Kitchen Hacks

[Chef455]

What are some things you've learned to save time/labor in the kitchen?

I ll start with keeping your ginger root in the freezer. When you need some take it out and break out the box grater. Makes perfect ginger "snow". I don't even bother peeling it.

 

[ctr]

Fast biscuits...

Making biscuits, use 1 cup bisquick in bowl, 1 cub set aside. Add pinch of salt and milk mixing with large spoon until sticky dough forms. Begin punchdown in bowl, add some of reserve on top, fold over, punchdown. Repeat until reserve is used up and dough almost flakes off. Pull off pieces of dough, flatten in hands, place on baking sheet. 8 - 12 minutes baking at 450 degrees.

One bowl cleanup, makes 4 - 6 biscuits, total time is about 20 minutes.

 

[ctr]

Thicken soups, first step before all else, place little bit of broth in container, add 2 tablespoons bisquick, 1 teaspoon cornstarch. Stir well and set aside. Add to soup when simmering, stir well. No lumps, and soup will thicken a little.

 

[Chef455]

Thicken soups, first step before all else, place little bit of broth in container, add 2 tablespoons bisquick, 1 teaspoon cornstarch. Stir well and set aside. Add to soup when simmering, stir well. No lumps, and soup will thicken a little.

I've often used leftover mashed potatoes to thicken soups.

 

[Multum in parvo]

Not much of a hack but - mis en place - is really a lifesaver to get everything done in time.

 

[ctr]

Have about a dozen little glass bowls that hold maybe a 1/3 to 1/2 cup max. Have 4 sizes of mixing bowls, and 2 liquid measuring cups. Measure out all ingredients in prep before doing any steps. Calls for eggs? Cracked and in a glass bowl. That way everything flows nicely.

 

[ctr]

I've often used leftover mashed potatoes to thicken soups.

I will have to try that one. Could be interesting with beef or onion soup!

 

[Tannhauser]

I will have to try that one. Could be interesting with beef or onion soup!

And even instant mashed potatoes can do the job, too.

 

[Tirvine]

Use instant rice to clean your coffee grinder.

 

[Dnallehekaj]

I keep my knives on a magnetic strip, up off of the counters. My cast iron and my wok hang up near the stove.

Easy access and line of sight have me thinking about cooking every time I walk past. I'll usually have at least a rough meal idea before I'm ready to cook.

Hard agree with mis en place. That, and a large cutting board were game changers for me.

A wet paper towel under a small cutting board will keep it from sliding around as you use it. A big chunky cutting board needs no such assistance.

When I lived in places with less counter space, a cutting board placed over an open drawer was helpful. I still use that trick for holiday cooking with family.

 

[SlimChicken]

Almost empty jars of Dijon mustard are the worlds best containers for making vinegarette (sp?) Dressings in.

 

[The Knize]

Corn starch and water to thicken when something needs to be thicker. A pat of butter or several slowly stirred into a warm sauce so that emulsifies instead of breaking down thickens and enriches, and makes almost anything taste better. A few drops of hot sauce makes most things taste better even if its taste seems imperceptible.

Mise in place, for sure.

I like the ginger in the freezer suggestion. I have mixed feelings over not peeling ginger. I do not think the Chinese do it. Freezer works with peeled garlic, too, I hear, but have not really tried. Cutting board over an open drawer sounds great.

Steel your knives every time.

For mixed drinks, measure with a scale. An ounce of liquid weighs an ounce. Put the shaker or stirring glass with ice on the scale and zero out, then start adding ingredients.

 

[Dnallehekaj]

My only issue with ginger and garlic in the freezer is that I HATE cleaning graters and micro planes. I usually use a paring or petty knife to carve off sheets of cheddar, then cut them down to smaller pieces. It takes way longer than grating and cleaning the grater. It is inefficient. It's not fun, but then I don't have to clean a grater...

I've seen people talk about mincing or grating garlic or ginger and freezing in ice cube trays. That seems pretty convenient.

 

[Chef455]

My only issue with ginger and garlic in the freezer is that I HATE cleaning graters and micro planes. I usually use a paring or petty knife to carve off sheets of cheddar, then cut them down to smaller pieces. It takes way longer than grating and cleaning the grater. It is inefficient. It's not fun, but then I don't have to clean a grater...

I've seen people talk about mincing or grating garlic or ginger and freezing in ice cube trays. That seems pretty convenient.

No issues for me cleaning the microplane or box grater. I pop them both in the dishwasher after an "against the grain" rinse. Particularly the box grater, the ginger turns out fine even with the largest holes.

 

[DoctorShavegood]

What are some things you've learned to save time/labor in the kitchen?

I ll start with keeping your ginger root in the freezer. When you need some take it out and break out the box grater. Makes perfect ginger "snow". I don't even bother peeling it.

No peel on ginger is perfectly fine.

 

[hairless wonder]

Use a food processor to chop nuts. I recently did that with a quarter cup of peanuts for a dish. It was much faster than trying to do it all by hand.

 

[The Count of Merkur Cristo]

Chef:
There more 'hacks' out there than you can 'shake a stick' at.

"Happiness is a small house, with a big kitchen [and lots of hacks]". Alfred Hitchcock

 

[Luc]

Good thing this thread came back as I missed it in 2022.

I will try the ginger trick for sure. I use the rice trick already to clean my coffee grinder. Works surprisingly well!

My tip that I could add to this thread is something that I mentioned in the poor student sandwich thread.

Pita bread. If you freeze them as is (from store to freezer) they will stick together and be difficult to take out one by one.

What I do is reverse the order before freezing them. I take the pitas out of the back and put the first one down. For the second one I flip it so the top is on the bottom. Next, I don't flip it, I put it on top of the pile as is, and so on. That way, 1 out of 2 pita is flipped. When I put the bag in the freezer, it will be thicker than what I got at the store but that's all right as long as I don't squish them together. I freeze them and then, no issues to take them one by one during the week.

 

[mrlandpirate]

I use large coffee filters for throw away bowls , prep my veg or whatever put it into filter after I add it I just toss the filter.

 

[The Knize]

I use large coffee filters for throw away bowls , prep my veg or whatever put it into filter after I add it I just toss the filter.

That seems like a good hack. Coffee filters are less expensive than I thought, and in a lot of kitchens would be readily available anyway. Would not even has to toss the filter when through for some ingredients.

I have not done it, but for wet ingredients, I suppose, some cheap, small paper cups could serve a similar function. I generally use 2,5 oz stainless steel sauce/drawn butter cups for this purpose and many others that I got very cheap somewhere long ago. They are indestructible and I suppose it assuages my feelings about trying to limit paper waste. I suppose I have used pieces of wax paper as you would use the coffee filters, too. For many ingredients you do not really need a cup shape, wax paper is cheap, and things slide off it easily.

I suppose maintaining strict mise in place is one of the best kitchen hacks. Measuring and laying out everything in advance brings all sorts of benefits. Fewer errors. Greater efficiency--you can measure all the dry ingredients at once instead of having to wash a measuring cup or whatever used for liquids. The French knew what they were doing in a kitchen.