20 People In This Online Thread Are Sharing Underrated Cooking Advice That Made Cooking Easier For Them
Cooking is an art – the more you practice it, the better you become. But practice ain’t everything – knowing the right techniques, some tips and tricks are also very necessary for cooking delicious food.
Recently a Redditor asked, “What tip did you never think of, that seemed so obvious and really helpful after someone taught you?” and people started pouring out interesting information and advice that helped them improve their own cooking skills. Scroll below to read some of those tips.
More info: Reddit
#1
Image source: ericag476c06e05
“If you want over-easy eggs but the whites are taking a while to set, place a lid on the pan and wait about 30 seconds. The steam will cook the whites quickly, and the yolks will still be nice and runny.”
#2
Image source: u/putsch80
“Roast vegetables for longer than you might think necessary. I used to hate roasted veggies because they’d either be hard and undercooked or mushy. Then I realized you just need to cook them for even longer so that they transcend the mushy stage, the moisture is removed, and they begin to brown.”
#3
Image source: nicelittlenap
“I almost never used my non stick pans for searing meats. I would always panic when the meat stuck, no matter how much oil/butter I used. I would force it to unstick right away, often ripping up the meat. It took my years to learn that the meat will unstick itself once some of the fats render out. I learned it from Master Chef.”
#4
Image source: u/boncrys
“Cinnamon and nutmeg aren’t just for baking. They make great additions for marinades and savory dishes. Try adding cinnamon to chili or nutmeg to creamy sauces like béchamel.”
#5
Image source: exackerly
“Smash the garlic with the flat of the knife.”
#6
Image source: madmaxx
“Freeze your ginger and grate it from frozen without peeling. Peels end up on the outside of the grater, and it lasts for ages in the freezer. You’ll always have fresh ginger on hand.”
#7
Image source: Target_Repulsive
“More of a cleaning tip. Cooked with an older guy at a local bar & grill. We were cleaning up for the night and one of the kid mac&chz exploded in the microwave when I forgot it. So I was scraping and scrubbing this hard burnt cheese and pasta out by hand. The old cook saw me struggling and grabbed a soapy wet rag and nuked it for 2 minutes. Presto! He wiped the inside of the microwave with a paper towel in seconds. Brilliant! It’s how I clean microwaves now.”
#8
Image source: legoruthead
“If you are baking or cooking and need to weigh ingredients, try reverse taring. Put the entire container of your ingredient on the scale, then set it to zero and measure what you’ve taken out. This is useful because you can weight ingredients without dirtying another dish. It’s particularly handy for sticky or messy ingredients like honey or peanut butter.”
#9
Image source: andiepandie23
“Save leftover bacon grease and sauté onions with it, or just use bacon grease instead of olive oil or butter when you’re making anything that could use a little extra flavor boost.”
#10
Image source: Ahkhira
“I was gifted an ulu. It’s a knife used by Alaskan Native women. It’s a game changer. It does EVERYTHING, from slicing to dicing, boning to fileting. It’s my go-to all purpose knife, and I keep it very sharp. Learning knife cuts with that was the best thing that I ever did for myself.”
#11
Image source: babamum
“If you want to make good fried rice use cooked rice that’s been in the fridge overnight.
This was a revelation! Because the rice is dry it doesnt stick together when you fry it. I’d been making gluggy messes for years cooking it from raw. Once I started using cooked rice it actually looked like the stuff you buy!”
#12
Image source: wuzacuz
“Mince fresh parsley (or basil) and spread it out in a gallon zipper freezer bag and freeze. When it’s completely frozen squeeze out the air and roll it up and tuck it somewhere handy in your freezer. It stays green and you can use as much or as little as you want.
The same idea with tomato paste. Empty the can into a freezer bag, flatten it out and freeze it. You can just break off what you need without wasting most of the can.”
#13
Image source: LowAfternoon8155
“A tablespoon or two of butter at the end of cooking tomato sauce for pasta adds a delicious rich flavor.”
#14
Image source: mrbenten
“If you’re not going to finish your food before it goes bad, put it in your freezer. Gordon Ramsay isn’t going to come out and start yelling at you because you used frozen chicken.”
#15
Image source: Bad_Chicken_2
“Buy spices whole and grind what you need. Whole spices are more affordable, last so much longer, and the flavor of freshly ground spices can’t be beat.”
#16
Image source: twolephants
“When something says ‘season to taste’, it doesn’t just mean salt or pepper. It could be adding an acid, or a sugar, or so on – it’s about balancing everything.”
#17
Image source: mjp02002
“Have a small bowl next to you for trash veggie peels scraps. Saves a ton of time from going back and forth to the trash.”
#18
Image source: PeachasaurusWrex
“If your homemade soup is too thin, try adding instant mashed potatoes as a thickener. Since I learned this trick, I’ve started keeping a box around for lazy days or emergencies. They’re a lifesaver when you’ve added too much liquid to soup.”
#19
Image source: velon360
“Brown your butter when making brownies and cookies.”
#20
Image source: AltonIllinois
“Scrape the cutting board to gather chopped or minced ingredients with the blunt side of the knife to protect your cutlery.”
Got wisdom to pour?
PLEASE do not use refrigerated cooked rice for anything (no. 11)!
Bacillus cereus is a bacterium that loves to grow on cooked rice, especially if it’s been boiled, drained, and put away damp. Refrigeration doesn’t bother it, and it produces toxins that aren’t broken down by heating the rice later. It produces some of the worst food poisoning you’ll ever experience.