Hey Pandas, Share Your Cooking Hacks (Closed)

Liven up that boring salad by replacing the lettuce with bacon and place it between two slices of bread.

Can't afford high-quality meat cuts? use baking soda .. sprinkle it on and let it sit for 20 - 30 mins then rinse and cook .. baking soda it will tenderize the meat.

More of a food storage hack, but a food hack nonetheless.

If ever you aren't able to cook everything from a pack of meat, like pork chops or steaks for example, you can use a freezer bag and a pot of cold water to act as an improvised vacuum sealer.

Simply put what you want to "vacuum seal" into a freezer bag, and close the bag most of the way (leaving about a one inch opening, or two fingers if you are eyeballing it). Start by submerging the bag up until the open corner, and as it is submerging, start releasing the air.

Close the bag when the air has been emptied, then you can put it in the freezer for next time.

Learn to cook from people whose cooking you enjoy. And if you find you don't like cooking? *DO NOT* cook. Miserable cooks make miserable food.

I label spice bottles, baking powder, and condiments on the bottom with the date when I open the container for the first time. Great way to remember just how long you have been using the product, and when it's time to drop into the compost.

Beat the living c**p out of your eggs when making scrambled eggs. Like foam. Them. Up. Makes it easier to get fluffy scrambled eggs if you’re too rough in the cooking process.

when the food is missing "something", add acid such as lemon juice, vinegar or fish sauce

Hack 1
Do not buy or ask for knife sets as wedding gifts. Instead buy:
-1 great chefs knife, I like a 7" but no one size fits all so play with someone else's before you decide what size you need.
-2 3" paring knives
-1 great 5" sandwich knives
-1 great serrated knife
-1 great butcher knife or 1 great carving knife. If you can't afford both, you can use either for shared jobs
Do not waste your money on cheap knives! Do not waste your energy or efforts trying to use cheap knives.

This is a great small, family owned knife company - I LOVE their knives.
https://warthercutlery.com

Hack 2
Learn to sharpen your knives and keep them sharp!

- Marinate everything, and don’t be afraid to be heavy handed with the herbs. After cooking, toss some more herbs through. And to marinate, rather than using a spoon/whatever, put it in a box and toss it, so much easier and a more even coating (doesn’t work for everything)

- plan out your meals in advance, ensuring you have a carb of some sort, vegetables and protein. For example: pasta (carb) in a mushroom (veg) sauce with mince chicken (protein). Or: fish (protein) with roasted vegetable (veg) couscous (carbs)

- split the cooking into two parts. Prep work like cutting and marinating, and the actual cooking. To me it feels like a have more time if I do the prep around lunch, and cook later. Also means that the marinades sit for longer

- see what you can find online/in cookbooks. Don’t just follow them, but see what you can adapt to suit your needs

- practise and experiment. It’s the only way you’ll really get better

Get yourself an InstantPot. I use it 3 to 4 times a week. Game changer.

if you are making mac and cheese from a box (like kraft for example, although i personally use the generic store brand name for mine) add more cheese and more milk and butter. makes it taste better and makes the quantity bigger too so its a win win.

my personal favorites to add in are pepperjack cheese, parmesean, white cheddar and normal cheddar

I didn't try this but i heard adding chilli flakes and/or mustard makes it taste better too

Youtube can be tour friend. There are serious chefs that put out how to make almost anything.

Brown your butter. Doesn't matter what you're using it for, it makes a HUGE difference.

Put whatever amount you need in a small saucepan and cook over low heat, swirling the pan regularly, until pale golden brown. Cool until it's the consistency you need and use as you would regular butter. It'll change your life.

Ok, not really. But the flavour is incredible.

Use teabags! They are like ready-to-go spices mixtures. Just cut them open with a scissor and pull them about your meal while its cooking.
I love to put ginger-citrus tea in my veggie pans or in some soups.

If you need lemon juice in a recipe, microwave your lemon for 45-60 seconds. Cut in half and you can just squeeze each half gently with your hand and all the juice just falls out, you don’t even need a juicer. You can also bake raw lemons in an oven which makes the flavour a bit richer and sweeter, and again makes them super easy to juice.

When garnishing a dish, instead of sprinkling seasoning on closer to the food, sprinkle it from further away (higher). It will be more evenly spread onto your food.

Anytime you're cooking meat, salt it as far ahead as you can. Even overnight.

Buy an oven thermometer. Most home ovens aren't calibrated, and can be over 25° different than what you think you're dialing it into. Hanging a oven thermometer in it solves all of that. If you have an electric range top find out where your medium heat actually is on the dial. It may not actually be in the middle. From there you can start to figure out how to heat your pan just by hovering your hand above the hot pan to test for heat.

A lot of people who say they can't cook actually can but don't have stoves or range tops that cooperate.

This is fairly niche, but when I'm making fried chicken, I don't use any salt in the flour coating, I use chicken bouillon ( which is mostly salt anyway ). Amps up the chicken flavor just a bit.

Buy the very cheap gallon-size storage bags at the dollar store. Add ingredients, close and shake to mix up your marinade; then add the meat and/or veg to the bag. If it needs to sit for a while, put the bag on a plate or in a bowl in case of minor leaks. That way you aren't wasting the increasingly expensive name brand freezer bags.