Share your Kitchen (Cooking) Hack

[Ishi]

I’ve been thinking of starting thread this for some time and finally got it going!
I’ll explain how and why. There are three other gentleman all within three miles of each other and all attend the same church that lost our spouses in 16 months three from cancer and one from an auto accident.
So what we’ve been doing is we go out for supper periodically and we take turns driving and picking the place to eat and not disclosing where we’re going which makes for a lot of guessing.
One outing we were discussing our cooking failures in the kitchen. I brought up that many times my water boils over on the stove and then having a mess then Doug in the back seat pipes up and says put a wooden spoon over the pot. I kinda laughed and he said try it.
So I’ve been testing it and no issues yet so tonight I was boiling potatoes and crank it up to high and no boil over

I would bet every one has a couple up there sleeves
I’ll appreciate it and sure many others will to!
Post away

 

[chilerelleno]

Not a hack, just an age old practice that makes cooking anything go faster and smoother.

Mise en Place
Prep ahead of time, set it all out in an orderly way within reach and in order of use.

I also take pride in being able to prepare and cook multiple entrees and sides, and have everything ready to plate at the same time, or within 5-10 minutes of each other.

 

[Smoke-Chem BBQ]

My hands-down best kitchen hack was marrying an excellent cook.

I'm not half bad myself. I think I was once the slightly better cook, in fact, but when her company forced her and a bunch of her peer managers into retirement two years earlier than she planned on, she hadn't had a chance to figure out what she wanted to do with her time. So for the first couple of years, she watched hours and hours of cooking shows every day. I used to tease her about it...but dang, it really upped her game!

 

[Brokenhandle]

My wife can outcook me any day ! But I enjoy smoking foods, so we're good.

Ryan

 

[Fueling Around]

Bought an induction cooktop. Beats the radiant electric style.

...
There are three other gentleman all within three miles of each other and all attend the same church that lost our spouses in 16 months three from cancer and one from an auto accident.
So what we’ve been doing is we go out for supper periodically and we take turns driving and picking the place to eat and not disclosing where we’re going which makes for a lot of guessing.
...

Hat's off to you.

 

[bazzz9]

I bought a portable induction burner for the camper to use outside. Had to buy a couple of new pans because the old ones didn’t work. Cast iron frying pans work well though.

 

[chopsaw]

Been a member of the same " club " for 18 years . I always did most of the cooking , so no real adjustment there .

wooden spoon over the pot.

Not sure I've seen the spoon on the pot , but a spoon in the pot is something I've been doing for years .
Idea is something to break the surface of the water to allow the energy below the surface to escape without erupting .
Same holds true for boiling / heating water in the microwave . A wooden skewer stuck in the liquid or floating a tooth pic on the water gives a place for the bubbles to collect and escape .
I'm guessing the spoon on the pot works by dripping condensation on the surface of the liquid .
Here's something along the lines of boiling over .
If you have a pot that's threatening to boil over , take the back of a large kitchen spoon , and use it to pop the bubbles . Once you release that energy , the pot will boil at the original water level .

Something else I do if I'm pan frying something is to lay towels on the cook top around the pan . Helps to keep the top grease free . Only works using one burner of course .

@Ishi I see the " warm zone " burner on your stove . I bought a Whirlpool a year or so ago , and it has that . Totally love that feature .

I keep a spray bottle of 50 / 50 white vinegar and water to help keep the ceramic top clean .

 

[cpaysonc]

A recent acquisition is a Korean butane single burner, the type you'd cook inside with, although we use it outside as well. Wicked heat output, infinitely adjustable, portable with readily available fuel canisters. I consider it to be a superior burner to our Wolf range burners by far. Nice to bring it outside and sear a steak Alton Brown style.

 

[SmokinEdge]

The wooden spoon over or in a pot of boiling starch is just pure voodoo, but it works perfectly.

 

[sandyut]

Its not cooking directly, but...I have discovered citric acid as a descaler. My Dash egg cooker was getting pretty caked with hard water. Soaked it with citric acid and water for 20 minutes and all the gunk wiped right out.

Honestly I was shocked. I bought it for descaling the coffee machine. After reading up looks like it will also be effective on hard water stains....which we also have.

 

[Steve H]

Use citric acid powder to clean/descale your dishwasher. Just put a TBS or so in the soap dispenser. And run it without dishes in it.
Lining a bowl with aluminum foil. Then pour waste oil or grease in it. After it cools. Wad up the foil and throw away.
My mom used to put a few marshmallows in jar that had hardened brown sugar in it. After a day or so. The brown sugar was soft again.
Spray some cooking oil like pan or your cheese grater before using. Cheese doesn't stick. And grates easier.
Use a pizza cutter to dice herbs. Just watch your fingers. Don't ask me how I know!
I picked these up over the years.

 

[philpom]

Buy some sodium citrate and use your favorite block cheese to make a cheese sauce as smooth and creamy as velveeta. Even blend many cheeses together, no roux needed, just a little milk, beer, water, or other liquid, sodium citrate and fresh grated cheese in a heated pan. Beer queso for the game, a 5 blend cheese sauce to up your Mac and cheese game, amazing cheesy broccoli, fantastic enchiladas, etc.

 

[dsk]

Buy some sodium citrate and use your favorite block cheese to make a cheese sauce as smooth and creamy as velveeta.

Thanks for this. I had never heard of it. Did a bunch of reading this afternoon and have some coming now. My semi-annual cheese fondue will never be the same again.

 

[JckDanls 07]

@Steve H ...I like the foil/oil idea ...

 

[Kevin DeShazo]

Not a cooking but storage hack, if you hate stained plastic containers from pasta sauce, spray the container with cooking spray before putting the sauce into the container.

As for fat/oil, we keep an empty large can by the sink we drain fat into, once the can is full, put it in a plastic grocery bag, tie it up tightly and toss in the trash.

When flattening chicken for say picatta or chicken parm, instead of using plastic wrap over the chicken, Ill first butterfly the chicken breast, then place each half of the breast into a large freeze bag. Because the bags are thicker than plastic wrap, they dont start to tear as easily esp if you are making a lot of chicken.

 

[luvcatchingbass]

My hands-down best kitchen hack was marrying an excellent cook.

I'm not half bad myself. I think I was once the slightly better cook, in fact, but when her company forced her and a bunch of her peer managers into retirement two years earlier than she planned on, she hadn't had a chance to figure out what she wanted to do with her time. So for the first couple of years, she watched hours and hours of cooking shows every day. I used to tease her about it...but dang, it really upped her game!

When the kids were babies and especially when I had to stay home with a sick one I watched A LOT of cooking and BBQ. That really gave me the bug and for sure upped my cooking, really in the end most isn't really that hard when a guy thinks about it.

 

[luvcatchingbass]

Get a GSP (German Shorthair Pointer) for cleaning dishes. Just have to leave a cast iron pan on counter or stove after it has cooled and grease has setup a little. Very quietly they will lick the whole thing perfectly cleaned

 

[Fueling Around]

Get a GSP (German Shorthair Pointer) for cleaning dishes. Just have to leave a cast iron pan on counter or stove after it has cooled and grease has setup a little. Very quietly they will lick the whole thing perfectly cleaned

Dog named "Cold Water" by any chance? There's a joke about cold water cleaning dishes.

 

[1MoreFord]

Dog named "Cold Water" by any chance? There's a joke about cold water cleaning dishes.

Cold Water cleans lots of things around my house before they go into the recycling bin.

 

[luvcatchingbass]

Dog named "Cold Water" by any chance? There's a joke about cold water cleaning dishes.

I don't know the cold water joke but I can fill in the blanks. Im going to have to remember that