Culinary knowledge is one of those skills that once you master it, changes your life. Let’s face it, we will always need to eat, so knowing how to squeeze every ounce of flavor from even the most simple ingredients will pay dividends for the rest of our lives. But behind cookbooks and old family recipes, there are mountains of secret techniques waiting to be discovered.
A netizen wanted to hear others’ favorite cooking hacks and the internet delivered. Some were common sense ideas that people discovered too late, others were weird tricks that actually work, so get your notebooks and get comfortable, there are some great hacks listed here. Be sure to upvote your favorites and comment your own cooking secrets below.
#1
Prep everything first. Have all of your veggies cut and ingredients ready. You will be more relaxed.
Clean as you go. Wash your dishes while waiting for your food to finish cooking. Less dishes to deal with at the end of the night.
Image credits: Draginia
#2
If a recipe says to sauté onions and garlic together at the same time, DON’T. Do the onions first, and then add the garlic when the onions are just about done. Garlic can be over sautéed and it takes on a bitter flavor.
Image credits: dcbluestar
#3
If your executive function is betraying you and you rely on microwaveable or premade meals, find something small you can add to make them more substantial and to feel more like a meal. Add chopped broccoli to ramen noodles. Cumin and red pepper flakes are great to toss in, too. Cook minute rice with a chicken boullion cube and some butter and pretend it’s risotto. Personal favorite is to dump a can of corn into a microwave-safe bowl and mix in a bunch of taco seasoning. And if clean-up is a struggle too, use paper plates and bamboo flatware. Disposable chopsticks are super cheap and easy to find online.
When you’re struggling with depression, fatigue, or anything that makes taking care of yourself harder, taking shortcuts isn’t laziness, it’s how you survive to make those more daunting tasks a little less scary.
Unrelated: if you’re making a soup or stir fry with lots of veggies, sauté the veggies a bit before adding other ingredients til the onions are translucent. I’m sure there’s some food science reason that this makes soups taste better but I have no idea what it is.
Image credits: ThunderDash
#4
Butter. That’s it. That’s the whole tip. Use more butter.
Image credits: jd46149
#5
Not mine, but my wife browns the butter before she adds it to chocolate chip cookie dough and they’re the best freakin cookies I’ve ever eaten!
Image credits: dcbluestar
#6
If your food is bland even though you’ve added salt then it’s missing acidity. Lemon juice, lime juice, or vinegar are easy additions.
Image credits: PhreedomPhighter
#7
Revive veggies that have lost their water by cutting their edges and soaking them in cold water. Lettuce, carrots, celery will be crisp again.
Image credits: Rosy180
#8
A quality set of **scissors** will save you so much hassle…
Image credits: Mitchs_Frog_Smacky
#9
I always take my cookies out of the oven a couple minutes or so before they’re supposed to come out. They still cook a little bit when they’re cooling on the pan, and as a result they come out nice and soft.
Image credits: MegaGrimer
#10
Knives, get good knives and a sharpener
Image credits: Pews_TRB
#11
You can add green onions to almost everything.
Image credits: Brolegario
#12
Boxed chocolate cake – use cooled brewed coffee instead of the water. Richens the flavor so much. I do it with boxed brownies too.
Image credits: wanderingstorm
#13
If you’re making a savory dish that uses crushed/minced garlic, reserve a little bit of the fresh garlic and stir it in to the dish right before serving.
The fresh garlic adds a bit of a pop that you lose if it’s cooked.
Image credits: Bloorajah
#14
If you’re cutting up chicken or some other meat that will spoil, put the scraps into a Ziploc bag and put them in the freezer until garbage day. That way they will not make your garbage smell and you’re throwing out chicken ice cubes basically.
Image credits: kamera45
#15
pretty much every soup can use a lil drop of lemon juice
Image credits: TheUselessOne87
#16
Ice cube in the center of your leftover rice before you microwave it – makes the rice get soft and fluffy again
Image credits: Getsome4000
#17
If your making a BLT or some kind of toasted sandwich, only toast one side of the bread and use that for the inside of the sandwich.
It stops you grating the roof of your mouth.
Image credits: pork_fried_christ
#18
– use an ice cream scoop with a sharp edge to spoon seeds out of a squash
– rub a raw clove of garlic on a piece of frozen bread to make quick garlic bread (the frozen texture of the bread kind of acts as a grater on the garlic)
– freeze left over tomato paste from a can into 1 table spoon chunks to use later – I also do this with freshly grated ginger to have it ready to go later
– keep grounded flax seeds in the freezer to use as an egg replacer in muffins (mix 1 table spoon of ground flax seeds with 3 table spoons of water)
– use a vege peeler to cut thin ribbons of vegetable (cucumber, carrots, etc.)
– use kitchen scissors to cut pizza
– get a bit more green onions out of your green onions if you don’t need the bottom part, put the roots in water an the green part will regrow
Image credits: Rosy180
#19
I use soy sauce in a lot of stews and soups to help bring out savory flavors. My minestrone, for instance, usually has some soy sauce in it.
Image credits: potentialEmployee248
#20
Microwaving broccoli is not only ok to do, it can also preserve the most amount of nutrients than any other method of cooking it.
Image credits: mLeonardValdez
#21
Leaving a potholder on the handle of a cleaned cast iron pan to let anyone who might put it away know it may be hot as it cools down.
Image credits: Huntsmart2000
#22
Put a damp paper towel under your cutting board to prevent it from sliding around when you are cutting.
Image credits: LORDSPIDEY1
#23
MSG is king of flavor.
Image credits: WengersJacketZip
#24
Do similar tasks all at once. Making potatoes and carrots? Peel both first, then chop, don’t do one veg and then the other. You’ll have a better rhythm with your tools and you’ll only have to change tools once instead of three times. Breaking down a pack of chicken thighs? Do all the skins and fat at once, all the bones at once, then all the slicing at once.
Also, keep a damp rag next to your cutting board for cleaning your board and knife, and keep a dry rag over your shoulder for drying or wiping anything as needed. This saves a ton of trips over to the sink and/or towel holder.
Image credits: PrimedAndReady
#25
start cooking with an empty dishwasher and fill as you go. always have a red and a white wine specifically for cooking lying around. farmers market produce keeps longer than most other produce. let your lettuce sit in ice water until your ready to serve to maximize crunch.
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Image credits: mrhoolock
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