Chefs Are Revealing The Cooking Hacks They Think Every Person Needs To Commit To Memory Before Setting Foot In Another Kitchen
“It will make EVERYTHING you do easier.”
Reddit user polloastemio recently asked, “Chefs of Reddit, what’s a cooking hack everybody should know?” As someone who loves to eat but doesn’t always love to cook, I will NEVER skip one of these threads! They’re always full of absolute gold! So, without further ado, here are some of the best tips, tricks, and hacks chefs shared:
1. “If your sauce breaks, add a small ice cube to it to bring it back together. It doesn’t always work, but it works most of the time.”
—Financial_Coach4760
2. “If you need to carmelize onions quickly, a tiny sprinkle of baking soda will speed it up dramatically. Only use a tiny amount, though, as too much will turn your onions to mush.”
—unbreakablekango
3. “If your cookies get too hard, put them in a baggie with a piece of bread. The cookies will absorb the moisture from the bread and stay soft. Also works with brownies.”
—Dracoslade
4. “A meat thermometer makes cooking much easier and works for things beyond meat. I always temp potatoes to ensure they’re fully cooked but not overcooked and gummy. To reach safe internal temps or target temps on various meats, you can generally pull things off 10 degrees (Fahrenheit) early and let the meat rest. A steak will rise from 125°F to 135°F internal temp while you let it rest. The hotter exterior will continue to cook the interior.”
—IDontStandForCurls
5. “Make your own broth from bones and veggies. It’s so much richer than store-bought. I always save my chicken carcasses from Costco chickens and make broth. Freeze it. Soups come out 100% more flavorful.”
—PrisonerV
6. “When you remove the hard-boiled egg from the hot water, before you put it in the ice bath, whack the shell with the back of a spoon, and they will peel like a dream.”
—marvinisbig
7. “Use lemon juice (or any appropriate acid, such as vinegar) as a seasoning just like salt and pepper.”
—Hessquire
8. “M I C R O W A V E. Learn to use the microwave on lower power settings. A good baseline is double the duration of nuking at half the power. ‘How long would I nuke this lasagna for to reheat it normally? Two minutes. Let’s do it at four minutes (double duration) at 50% power level.’ Do that, and suddenly, you don’t have cold spots in the lasagna and lava in others. You have a perfectly reheated lasagna that retained moisture in all the parts you would want it to and has the same heat level throughout. Once you get a feel for this, you can start doing different durations at different power levels, completely based on vibes (your brain’s intuition will kick in here).”
“Far, far too many people only ever use the microwave at 100% power and then think it’s a low-usefulness tool with bad performance. It’s the equivalent of using a hammer, but only slamming it at full force and then complaining that it’s not good because it’s destroying things when you miss and bending the nails wrong.”
—Cube_
9. “Cook your spices a little. Making tacos? Dice up an onion, garlic, and a poblano. Cook them down in a little olive oil, and put your taco seasoning on that, then stir in your protein. You can add more if you need to, but cooking the spices a bit helps them.”
—clarissaswallowsall
10. “When your burger is about done, like right before you’d add the cheese, if you’re cooking on a flat surface, finish your burger in soy sauce. Maybe put oil, garlic powder, and onion powder into the mix.”
—Ivy_lane_Denizen
11. “If your soup or sauce is not thickening fast enough, use instant mashed potatoes. It will thicken up in a matter of minutes and won’t ruin the flavor like flour can.”
—evadivabobeva
12. “Make sure your knives are sharp. It will make EVERYTHING you do easier.”
—aatkey
13. “Butter in a pan will burn pretty easily, so either do it at a low temperature or add a little bit of oil to make it last longer.”
—catnapman
14. “Salt is very useful. For example, adding it to veggies will make them cook faster, and they will release their juices to give more flavor. If you add salt to the pan before the oil and let it sit for a few minutes at high temperature, you make sure the eggs won’t adhere to the pan.”
—Suey036
15. “Measuring out peanut butter: If you need a cup of peanut butter, fill a two-cup glass measuring cup with one cup of cold water. Start adding peanut butter to the cold water and pushing it down below the water. When the water reaches two cups, you have one cup of peanut butter. The displacement method is a lot less messy than trying to fill a measuring cup with straight peanut butter.”
—LightOtter
16. “Pro baker here. This is for baking, but a lot of the same logic works for cooking, though it’s true that you can have a bit more leeway with cooking. Baking is a science. It’s formulaic and ratios. Cooking is an art, but it still requires proper technique. Get a scale. Weigh everything. Filling cups by volume is very different than filling cups by weight. You are going to put too much flour in that recipe. Cake flour is four ounces per cup, and all-purpose flour is four and a half ounces per cup. Please don’t use corn starch to lower the protein in your AP flour if you bake regularly; just buy some cake flour. When you substitute cornstarch, you are not only removing some of the protein in AP flour, but you are also removing everything that gives structure to your baked goods.”
“It’s okay in a pinch, for a one-off if you never bake and will never use the cake flour again, but please, if you’re doing it regularly, ESPECIALLY if you are selling baked goods, buy some frigging cake flour and a scale.
Lemon juice in milk works for buttermilk, but it’s not ideal. The lactic acid in buttermilk softens the proteins in flour, giving you a heavenly crumb to your cake. Again, if you are doing a one-off, yes. Often or selling, no.
Set a timer. You are going to forget those cookies in the oven. I saved countless batches of cookies and layers of cakes at my old job because my boss would put stuff in the oven and not set a timer. By the time he remembered, the items were already out and cooled. The days I was off, he ended up with many cheesecake crust crumbs because he’d burn the cookies and salvage the product by running them through the Robot Coupe to use as crusts or streusel-ish topping.
Don’t mess with a recipe until you know it; if you do, don’t blame the recipe for your product not turning out properly. I got tired of mentoring in groups because I’d post a no-fail-if-followed recipe, and someone would change a thing, then blame my recipe. No. Do it like I posted, I’ve used it and sold for years off that recipe. I know you added the rest of the egg or too much flour.”
—SnackBottom
17. “A dab of olive oil on your knife will prevent you from crying while chopping onions.”
—masterjon_3
18. “Turn the stovetop down. Most things don’t need to be cooked on high heat.”
—DumpsterDoggie
19. “Do not try to catch anything that is falling…and I mean anything. Do not try to extinguish burning fat with water. Add salt as you go. Butter makes anything better. Do not cook in shorts or flip-flops.”
—panait_musoiu
20. “Build taste in layers by seasoning as you go. Add a pinch of spices to each component, and taste as you go. If you dump seasonings in at the end, it will lack all the depth of flavor. Prep your components ahead of time. Don’t plan on chopping the carrots while your meat is cooking. Use that time in between for cleaning instead.”
—ThHeretic
21. “Brine your chicken before cooking. Dry or wet, it doesn’t matter; just make sure to brine. Personally, a little bit of soy sauce over the chicken in a ziplock bag for 30 minutes in the fridge is my go-to on a weeknight if I’m cooking chicken. Never fails.”
—Soilmonster
22. “When cooking pasta and any kind of sauce, save at least half a cup of pasta water. Add that pasta water to the sauce. The starch in that water will emulsify the sauce (helps oil and water mix) and adds flavor and silky texture.”
—Just_aJuiceBoxx
23. “Freeze your fresh ginger and then grate as needed.”
—ricobandito
24. “I read a lot of people saying to use a lot of salt. There are loads of people with kidney problems due to using too much salt. You can use herbs instead of salt, and a teaspoon of white miso. Lemon can also make a dish a little more tasty, as smoked paprika powder. So, watch out for too much salt!”
—belenna
25. “Learn to make stocks. Learn to deglaze. Learn to ‘press test’ meat for doneness. Salt is your friend. Butter is your best friend. Get an emulsion blender. Buy nice pans. Prep before cooking. Learn to make meals out of what’s in the fridge. Attractive plating is just as impressive as tasty food.”
—Tim_Riggins_
26. “Taste and clean up as you go. It’s basic, but it makes all the difference in the experience before, during, and afterwards.”
—Proper-Aspect-2947
27. “Scrape food with the back of a knife, not the cutting edge.”
—Black03Z
28. “Put a wooden spoon over a boiling pot. It stops it from boiling over, saving you from a pasta tsunami.”
—MediocreTomorrow2766
29. “For really good rice? Brown it a bit in a touch of oil until golden (for a bit of nutty flavor) and use chicken broth instead of water for cooking. Also, save the renderings/gelatin and schmaltz from a roast chicken. It will make other dishes much more tasty.”
—CosmoKing2
30. “Use a timer. I’ve eaten so much overcooked pasta through the years. And save some pasta water to loosen a sauce or prevent pasta from sticking. Also, don’t buy pink salt. Also, Old Bay, Lowery’s, Red Robin season salt, and All Dressed seasoning are GREAT on popcorn. And, cast iron all day!”
—Picmover
31. “Make your own stocks at home and freeze them in ice cube trays to use in small quantities for pan sauces.”
—rsharp7000
32. “Not really a hack, but if there’s more than one person in the kitchen, announce yourself before going behind anyone so they don’t back into your knife or scalding hot pot.”
—DriedUpSquid
33. “A damp paper towel under a cutting board will prevent it from slipping.”
—KeithTC
34. “Have a garbage/scrap bowl on the counter next to the cutting board. It saves you individual trips to the garbage can, touching handles, etc. Dump it when you’re done.”
—AdClassic8242
35. And: “When you’re unsure of cook time, err on the lower amount of time. You can always cook it longer. You can’t uncook stuff. I’ve tried to explain this to my wife many times to no avail.”
—Tacokolache
Whether you’re a professional chef or a home cook, tell us your favorite cooking tips, tricks, and hacks that you think everyone needs to know. Share in the comments or tell us anonymously using this form.