Easy Tips From The Kitchen That Will Make You A Master Chef
Becoming a good cook isn't easy, as even the things that seem like they should be simple often aren't. Luckily for you, the tips in this slideshow will have you going from novice to master chef in no time. The tip for separating your egg whites will will definitely up your baking skills.
Drink Up!
If you don't have a rolling pin, go ahead and finish off that bottle of wine before you start prep work for the pizza you want to bake. Wine bottles are a good substitute for rolling pins, so now you've got a great excuse to buy another bottle of red.
Cut Corn Faster
Whether you want to cut corn off the cob for supper or for freezing for later, you can do this much easier if you put that electric knife you have sitting in the back of your cabinet to good use. Keep reading for a tip on how to check the freshness of your eggs.
The Best Bacon You'll Ever Eat
Skip the mess and overcooked bacon by cooking your bacon in your oven. Line a baking pan with foil, set your oven at 350ºF, and bake it for about 20 minutes for the best bacon you'll ever eat. Now you can focus on other things, like perfecting that pancake recipe.
That's A No-No
One thing novice cooks do far too often is rinse their pasta after boiling it. This is something you should never do, as rinsing the pasta washes away the starch. The starch is important for helping the pasta absorb sauce, so you're really killing your meal if you do this.
Squeezed Fresh
Juicing lemons is another thing that doesn't have to take as long. Grab a pair of tongs, place half of a lemon between them, and squeeze away. Not only is this easier on your hands than traditional juicing, you'll also get much more juice out of your lemons this way.
Slice And Dice
Up your scrambled eggs or omelet game by using a pizza cutter to cut ingredients. You'll be able to cut up the ingredients more finely compared to using a knife, which means you'll be able to spread them out more evenly. This also works for cutting up fresh vegetables to put in a soup.
Skip Buying A Vacuum Sealer
Don't worry about shelling out cash for a pricey vacuum sealer when you can do it yourself. After you put your food in the zip-top bag, close it until you have one inch of space open. Dip the bag in a container of water at an angle and seal the rest of the bag.
That's Egg-Cellent
Nothing is worse than adding an egg to your cake mix only for the egg to be bad. Before you start baking, grab a glass of water and put your egg in it. As long as it sinks, you're good to go. Keep reading for another egg tip that will change your hard-boiled egg game.
Another Use For A Cake Tester
If you want to check and see if your veggies are done, grab your cake tester. Poke the veggies you've been cooking and you can tell how tender it is based on how easily the tester slides in. This is great because it helps you skip the unsightly fork marks on your veggies.
Save Time On Prepping Garlic
Garlic can take forever to peel and separate, but that doesn't have to be the case any longer if you use this tip. Put your garlic in a jar, screw on the lid, and shake away. You'll be amazed to see just how easily the cloves on the bulb separate.
Less Muss, Less Fuss
Skip boiling water for hard-boiled eggs by baking them in the oven for 30 minutes at 350ºF. After they finish baking, submerge the eggs in ice water for 10 minutes and they'll be ready to be peeled. In an upcoming slide, check out a tip for prepping herbs and spices.
It's Really That Easy
Separating egg whites and yolks can be a total pain if you do it the typical way. Skip the hassle and grab one of those water bottles you have lying around and put it to good use. Position the bottle over the yolk and squeeze it, which will suction the yolk into the bottle to separate it.
Freshen Up
The next time your bread is a little stale, put it in a zip bag with a few celery stalks. After you close the bag, leave it overnight and your bread should taste just as fresh as the day you bought it. If your bread is past the point of being freshened up, considering using it to make croutons.
Hack Your Ice Cube Tray
Mix your favorite herbs and spices with some softened butter and place them in ice cube trays and freeze them. The next time you want to spice up what you're cooking, simply throw a cube into the mix. In an upcoming slide, check out a way to keep your baked goods fresh.
Another Use For Dental Floss
Using a knife to cut certain foods, such as soft cheeses, cakes, and dough doesn't work very well. Instead of using a knife, try using plain dental floss. You'll find that you can cut your foods much easier and more quickly and will be on your way to being a master chef in no time.
An Apple A Day...
Sometimes baked goods can go stale quickly, but you can prevent this by using an apple. Slice up the apple and put it in a container, and the moisture from the apple will help prevent the items from going stale. Keep reading to find a neat tip for getting the most out of your lemons.
Salt For The Win
Peeling hard-boiled eggs can be a total pain, but you can make this much easier if you add salt to the water you're boiling the eggs in. Just add 1/4 teaspoon of salt to the water and when you finish up, you'll find that those stubborn shells come off easier.
The Road To Faster Mashed Potatoes
Mashed potatoes are a must-have for certain meals, but they can take forever to prep. Instead of wasting time slicing and dicing your potatoes, take a shortcut by grabbing an apple slicer to cut the potatoes. You can cube them beyond that if you want, but this should be enough prep to boil them.
Egg Slicer For The Win
An egg slicer is a great tool to keep in the kitchen, and it can be used for more than slicing eggs. Smaller fruits -- such as strawberries or kiwis -- that need to be sliced can be used in the slicer. This saves time, plus your fruits will be sliced evenly compared to doing it by hand.
The Best Technique For Softening Butter
A big no-no in the kitchen is nuking butter in the microwave when a recipe calls for softened butter, which can ruin certain baked items. Skip the microwave and fill a glass full of hot water, pour it out, and then place the butter under the glass on a plate. The heated glass will help soften the butter faster.
Keep Your Potatoes Looking White
Potatoes are one of those foods that oxides, causing them to release their starch and change color if they sit out too long. To prevent your potatoes from going gray while you wait to serve them, just cover them with cold water before cooking.
Another Quick Tip For Faster Bacon
There are a few ways to cook bacon without making a huge mess with a skillet. Here's another way: right in the microwave. Just place 2 sheets of paper towels on a microwave-safe plate. Add your bacon (don't overlap it!) and cover with 2 more paper towels. Zap on high for 4 to 6 minutes... crispy and delicious every time!
Make Plastic Wrap Easier To Use
If you're like me, you dread using plastic wrap. It always turns into a wrestling match, with the wrap becoming too wadded up to use. What a waste! If you store your plastic wrap in the fridge it stays much easier to handle and will stick to itself less.
Keep Your Bananas From Going Brown
Many people get tired of watching their hard-earned money go down the drain each week. Bananas are one of the worst food culprits for this. They ripen so fast that they can tend to go rotten before we're able to eat them. Here's a solution: cover the ends in plastic wrap. It can help keep bananas yellow for up to a week longer.
Ripen Those Bananas In No Time
If you're a banana bread lover, then you know what a difference it makes to use ripened bananas. They're just so much sweeter than unripened ones. Anytime you have a sudden craving for banana bread but only have green ones on hand, try this trick. Just bake them for five to seven minutes in a 350-degree oven. They'll come out all ready to sweeten your bread.
Pre-Measure Ground Meat Before You Freeze It
This is a great tip for those of us who like to take advantage of sales when they come up. If you buy large quantities of ground meat, go ahead and section it out into your desired serving sizes before you freeze it. That way when you’re ready to use it, you don’t have to thaw all of it – just the amount you need.
Amazing Avocado Trick
If you've been trying to find a quicker, easier way to cut and peel avocados, look no further. This is almost too simple. Just cut the fruit lengthwise and separate the two halves. Remove the pit and dice the avocado's flesh. Then, simply scoop it out with a spoon and it's guacamole time!
Soften Ice Cream The Easier Way
Let's face it, scooping ice cream that's just been taken right out of the freezer can be hard work, especially if you're serving multiple people. Instead, let the ice cream soften on the counter for a few minutes, then scoop it into paper-lined muffin tins. Put the whole thing back in the freezer and you're all set with an easy-to-serve cold treat when you're ready to serve it.
Onions: The No More Tears Version
Some peoples' eyes are sensitive to freshly cut onions and some don't seem to be bothered by it. As someone who's suffered through years of teary eyes as I've prepped meals, I was excited to learn about this tip that could help reduce the irritation. Just freeze your onions before cutting into them. Just be sure to let the pieces thaw and dry completely before cooking with them.
For Better Lemonade
Ahh, there's nothing more satisfying on a hot summer day than a pitcher of fresh-squeezed lemonade. That is, until you notice that it's full of seeds! There's a better way to squeeze fresh juice from any citrus. Just wrap the fruit in cheesecloth first and it will prevent those pesky seeds from getting into your food or beverages.
Make Any Frosting Look Like Fondant
These days, pastries iced with fondant are all the rage. Many of us prefer the taste of a regular old-fashioned frosting but want the look of fondant. Luckily, there's an easy way to disguise just about any frosting as fondant. The key is to use just a thin layer of icing. Apply it to the cake as usual, but at the end use a Viva paper towel to smooth it out. No one will notice the difference.
Use This Trick To Dry Herbs
The secret to most great cooking is using fresh herbs. But if you've just washed those herbs they can be tricky to dry, and you definitely don't want any excess moisture in your recipe. So set the damp herbs on a paper towel and put them in the microwave for just a couple of seconds or until they're dry enough to use.
Keep Brown Sugar Soft
Brown sugar, that staple of good baking, has this odd tendency to grow hard and clump into blocks when it's stored. Luckily, there's a hack for that problem and it's something else you probably already have in your pantry. Just seal a couple of marshmallows in with the sugar and that should take care of the hardening problem.
Butter Your Corn The Easy Way
Most fans of corn on the cob will tell you that they enjoy it when it's buttered. But the process of buttering corn can be kind of messy and greasy, leaving much of the butter on your fingers and not on the food. Here's a hack for that: just drop a couple of tablespoons of butter pats directly into the pot of hot water (after you’ve taken out the boiled corn). When the melted butter rises to the top of the water, just use tongs to twirl each corn cob in it.
Is Your Baking Powder Still Good?
Depending on how you store it (humidity levels, seal on the container, etc), baking powder should stay good for around 18 months. But how do you know if yours still has all its active properties? Just place 1 teaspoon of baking powder in a cup along with 1/3 cup hot tap water. If you see active bubbles, it's good to use! If not, time to restock.
This Unexpected Tool Is Perfect For Peeling Ginger
From smoothies to gingersnaps to Asian cuisine, many different recipes call for ginger. But the root can be difficult to peel. Next time, try a grapefruit spoon when your recipe calls for freshly grated ginger. Its small serrated edges can reach all those small corners the way regular knives can't.
No More Soggy Spinach
Spinach is one of those foods that can be tricky to dry. Whether you buy it fresh and wash it off, or if you prefer to get it frozen, it will need to be dried or the excess moisture can ruin your recipe. Here's a nifty trick for squeezing out every last bit of moisture: use a potato ricer. As an extra bonus, you'll save a lot of paper towels too.
Easily Measure Sticky Ingredients
Half of being a good cook is knowing shortcuts around time-consuming messes. Here's a great one. When measuring messy or sticky ingredients (think honey or molasses), put a little dab of cooking oil or spray into the measuring cup or spoon first. That way your ingredients will easily slide out into your mixing bowl. Easy!
Cut Many Cherry Tomatoes (Or Grapes) At Once
If you're preparing a salad or crudité platter, you might need to cut a bunch of cherry tomatoes in half. The same goes for grapes. A quick way to do this is to line the fruits up on a plate and cover gently with another plate. Now just slice through the tomatoes horizontally while pressing down on the top lid. Perfect halves, every time!
Keep Your Cookbooks Clean
If you are using an old-fashioned printed cookbook -- and why shouldn't you be? -- instead of a computer printout or tablet computer, here's a nifty way to be sure to keep spills and splatters off the book. Just go to your closet and grab a pants hanger, the kind with two clips. Voila! Now you can hang your cookbook at eye level while keeping it off the counter and out of the way.
