By Savini Gauri
Whether you’re a kitchen pro or planning to start cooking for the first time, a few handy tips and tricks can only help.
It’s about those small and handy tips in the kitchen that can help you save a lot of time, effort, and money in the kitchen. It could be something you learned in a professional kitchen, what your grandma taught you, or someone who cooks your favorite dishes. These tips and tricks are priceless.
Comment below and share a life changing hack you learned.
Clean as you go. It works like magic and is perhaps the biggest learning of my cooking career. It makes things simpler and smoother than you can imagine. And especially if you’re cooking at home, no one likes to deal with a pile of dirty dishes and a messy kitchen after a super yummy meal.
Never follow the recipe cooking times to the T. The times and durations mentioned in recipes are just an approximation. Each kitchen is different, and each cook is different. So use the recipe numbers as a ballpark and trust your gut instinct.
Fry onions faster. Add a pinch of sugar whenever you’re frying and crisping up onions in a pan. This helps speed up the Maillard reaction process, which results in the caramelization and browning of onions.
Freeze things as flat as possible. Try to store soups, stews, ground meats, etc., in freezer-safe bags and flatten them as much as possible. Lay them on flat surfaces while freezing them. This way, you can stack them once frozen or keep them like a deck.
Don’t shy away from adding salt or sugar. Whenever you taste a dish and can’t put your finger on what’s missing. Like it tastes good but just lacks something. Try adding a pinch of salt and sugar. And if you still feel the same, add a dash of lemon juice. I guarantee it’ll elevate all the flavors you’re trying to highlight.
Store avocados in water. Keep the avocado in an airtight container. Fill it up with water until the avocado is completely immersed. Then close the container can put it in the fridge. (if you’re on TikTok or Insta, you’ve seen this go viral). I can assure you it actually works really well.
Reheating leftover rice. Place an ice cube on the rice and microwave them for 2–3 minutes. The rice will taste as if they’re freshly cooked.
Buy whole veggies for budget-friendly cooking. Buying whole veggies can be much cheaper than prepped ones. You can always spend some extra time washing, peeling, and cutting things. But it does help save the extra bucks.
Skip peeling the ginger. That is where the most concentrated flavor is. Make sure you thoroughly wash the ginger before using it. Then you can grate it, chop it, or whatever way you like.
Squeezing hard lemons. Cut the lemons in half and microwave for 10–15 seconds. This way, the lemons will become soft, and a lot more juice will come out.
Always read the whole recipe. Before you start cooking, always make sure you read the whole recipe. Don’t read it on the go while cooking. This helps ensure you’re somewhat familiar with what to expect from the recipe and the cooking techniques you’ll be using.
Boiling potatoes. There are two quick ways. One is by simply placing washed potatoes in the microwave for 10–12 minutes. Or prick a few holes in the potatoes using a fork. Then pressure cook them with a few splashes of water. It’s a real time saver.
Rising dough during winters. If your kitchen gets cold during winter and you’re trying to rise and ferment dough, it can get unnecessarily long and tedious. To save time, preheat your oven or microwave for 10–12 minutes, switch it off, and place the covered dough inside. You can also keep some water next to the dough inside the oven if you want.
Fix a smelly kitchen. Mix white vinegar and water in equal amounts. Spray this mixture on the countertops and let it sit for 10–12 minutes. Then wipe it off using a microfibre cloth.
Gather your ingredients before you start. Also known as mise en place, any recipe turns out as good as the prep you do for it. It's always best to gather all your ingredients, tools, and equipment before you actually start cooking.
Use egg shells to remove egg shells. Use a large eggshell to scoop out the smaller eggshells that tend to fall into the bowl while cracking eggs.
Always use sharp knives. The common misconception is that sharp knives are the most dangerous. But in reality, dull knives are wayyyyyy more dangerous.
Cover the pan with a lid. If you're done browning or sauteing, always cover the pan while cooking. It allows the food to cook faster in its own steam. As a result, you save on a lot of gas or electricity.
Don’t shy away from using prepped ingredients. Use prepared ingredients like peeled garlic, chopped veggies, and grated cheese if your budget allows it. It saves a lot of time and effort.
Use a weighing scale for baking. Weighing the ingredients while baking drastically reduces the chances of failure.
Comment below and share a life changing hack you learned.
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