Do you ever skip a step or two when following a recipe? Stick to the most basic cooking secrets to stay on top of all your cooking. Create the most delicious dishes without having to break a sweat.
In life, it’s those little things that matter the most and makes all the big difference that helps us grow and to help us shine bright.
The same concept applies to my kitchen too. Every meal we create brings us comfort, warmth and a satisfying tummy. All thanks to those littlest things we do to a recipe that makes all the big difference in making the food taste fantastic.
This blog post covers some of the basic cooking secrets you should know that matter the most to help whip up a delicious meal without having to break a sweat.
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Adding Salt
Most, as I know, sprinkle salt towards the very end of the cooking process. Which is okay.
However, when cooking, sprinkle salt from up high so that it spreads all around and this way you won’t have to stir too much.
One of my cooking secrets is that I like to sprinkle the salt a little at a time, at different stages throughout my cooking. It will evenly season well making it a delicious dish.
Try it out next time you are cooking. Remember to taste as you cook, salt can catch on quickly and the dish can get ruined easily.
It won’t be easy fixing that. So use salt as you need and remember to taste as you cook.
Accident Spice Spill
I’ve had times when I accidentally spilled extra salt or chilli flakes when cooking in the kitchen. It messes up the flavour and makes it difficult to adjust back again.
When spices spill, DO NOT mix. Remember to act fast in removing as much out as possible to save the flavour.
In times like this, wet the back of a spoon, use a wet kitchen towel or paper towel to dab at the spilled spice to remove it.
The spices will stick to the wet, making it easier to remove most, if not all without having to throw away the food.
Restore Brown Sugar
Brown sugars tend to go hard if not stored properly. To soften it, place a bowl of brown sugar in the microwave with a glass of water on the side and microwave for about 15 – 20 seconds or more depending on the portion to soften the brown sugar instantly.
To avoid this extra step to soften it, store the brown sugar in an airtight container, toss an orange peel, apple, or a slice of bread inside to keep them fresh longer.
Save The Fruits
I use freshly cut fruits often, other than the regular use, they are great for smoothies and on recipes.
There are times when I’ll end up with leftovers that tend to go brown when forgotten to use them in time.
When you decide to store leftover fresh-cut fruits, spray them with lime juice or use 1 part honey with 2 part water mixer. This technique will help slow the discolouring process thus keeping the fruits fresher a little longer.
Storing Banana
Have you noticed bananas tend to ripe fast if not eaten in a few days of purchasing?
To keep them fresher a few more days longer, wrap the banana batch stems in cling wraps or aluminum foil and leave them out. By doing so you will slow down the ethylene gas that gets released from the banana stems. Keeping them fresher longer.
Pealing Banana
Did you ever struggle to peel a banana before? Sometimes it just won’t give way.
In times like this, remember to turn the banana upside down and pinch the ends together hard. It’ll save you time, and you can get to eating much faster.
Enjoy the banana!
Cracking Eggs
All my life, I have cracked eggs using the techniques I’ve seen and heard from others. I’ve tried cracking eggs with a butter knife, the spoon, the fork, and by using sharp knives.
I tried to practice cracking an egg from the side of the bowl like many chefs have done, as seen on tv, but for me, it was a big sticky mess. I wasted time trying to fish out the tiny shells from the bowl, which was not fun.
What worked for me may not work for you but I can assure you that from what I have tried, the only one that worked well for me is to crack an egg on a flat surface like the cutting board. Don’t hit too hard or you won’t have one to cook with.
When eggs are cracked on a flat surface, it results in larger pieces of broken shells that don’t get pushed inside the egg.
Freshness of an Egg
Have you ever wondered how fresh your eggs are?
Place an egg in a bowl of cold water. If it were to sink, your eggs are good. If it ends up floating to the top, you better toss it out. It’s no good.
The shelf life of an egg gets reduced over time due to the air that forms inside an egg as days go by. Depending on the way an egg floats or sinks, it is possible to tell how fresh an egg maybe.
Ignore the expiry dates and check the freshness of your eggs today. Comment below and let us know how it went.
Get Most Out Of A Lime
The best way to prep a lime before the cut is to microwave the lime for about 5-15 seconds then roll it on the counter using the pressure of your dominant hand.
This process will break away most of the liquid inside. Cut and squeeze to get the most juice out. Towards the end, use a spoon to carve the rest of the remaining liquid out of the lime.
Use of Butter
Like many, I forget to leave out the butter to soften. Resulting in using a cheese grater at times like this.
Have you tried grating the butter before?
I use the grater to grate frozen butter when in need of baking, cooking, and on toasts. This only works best if the butter is frozen.
All this butter talk makes me want to have a toast right now. Toast a thin slice of bread, grate butter on one half, sprinkle sugar on top of that, fold and enjoy.
Butter + Sugar + Toast = Delicious snack in an instant.
Lasting Herbs
I have trouble keeping herbs fresh longer. There is a way to save them still…
Freeze those extra leftover chopped herbs in an ice cube tray with olive oil or any other cooking oil of your choosing and freeze them.
This way the herbs last longer and don’t go to any waste. Whenever needed add them to your cooking.
Avoid Onion Tears
Uncontrollable tears are unavoidable when it comes to slicing onions. Thanks to Propanethial-S-Oxide (PSO), a chemical that sets off a gas that gets released into the air when walls of the onions are damaged. When this gas reaches the eye, it results in eye irritation and giant tears.
To avoid or minimize the tear gas from irritating your eyes, cut onions fast using a sharp knife. Remember to keep the root base of the onions still intact during slicing. It holds the highest concentration so avoid cutting it until the very end then discard.
Using safety glasses and breathing from your mouth instead of the nose can also help protect you from the onion tear gas.
Another method is when cutting the onions, turn on the fan to blow off the air away from your eyes.
If the onions are for cooking, let the onion sit in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight. This step will help minimize the chemical effects of the onions.
Re-using Oil
When I am cooking multiple dishes in a day, I tend to re-use the cooking oil to minimize food wastage. Sometimes, the oil will retain the flavours of the previous cooking, which may be a bad idea to re-use the oil again.
Cooking a 1/4″ piece of ginger in the used oil can help remove any left-over flavours or odours from the previous cooking. This way you may re-use the oil in other cookings without changing the dish’s taste or smell.
Cutting Boards
Cutting boards are essential equipment in the kitchen. It’s always safe to keep a few in the kitchen for different cutting uses.
At least have two in the kitchen. One for meat and one for everything else. Believe it or not, I have about 4 cutting boards in the kitchen. One for raw meat, for veggies/fruits, for food prepping and one for everything else.
Never use one cutting board for all your cuttings, keep your family safe from cross-contamination.
Smoke-free Kitchen
My kitchen turns into a smoky mess when I am on a roll cooking multiple dishes at a time. Especially if it has to do with food involving pan-fried or deep-fried dishes.
To avoid this mess, you could turn on the kitchen exhaust fan to pull all the smoke and light a candle in the kitchen to reduce the odour and call it a day.
However, on top of these methods, store the hot food with the pan it was cooked, inside the oven to keep it warm, to reduce the smoke and to avoid any unpleasant odour for the moment or at least until the pot/pan completely cools down for me to clean and wash the dirt away.
Eliminating Odours
When emptying the garbage, drop a few lemon peels or a few tea bags in the bottom of your kitchen garbage bin to keep the unpleasant odours out.
Keep your house clean and odour-free.
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Following a recipe meant, doing five other different things before the main cooking ever really begins. If not prepared as the recipe follows, the dish may not even turn as good.
As many experienced cooks agree, learning the basic cooking secrets can help in creating the most delicious dishes. Some of these cooking secrets to remember:
- Sprinkle salt from up high and in between cooking to add flavour evenly and to avoid stirring too much.
- When accidentally spilling spices while cooking, use a back of a wet spoon, a wet kitchen or a paper towel to nab on the spilled spices to remove extra unwanted spices without removing too much of the food.
- Brown sugar must be stored in an air-tight container along with an orange peel, apple or a slice of bread inside to keep them fresh longer. To soften, hardened brown sugar, microwave a bowl of brown sugar and a glass of water beside for 15-20 minutes or more depending on the portion.
- When storing pre-cut fresh fruits for later use, remember to spray them with lime juice or 1 part honey with 2 parts water to avoid discolouring.
- Bananas can be kept fresher longer by wrapping the banana stems in cling wraps or aluminum foil.
- Peeling bananas can be a struggle sometimes. When one end doesn’t go well, turn it around and pinch the ends first, then peel to enjoy.
- Craking eggs gets easier with a flat surface. Just don’t hit it too hard or you won’t have an egg to enjoy.
- The freshness of an egg can be determined by carefully dropping them in a bowl of cold water to see whether it floats or sinks.
Also….
- Get the most out of lime by microwaving it for a few minutes, rolling it with a dominant hand, and then squeezing the life out of them to remove the juice. Use a spoon to carve the rest of the juice to get the most out.
- Forgetting to leave the butter out? with a grater, you can now grate frozen butter for your cooking needs.
- Don’t let the herbs go to waste. Freeze the chopped herbs in an ice cube tray with cooking oil of your choosing.
- There are a few things you can do to avoid onion tear gas.
- Slicing onions using a sharp knife.
- Using safety glasses.
- Breathing through the mouth and not the nose.
- Turning on a fan to blow off the tear gas away.
- Keeping the onion root base intake during slicing.
- Keep the onions stored in the refrigerator until it is needed for cutting.
- Re-use cooking oil by cooking a piece of ginger to remove any left-over flavours or odours from the previous cooking.
- Keep at least 2 cutting boards minimum for kitchen use to avoid food contamination.
- In addition to lighting a candle or turning on the kitchen exhaust fan to avoid a smoking mess in the kitchen. Place the food along with the pot/pan inside the oven to keep the food warm, smoke-free & to keep odour-less for the moment.
- Eliminate odours from your garbage bins by placing lemon peels or a few teabags at the bottom to keep out unpleasant odours out.
What are some of the cooking secrets you do in your kitchen that have helped you? Will you share your kitchen secret with us? Leave a comment below.
