoon
Measuring out molasses or honey can make a mess. Spray it with some cooking oil before you measure. The oil will make it slide off so that your measuring spoon is easy to clean.
21. De-crystalize Some Honey
Honey can become crystallized and hard to use after a while. You can reverse the crystallization by place it in a bowl of hot water for 5 to 10 minutes. It will be as good as new.
22. Foam Milk With A Frother
Fill a jar with a little milk (no more than halfway). Close your jar and shake it well. Microwave your milk for about 30 seconds. It should come out frothy.
23. Brew Coffee Without Coffee Machine
Boil coffee in a pot of water using the same coffee to water ratio as you’d put in a coffee maker. Remove the coffee from the heat and let the grounds settle for four or five minutes. Ladle the coffee off of the top of the pot into a mug.