Kitchen and Culinary Cheats: Simple Hacks to Elevate Your Cooking

Whether you're a seasoned chef or a kitchen novice, everyone can benefit from a few clever cheats and hacks to make cooking easier, faster, and more enjoyable. 

Here are some of the best kitchen tips and tricks that can help you streamline your culinary process and elevate your dishes with minimal effort.

1. Prep Like a Pro

Batch Cooking Basics:

Chop Once, Use Twice: When chopping vegetables like onions, carrots, or peppers, prepare extra and store them in the fridge for use later in the week. This saves time on future meals.

Freeze Herbs in Oil: Chop fresh herbs, place them in ice cube trays, cover with olive oil, and freeze. Pop out a cube whenever you need a burst of fresh herb flavour in your cooking.

2. Effortless Flavour Enhancers

Boost Your Broth:

Stock Up: Save vegetable scraps, bones, and herb stems in a bag in your freezer. When you have enough, simmer them with water to create a rich homemade stock.

Instant Flavour: Add a dash of soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce to soups and stews for a quick umami boost.

Seasoning Savvy:

Salt Your Pasta Water: Salting the water you cook pasta in ensures the pasta is seasoned from the inside out. It should taste like the sea.

Layer Your Spices: Add spices early in the cooking process to let them bloom in the heat and release their full flavour.

3. Smart Cooking Techniques

Perfect Your Proteins:

Pan Sear Success: For perfectly seared meat, pat it dry with kitchen paper before cooking. This helps achieve a beautiful brown crust.

Rest for Juiciness: Always let meat rest after cooking. This allows the juices to redistribute, making it more tender and flavourful.

Vegetable Victories:

Steam with Ease: If you don’t have a steamer basket, use a metal colander over a pot of simmering water to steam vegetables.

Microwave Magic: Quickly soften root vegetables like potatoes and carrots by microwaving them for a few minutes before roasting or frying.

4. Baking Brilliance

Simple Dough Improvements:

Bread Dough Boost: Add a tablespoon of vinegar to your bread dough for a better rise and improved texture.

Soft Cookie Hack: Place a slice of bread in your cookie jar to keep homemade biscuits soft and fresh for longer.

Quick Baking Substitutions:

Buttermilk Substitute: Make your own buttermilk by adding 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar to 250ml of milk. Let it sit for 5 minutes before using.

Egg Replacement: For vegan baking, substitute one egg with a mixture of 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed and 3 tablespoons of water. Let it sit for a few minutes to thicken.

5. Cleaning Shortcuts

Effortless Clean-Up:

Non-Stick Solution: Line baking trays with parchment paper or aluminium foil to minimise washing up.

Quick Blender Clean: Fill your blender halfway with warm water and a drop of washing-up liquid. Blend on high for 30 seconds, then rinse.

Stain Removal:

Sparkling Sinks: Use baking soda and vinegar to remove tough stains and odours from your sink. Sprinkle baking soda, spray vinegar, let it fizz, then scrub and rinse.

Fresh Cutting Boards: Rub a cut lemon and coarse salt over wooden cutting boards to clean and deodorise them naturally.

6. Storage Smarts

Keep It Fresh:

Extend Herb Life: Store fresh herbs like coriander and parsley in a jar with water in the fridge, like a bouquet. Cover loosely with a plastic bag.

Banana Longevity: Wrap the stems of bananas in cling film to slow down the ripening process.

Efficient Organisation:

Label and Date: Use masking tape and a marker to label and date leftovers and prepped ingredients. This helps you use them before they go bad.

Clear Containers: Store pantry items in clear, airtight containers to keep ingredients fresh and make it easy to see what you have.

Conclusion

These kitchen and culinary cheats can help you streamline your cooking process, maximise flavour, and maintain a tidy workspace. With these hacks in your culinary toolkit, you can spend less time on preparation and cleaning, and more time enjoying delicious, home-cooked meals. Happy cooking!