Favorite secrets, tips & tricks in the kitchen?
I love cooking, and I cook every day for me and my wife (home office since 2008 helps there), and I love hearing about new things. I have the book “The Science of Cooking” which was fascinating.
Amazing popcorn: Corn - 106g or 1/2cup Sunflower Oil - 43g or 1/4cup - 8g of that geing ghee (clarified butter) for godly flavor Salt (flavacol is best)-5g or 1tsp
Combine in 6q or larger pot and move the pot around on the stove, or better yet, use a whirly-pop. (Whirlypop.Com) remove from the stove when there are 2 seconds between pops.
In case it’s not obvious, you need to keep the lid on or use a splatter guard for safety purposes.
Microwave the result for 30 seconds to remove excess moisture for better crunch and less squeak.
Legend has it a similar recipe would work in a microwave safe bowl, but I’m not a heathen so I never tried it.
If using plain salt, uniodized salt that is ground into a fine powder works best.
And if you’re new to cooking, try cooking your food a bit longer than you would usually. Taste it and decide if you enjoy the heavier caramelization. When I realized I should embrace the char, foods like mushrooms became so so so much better.
Microwave or parboil veggies before sauteing on high heat. Lets you get the perfect exterior without having to worry about if they are cooked through. It’s also faster and if you parboil in salted water you allow salt to penetrate deeper into the veg. I especially like this technique for starches like potatoes, as they take a long time to cook and I’m impatient.
If you use cast iron, carbon steel, or stainless pans, buy a chainmail scrubber. They are SO GOOD.
Also steel wool ball scrubbies are nice for real cast iron disasters, but they can scratch or get gross if used as a first resort.
Nonstick is not worth it and cast iron is a million times easier to care for than people make it out to be. You can wash it with soap - it was only old school lye soaps that were an issue. You can let food soak in it some. If it rusts or the seasoning is damaged, that’s easy to fix. It’s a hunk of iron - don’t worry about babying it if that’s the thing keeping you from trying it!
I find it does sometimes have food stick more rhan with nonstick, depending on whether I’ve been doing the extra cast iron care things recently or not, but the ability to use steel utensils/spatulas/scrubbies compensates for that very well, imo.
Tldr try cast iron or carbon steel if you haven’t!
You dont have to go full meal prep, there's small things you can do ahead of time to get better results with less time and effort later on. boiling some cubed potatoes for 10 minutes, or sous vide some chicken breast. then when it's cooking time, all you need to do is get some browning on them, they're already cooked through and extra tender.
Also: slow cooker. I gave mine away after I got an instant pot, but as I said, WFH. For people who go to work, a slow cooker is amazing. Throw food in, turn it on, have it done when you are back. Hot early or late doesn’t matter.
A good flat metal spatula will do you so much good. It gets under the food and if a little piece does stick to the pan you can just scrape it off and retain the brown goodness. Plastic spatulas that became prevalent thanks to teflon are the worst.
Regular stainless steel and etc pans can become fairly nonstick by letting them heat up first, then adding fat or oil and swirling it around to let it polymerize
Do they not burn? Ever time I’ve thought of trying wooden utensils with a pan I’ve worried I’d burn them, so I’ve always thought they were just for serving or mixing.
Huh I use wooden spoons but Ive never used a wooden spatula but I could see how a well made one could get better than a plastic one, but peeling power of a metal baby cant be beaten.
I have a metal spatula from … maybe the 80s? that is now falling apart, but every replacement I’ve tried is too stiff compared to my battered old friend. I like how it bends under pancakes to allow a good, high flip. I love how I can scrape all the crusty bits off my cast iron pan and get them all frying into whatever the dish is. It wasn’t a special purchase at the time, but the modern ones are all too thick or stiff. Do not like.
On wooden spatulas, I have a dead-flat bamboo one I use to stir soups and roux-based sauces. It was dead cheap from my local asian market and I ended up buying 10 of them to give as christmas stocking stuffers. Not sure it if this example is as flat as mine, but it is similar.
Some people like to think they’re super water-efficient doing the dishes, but they’re not; dishwasher saves water.
The only extra cost is electricity, but it’s easily offset by the savings brought by cooking more often caused by the reduced hassle of doing the dishes. It’s like 1-2 dollars of electricity per use (YMMV but it’s that order of magnitude: less than a tenth of a dine out).
I never got this. Maybe it’s because we don’t have or want children, and are only us two. But dishes take me ten minutes every day. And I have a bunch of higher quality things that can’t go into a dishwasher anyway. If I had the space, is probably still get one, but I just don’t see how saving 7 minutes a day is a big thing.
If it’s worth to purchase a dishwasher… it varies a lot given each ones own priorities and situation.
If saving X minutes a day is a big thing or a small thing… it also varies a lot given how you value your time and how much you enjoy dishwashing by hand. I know a few people who love to do it; no need to take away that joy for the sake of efficiency.
But for the vast majority, if you have a dishwasher idle, those are some minutes you get back practically* for free.
I also cook only for two, but I do it three times a day, and I have a lot to do so I value each minute saved in chores immensely. My dishwasher has been a blessing, without it I would be eating out or ordering delivery MUCH more frequently.
I don’t enjoy it, but I guess I also don’t mind it that much. And I only cook once a day. Mornings are usually cold, evenings only my wife eats and that’s warned up. So dishes are just those 10 minutes, once a day. That’s about 2-4 songs playing on the kitchen speaker ;) if I had to do the dishes middle time a day, I’d probably like it less as well ;)
I live alone and cook one time per day. Dishes takes me like 2 minutes since I just shove everything in the machine and come back two hours later not just to everything being clean, but also heat sanitized. The only things you can’t put in there are knives, as well as nonstick and wooden items. I would personally hate cooking if I had to scrub every item by hand afterwards…
Absolutely, this is a personal thing. I’ve found myself not buying things that are incompatible with the machine as much as possible so I don’t really have that issue
And some things I just toss in there anyway. My Wusthof knifes for instance are not carbons steel and don’t have wooden handles, and my machine has a neat spot that secures it perfectly upright so the edge isn’t touching anything. I have been doing this for years and observed no noticeable downside.
Some people like to think they’re super water-efficient doing the dishes, but they’re not; dishwasher saves water.
About that. I know of one study done in Europe on this, and it was paid for by dishwasher companies, and didn’t exclude outliers like the guy who used about 400L of water doing the dishes by hand.
I once measured water and power usage of me doing the dishes by hand, and it was both below what I found online for dishwashers.
If you do 2-stage cleaning (soapy hot and cold clean water), then dishwashers will be better because they don’t. Amount and source of hot water governs if you are more energy efficient. The advantage of dishwashers is that a badly used dishwasher is far more efficient than badly (= wasteful) handwashing, and even efficient handwashing is not much better than dishwashers (though I wouldn’t know how to calculate production and recycling of the dishwasher itself, not even what order of magnitude that is). Which was, as far as I remember, also in the conclusion of the study, unless there has been another one since then.
It’s plausible that handwashing uses less electricity, specially if you let the machine heat-dry the dishes. But water? If you do the comparison against a fully-loaded machine, no way. Modern machines use half the water from machines of 15 years ago, and those were already competitive against handwashing. Best case scenario for handwashing (single water bath) still uses about twice as much water. Dishwasher detergent is stronger and the machine takes longer so it has more contact time, the chemistry heavily favours using less water for the same amount of gunk to dissolve.
In your case, as you already mentioned you only cook once a day and you don’t want to degrade your high end stuff in the machine, it’s reasonable that you won’t generate dishes enough to fill the machine. If you would be using a half-loaded dishwasher then it is plausible that you would use less water handwashing, but it’s still a close call - which is why I sometimes use the machine filled 1/3 without worry.
You did say earlier that you cook once a day, meal for two. When I do that, all dishes for the day take a third of the maximum load on my machine, so I could wash once every three days, therefore averaging like 3 L per day tops? You handwashing every day are spending 6-8L daily which is more than double.
If it is true that you can spend <8L for an arbitrarily large amount of dishes, though, then I guess there must be an amount of dishes that you will outperform a dishwasher. They cannot handle an infinite amount of dirt, unfortunately. If you hand wash every 7 days you will be averaging less than 1L a day which really does sound unbeatable.
Prep ingredients before you cook, and clean as you go. Makes the whole process more focused and more enjoyable. And if you clean as you go, after meal clean up is a breeze.
I’d like to offer a counter point to mise en place. If you are experienced enough, you probably know when the recipe has downtime, and what ingredients are needed when. I prepare what I need until the next time when the cooking becomes passive.
Cleaning as I go would be great, but our two person household electricity usage is already at 4 person household levels, and hot water is electric… so I do that after eating all at once.
Another upside to this is that it ensures you stay focused and don’t wander off and forget that you were cooking when there’s downtime. That’s assuming this is a problem you’re prone to.
Use herbs and spices. Use different spices. I get tired of recipes that use the same 4 flavors over and over, so I look for recipes that use something else. Under-used spices I love: cardamon, rue, sumac. Under-used spices that I can only fit in certain recipes: caraway, mace, fennel seeds.
Get spice mixes for pre-balanced flavors, like Herbs de Provence, Garam masala or Harrissa paste (you can make this yourself, but you should try a few versions to figure out what you’re shooting for).
Maybe these are al old hat to you, but here are some standard examples:
add tarragon to tuna/chicken salad
add cardamon and nutmeg to cooked oatmeal and omit cinnamon
Interesting, never heard of rue. Translated it to German and never heard of Weinraute either :D I’ll have a look at the store the next time. And I’ll also give sumac a try.
Caraway is very commonly used in Germany, but my South African wife does not like it, so I very rarely use it.
I must say I’m a bit lazy with herbs, and I just buy “italian herb mix”.
For other spices, I always have chili (we love hot), pepper, salt, tumeric, all-spice, one hot curry madras mix, and nutmeg.
Depending on the recipe, I also have a lot of different dried chilies, and usually some standard fresh ones (jalapeños and habaneros)
One thing I’d like to recommend you: toasted ground coriander seeds. Toast them carefully over low heat until they release oil, grind in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle. Use for most meat dishes, but also goes into some salads. Widely used in South Africa, especially in their traditional Boerewors, which is why I stock it.
Oh, I bought it as a live plant. We’ve had it in the ground for several years now. Even when the rosemary bush died in the cold, the rue lived on. Our thai hot pepper plant is in a pot and has to come in before it frosts. Of course we always have to buy new basil and cilantro seedlings each year. You can’t stop mint from coming back – same goes for perilla. Anyway, sample links to seeds: earthcareseeds and/or seedneeds.
I’ve had a cactus die from lack of water, my wife is the green thumb person and only grows chili plants ;) we only have a balcony, so not that much space. According to Wikipedia, rue is European, so I still have hopes of seeing it at the store.
First, I want to make sure we’re talking about sumac and not poison sumac. I originally got it as garnish for my hummus and Baba ghanoush. It works well in lots of Mediterranean recipes. For me, it seems to lose potency when cooked too long, so I generally add it towards the end.
P.S. I make hummus from 1/2 pound dry garbanzo beans cooked for a long, long time. Add 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda near the end to ensure soft, mushy beans. Maybe 15-20 minutes of extra cooking after that, then drain off excess water and let cool. The beans shouldn’t be dry, of course, but not soupy, either. There are vegan recipes that use that leftover liquid, so consider saving it.
In a food processor, add several cloves of garlic, about 3 tablespoons tahini, and a bit of salt (maybe 1/2 teaspoon or less). Add somewhat cooled beans, 1/2 teaspoon sumac, and about 1-2 small lemon of zest and juice OR 1/2 -1 large lemon. You can save some juice to the side for correcting flavor later. Optionally add pine nuts or other flavor agents, like roasted red peppers or parsley. I diverge from the standard hummus by adding a glug of olive oil directly into the mix as well as using it as a topping, so add a couple tablespoons in if you so desire. Buzz repeatedly, scraping down the sides as needed until you have a creamy mix. Correct seasoning as desired, then put in a bowl, create a swirling depression in the middle and sprinkle with sumac, then drizzle with olive oil. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate. A good olive oil may make it stiffen up in the refrigerator, so if you are going to eat it cold and added oil to the blend, you may want to make it with extra liquid.
My baba ghanous is almost the same recipe, but with roasted eggplant instead of beans, and extra tahini when the eggplants are over-mature, which means darker, more bitter seeds (and which the extra tahinin cuts).
Add MSG. Another meaning of MSG besides Monosodium glutamate is “Makes Stuff Good”, because besides normal salt and fat, it’s another great flavor enhancer for anything savory. And no, it almost certainly doesn’t give you headaches, that was racist bullshit and has long since been disproven.
Baking soda and the Maillard reaction are friends. You know how they tell you, you can’t caramelize onions in 5 minutes? With baking soda, you can. Add a knife’s tip and bam. Just be careful, it also makes them burn far more easily. This also works with meat, where the meat keeps water better and browns more beautifully. One of my favorite uses is for roasting cauliflower, which gets a deeper brown and tastes so much better in cauli mash.
Sodium Citrate for cheese sauce. You want creamy cheese sauce? Like for Nachos? Add a teaspoon of sodium citrate to your cheese when melting, and it will all combine without any of the fat separating. It’s best for dips, but it can be used for something like mac & cheese in a pinch, but you’ll get better results there if you make a proper roux.
I don’t have any tips that most don’t already know. I cook with simple ingredients. I save and freeze a bit of stock and cook with stock where I can. It adds a bit of depth that oil/butter doesn’t.
For my stock, I’ll save vegetable scraps and freeze it until I have enough. Then boil it down for a few hours. Vegetable is fun to play with. You can add different flavors, and different elements depending on the vegetables you use. Mushrooms will have a unique umami.
Same with seafood stock, I’ll save shrimp shells and fish heads and boil (simmer?) it down. Chicken stock I just boil the bones down after I roast a chicken. For beef, same thing, I’ll roast the bones for more flavor and boil it down. Also I’ll add carrots and celery to the boil for more flavor.
In a similar thought, I love to use coconut oil when cooking when I want a sweeter taste. And finishing a dish with some sesame oil can add a really good flavor. (Sometimes I’ll lightly toss noodles in sesame oil after they’re cooked, or do the same with roasted veggies)
Great ideas with stock. Alas, I don’t have enough leftovers for it as I tend to use everything (and for meat, I’m weird and don’t like bones or anything, so it’s always ground or filet. Only sometimes when beef shanks are on sale I eat leftovers and cook them for my wife, but that doesn’t leave many bones)
edits:
And finishing a dish with some sesame oil can add a really good flavor
Toasted sesame oil. I use it on pretty much anything somewhat Asian :D
For the stock, when you roast something, chicken or whatever, if you have space in the oven add another pan and roast the bones or vegetables, careful not burn them, you keep for stock before boiling them, you get deeper flavour and a nice colour.
For #3 and for people that might not have sodium citrate handy, adding a slice of American cheese to cheese sauces will do the same thing as there’s plenty of sodium citrate in there to go around.
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