No matter how often you cook or how long you’ve been cooking, there is always more to learn and new skills to pick up. Redditor Raoena asked, “What’s your ‘one weird hack’ for cooking that no one else seems to know about?” Here are some cooking tricks home chefs are surprised more people don’t know about.
1.
“The cooking water from boiling collard greens or kale is weirdly delicious and makes an outstanding base broth for vegetarian or vegan soups. It also adds depth to and balances meaty soups and stews. I save it and freeze it alongside my frozen chicken broth.”
2.
“I use a box grater for my frozen butter when making pie crust or biscuits. Perfect tiny bits of butter make the process much quicker than trying to cut tiny cubes.”
3.
“I buy bags of lemons, juice them all, and freeze them by tablespoonfuls in an ice cube tray. Store in a ziploc bag for when a recipe calls for a tablespoon of lemon juice. I do this for lime juice, too. Use a tablespoon scoop to put extra tomato paste on parchment on a sheet pan to freeze, and store in a Ziploc.”
4.
“Pretty much every baking recipe ever says to mix the dry ingredients in one bowl, mix the wet ingredients in another bowl, and then mix the two together. Save a bowl with this one weird trick. Use one bowl for cookies, quick breads, cakes, pancakes, or waffles. Mix wet ingredients. In the same bowl, mix in the dry ingredients except flour. Fold in flour…”
5.
“Velveting meats like beef, chicken, and lamb goes a long way…If you take a piece of meat and slice it thin or cut it into small cubes and then put a teaspoon or two of baking soda (not powder) into a bowl, mix them thoroughly, and let the mixture sit for 20-30 mins depending on how soft you want it. After the time is up, rinse the meat in the bowl, drain it, and cook it. The meat will come out incredibly tender and juicy. From what I understand, baking soda breaks down the muscle fibers that can make the meat tough and chewy. Be warned that leaving the baking soda on the meat for too long can cause some very gross textures, though. 30 minutes is usually a max for beef. I typically do 15-20 minutes for chicken.”
6.
“If I cook a fatty cut of meat in water or broth (like pork shoulder or chuck roast), I’ll re-use the liquid to cook beans in.”
7.
“Adding a Parmesan rind to my spaghetti sauce while simmering adds the best flavor.”
8.
“Freeze your fresh ginger, then grate it from frozen (without peeling). Peel falls to the outside, ginger to the inside, lasting for months. I always have a few knobs of ginger in the freezer. Old ginger knobs from the freezer also go nicely in soups and stocks.”
9.
“I make what I call ‘Cheater Hashbrowns.’ I take a plate full of frozen tater tots, microwave it for a minute to soften them up, squish them with a fork, and fry them in a pan. It’s delicious and easy.”
10.
“I add salty and sweet ingredients to my sweets to my savory things to balance flavors. The trick is to try it out with not just salt or sugar but with things that are salty or sweet but have their own developed flavors, so things like adding miso to caramel or a splash of soy sauce to the chocolate sauce can give your dish an oomph that nobody ever figures out the source of. Sweet ingredients, such as mirin, some sweet liqueurs, or smooth jellies/jams, can make the umami feel of a dish wonderful. I very frequently use redcurrant jelly in sauces and stews.”
11.
“I love cheese and buy many different kinds over the year. All the odd bits and pieces go in the freezer into the affectionately named ‘fromage box.’ When it’s full, it makes killer mac and cheese.”
12.
“I replace a small amount of the milk in pancake batter with heavy whipping cream to help make the batter way more manageable when cooking and flipping. It also creates a smoother end result.”
13.
“I keep a can of orange juice concentrate in the freezer and add some to salad dressings and cream cheese frosting.”
14.
“I have a recipe for beef bulgogi that calls for finely minced pear. I found that a jar of pear baby food works better.”
15.
“Almost any time I’m cooking with chicken stock, I add miso! Gravy: miso. Soup: miso. Marinade: miso. Miso is my secret ingredient like 1/3 of the time I’m cooking.”
16.
“I don’t dilute Better Than Bouillon beef paste but instead use it just like tomato paste when making beef stew; plop a tablespoon in the center of frying onions and mix it in there, then wine and water are added anyways. The point of this is to briefly fry the paste to deepen the flavor. It does get diluted before simmering begins. Extra delicious when braising a bone-in lamb shoulder chop in red wine.”
17.
“Smoked flour in savory (and sometimes non-savory!) baked goods. I put a pan of flour in my smoker, hit it for about 15 min, and then use it to bake. Makes AMAZING savory scones.”
18.
“When you have leftover chipotle peppers in adobe, purée them in a small food processor. Freeze flat in a quart-size freezer bag and break off frozen chunks to add to recipes.”
19.
“A tiny bit of olive oil in your guacamole will prevent it from going brown way better than any other ‘hack’ will. You can seriously keep guac green for a week! About one tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil for every four-ish cups of guac.”
20.
“Whenever I need to caramelize onions I always add water to the pan and cover with a lid to steam the onions first. Eventually, the water cooks off, and you’re left with very soft onions, which saves you like 20 minutes for a big batch.”
21.
“Dissolve your cinnamon in vanilla before adding eggs and milk to your batter for French toast. The cinnamon will incorporate so much better instead of just sitting on top of the mixture.”
22.
“I like to roast a whole chicken in a Dutch oven with potatoes, carrots, celery, and onion. Once cooked, I take out the chicken, add some broth to the veggies and chicken fat, and blend that as the base for a soup.”
23.
“A friend of mine taught me to put herb and garlic cream cheese in my mashed potatoes. I also tried adding dill pickle juice, and if you’ve never had dill pickle mashed, you are in for a treat. The leftovers make fantastic croquettes.”
Do you have a favorite cooking tip or trick that you’re surprised more people don’t already know about? Enlighten us! Drop yours in the comments or in this anonymous form.