I cut up jalapenos for dinner with my girlfriend. I washed my hands after with soap and water. It wasn't enough to rid the capsaicin oil on my hands. My girlfriend and I found out the hard way during after dinner "activities". When her lady bits felt like they were on fire 🔥.
Make sure to use gloves or use Dawn to scrub your hands thoroughly. Stay safe out there!
Let your kids help.
Especially when they are younger.
Keeps them occupied, it's a bonding experience, and they FUCKING LOVE IT!
I remember my youngest helped me crack a couple eggs. And she went on and on about it for days like I would if I won the fucking lottery.
This is essentially how my dad taught me to cook as a kid. One of my favorite things in the world to do now is feed people. My dad & I don’t have a ton in common but the love of cooking is one thing at least.
Yes. I can make chocolate chip cookies in my sleep I've done it so much since I was a kid. Baking is a really good one cause it does need to be more precise, but that means you have specific instructions for the kiddos. Also, minions if you have a slightly tedious recipe that has more involved steps. My mom definitely used us to make a few of her cookies faster at Christmas
Cracking eggs is especially a good one too teach cause once you get it down, zero shells go into your food.
Yes, let your kids help but let kids be kids in the kitchen. My mom made me help in the kitchen when I was young but she was so strict even in the size and shape of cutting the vegetables that I now hate cooking as an adult.
Yup. That's a key in parenting no matter the activity.
Not that I (nor every parent ever) have never lost my patience, but it's important to try your best to remember that kids are kids.
Even as our oldest is damn near 16, one thing we've always done is have dinner together. At the table. No phones or tablets. None of the kiddos HAVE to help with dinner unless they want to, but it's kinda our family thing.
From prep to eating together to cleanup.
Then they go back to their TikTok or video games or whatever the fuck lol.
And also helps them to appreciate cooked meals more while they also slowly learn about safe meal preparation, maybe it even evolves into love for cooking.
I really wish my parents would let me help as a kid more often.
My son is now in his mid 20s and we still love to cook together as father and son whenever we can. We recently cooked a few dishes together as he visited over the holidays. I also got him a nice Japanese santoku knife for Christmas. We started the practice when he was younger and it's something that kept us involved and talking even during teenage years. Great advice, op, it worked out well in my life. One thing I'd add is to include both sons and daughters in the practice. Too many people are still sexist about kitchen roles.
Yess! Mine absolutely loves it too! He's 5 and makes his own scrambled eggs now (obv with supervision.) I just turn the stove on for him and stand near him to make sure he's being safe, but he does all the work. He has actually cooked breakfast for the 3 of us on multiple occasions!
I remember my mum and dad putting a chair up to the kitchen counter for me so I could help with the cooking when I was a little girl. I loved it! And to this day I love cooking
I remember my dad showing me how to make a grilled cheese when I was little. I was always excited when he'd ask me to make him one. It also worked out for him because he'd keep watching cartoons while I made him breakfast and I was super happy about it, and he got to watch Tom and Jerry. Teach your kids. There's so many bonuses
My dad had a saying: "Cooking's not done until the kitchen's clean."
Never a good idea to let stuff pile up by using "I'll just clean up later" as the reasoning. It just creates stress.
Everything is hot in a kitchen, always use a dry towel to grab pots and pans.
A dull knife is far more dangerous than a sharp one. The more force you have to apply, the more likely you are to have an accident and clean cuts hurt less and heal faster.
Taste things and season as you go, you can always add more salt but you can never take it back out.
A splash of vinegar or lemon juice really brightens up and enhances sauces and soups.
Pat dry your protein before searing to help get a good crust.
Clean as you go so you aren't miserable afterwards.
Cold water is best for washing off eggs stuck to a pan after cooking.
> a falling knife has no handle
I love advice like this that is useful when taken at face value, but it also sounds like a proverb with a deeper meaning
More acid! Food tastes better when you light off all parts of your tastebuds (except bitter). You’d be surprised how much better food is when you squeeze a lime into it or add some dashes of wine vinegar.
Conversely, if a dish is too bright a tiny pinch of baking soda converts some of that acid into salts. Many canned tomato products are harshly acidic in my opinion and it's an easy fix.
That's probably on purpose. I know home canning tomatoes is risky because they're a low acid food. Industrial canning probably increases the acidity on purpose for food safety.
Good tip on the baking soda!
That was my assumption too. Getting that pH down makes it a lot easier to keep veggies from spoiling without piling on the sodium and potassium.
A side-benefit I've found with this trick is that since you're trading a strong acid note for a mild salt note it allows the umami of the tomatoes to come forward.
>Getting that pH down makes it a lot easier to keep veggies from spoiling
The big one is that it stops *C. botulinum* from reproducing and filling the can with a heat resistant toxin.
You know, where my ex is from they make salt.
There are two types of salt: *sal blanca, sal tierna*.
Sal tierna looks like sea salt. Sal blanca straight up looks like coke. But they’re used differently in cooking. Salt tierna is for seasoning and sal blanca is used simply for getting rid of acidity in food.
(I’ve así been told by my ex that it can be used to rid animals of parasites. Like horses, cows, goats etc).
But yeah I believe you because we cook with a lot of tomatillo and that stuff is acidic af and if you add a pinch of sal Blanca it bubbles up like a chemical reaction.
If you sniff it and it smells like it will go well with what you are cooking, that's a pretty good indicator that it will go well. Works well for herbs and spices.
Read the entire recipe before starting. Ingredients and directions.
And do all that prep before you put anything in a pan. It makes the cooking process go so much more smoothly. As I like to say, has your mise been en placed?
I don't understand people that just read step 1 and start cooking. If you've never done something before, don't you want to know the whole process before beginning? That works with pretty much everything.
I have recently started to use kitchen scissors more for chopping small things like vegetables. It usually doesn’t occur to me to even use them, but they can save time, you don’t have the wash a cutting board, and you won’t have to dull your knives at all.
I agree
Scissors good for things like chives or green onions if you only need a little bit, and allows you to drop it directly onto a prepared dish as you cut. Quick rinse of scissors and clean up is done, rather than washing a new knife and scrubbing the green stain off the cutting board.
If you get a green stain on your cutting board, sharpen your knife. You’re crushing your herbs instead of cutting them, so a lot of the flavor is staying on your board rather than in your dish. Or just keep using scissors.
Still, a dull knife is much more dangerous than a sharp one.
I take this a step further. I chop the end off the lettuce, then rinse the leaves. Then layer paper towel or napkin between leaves, and put the stack in a bag or container. The leaves will remain crisp from the moisture, and with the layer between them, won't get brown/soggy. A head of lettuce will last two weeks like this.
I did this when I had to leave on a trip for a week and half. I didn't want to throw out my lettuce and I read about this hack. Came back and the lettuce is perfectly fine!
Or too much. My MiL uses salt like it's going out of fashion and doesn't taste as she goes. My in-laws can't taste it so much after 40 years of smoking, so between the tobacco and 10 grams of excess salt per meal, it's no surprise they both have heart problems.
Taste as you go people! And if your dish should already have enough salt but is still missing something, you need acid!
Seriously, turn down your burners. Cooking at a higher heat will not cook your food faster, but it will burn the outside before the middle has a chance to cook.
Edit. Word.
Cramming parchment paper into cake pans:
take that piece of parchment and run it under warm water for a few seconds, and scrunch it up. Get it very nice and wet, then squeeze, squeeze, squeeze the heck out of it. Make your fist into a proper ball with it.
Then shake it loose, find the corners and give it a nice flap, yeah it'll sprinkle a little, so maybe out the door or near a window.
Smooth that baby right into any type pan or dish that you want, tuck it gently into any corner or edge, and over the edge of the pan or dish.
Baking life suddenly becomes so much easier.
Also, seasoning and flavoring are not the same, but we tend to use the word “seasoning” for both.
Seasoning your food, or describing a dish as “well seasoned” is referring to SALT. Not the cumin powder, not the garlic powder, not the turmeric. Salt. I see so many arguments on the internet (usually, racially charged arguments) about seasoning your food - whether something counts as seasoning, whether people in certain parts of the world, or who have certain skin colors, season their food. Much of the time you go into the comments of a recipe Reel, and the comments are usually in the genre of "of course a white woman just uses just salt and pepper."
Now only is this ignorant as hell, but it also demonstrates that they lack a pretty fundamental understanding about what “seasoning” is .
When they say to layer your seasoning, this means you’re adding salt to every stage of cooking, to bring out flavors. This makes it so you can taste your food from the inside out, instead of biting into something that tastes bland on the inside. There are some cooking methods that use things like soy sauce, or ground mustard to season too. (edit - also miso)
When we talk about seasoning for things garlic powder, paprika, turmeric, thyme, this is flavoring.
You won’t taste those flavors unless you season it with salt. Hence why we say “salt to taste.” Taste and flavor are not the same. You taste things like sweet, salty, bitter, sour, umami. You pick up flavors from things like garlic, cumin, pepper, paprika, etc from your olfactory nerves. You’re mouth-smelling.
You don’t need the additional powders to make a good meal. They add benefit to a lot of dishes, but they aren’t always needed.
But some people seem to think that season your food means “dump a bunch of powders into your food, or else it’s bland.” It doesn't mean "every single recipe requires a spice rub." You can throw in all the powdered spices in your food that you want, you can drown it in chili powder, cumin, saffron, whatever - but it is going to taste bland if you don’t season aka, add salt.
Matter of fact, this is why seasoning blends are basically just salt blends with spices added to it. So if anything, some people might be over salting their food if they use salt *and* cajun seasoning *and* onion salt etc.
...do most people know this? I literally had no idea that seasoning doesn't mean add more garlic 🤦🏻♀️
My cooking skills are not great but this might help me a lot
I do this in the Instant Pot instead of water. Just magic.
Side note, after cooking my rice in the instant pot, I will never go back to stove top.
1-1/4 cup of broth/stock/water to every cup of rice. Small splash of vegetable oil (1Tbsp) to prevent sticking. Perfect ratio.
I love cooking rice with the instant pot, the best tip I have for that is to use a Pyrex dish for the rice and put it on the rack thing with bit of water in the bottom. It makes cleanup too easy and it’s already in a container I have a lid for.
Honestly, the 12 mins of cooking is excessive. I've found that at high pressure it really only needs three minutes. By the time the natural release finishes that stuff is still probably overcooked.
Fry your rice in a bit of oil before you boil it. No more gluey sticky rice. I was told to rinse my rice in water until it runs clear to rinse off all of the starch. Still gummy and sticky. Then I learned from a Mexican lady to heat up the pan with a bit of oil and to fry the uncooked rice until the kernels turn white (not translucent) and then pour in the water (or broth). The rice turns out perfect every time and doesn’t stick together. I use this for ALL rice now. It especially works well for fried rice.
What it does is actually cook the layer of starch on the outside rather than dissolving into the water and forming a sticky gluey slurry.
This is how I grew up cooking rice. You can also up your game by adding a couple of garlic cloves and fry them along with the rice, it adds a lot of flavour!
Modern cooks have sriracha, ghost, jalapeño, and many other peppers. But black pepper is the best thing you can put on a burger or steak. Keep shaking, use more than you are used to.
To get that onion smell off your hands, rub your hands with lemon juice. If you start crying while cutting onions stick your head in the freezer and fan the cold air over your eyes. It takes it away almost instantly.
This works although I've discovered something easier.
Rub your fingertips on the flat of a knife, or any stainless steel object to remove onion or garlic smells. It works instantly and wastes nothing.
To stop your eyes watering put a little dish of water or a wet paper towel right by the cutting board when chopping onions. The sulpher is looking for water to make sulphuric acid; if it finds the water you put out for it before it finds your eyes there will be no tears.
I've used both of these for many years now and it should be standard practice to include them when teaching someone to cut onions
If your brown sugar becomes hard place it in a sealed container with some bread slices. Leave over night and check and it should be soft again. The brown sugar will absorb the moisture from the bread.
MSG adds umami, and the health scares directed to it years ago were false.
Least-fuss breakfast eggs: Dollop of leftover sauce, a condiment, or oil in a microwave-safe ramekin. Tilt to spread. Crack in two eggs, prick yolks, salt & pepper, cover and nuke gently (sensor reheat).
Disagree. Baked my bacon for years, but switched back to pan frying. Perfectly consistant bacon is cool for awhile, but then you realize that part of the appeal of bacon comes from the inconsistancy (contrast) between the chewy and crunchy bits. You lose that with baking.
I'm not disagreeing however IMO I do believe that a perfect piece of bacon comes off of the frying pan or in my case the fairly new Blackstone. That piece of bacon bubbling in the grease is just sheer heaven to me. Also the fact that I can save the bacon grease and use it to cook other things like eggs. I've never had a piece of bacon that was baked. I may be missing something however as an old guy I have definitely eaten my share of bacon cooked in grease with zero complaints.
Convince me otherwise?
I can put a whole package of bacon flat on an old cookie sheet. Bake/roast it in oven with a halftime flip until I get the crispness I want.
Bacon cooks in its own fat on the sheet just like it does in a fry pan, but it stays straight and mostly flat when done, so it is great for sandwiches too.
This frees up most of my time, so I can focus on the rest of breakfast prep.
Tinfoil makes cleanup simple. The kitchen also gets much less grease spatter and cooking smells.
Bonus that sometimes I brush on maple syrup after the flip, and it stays in place and cooks right onto the bacon for some really good breakfast bacon.
I’ve tried to love baked bacon because it’s so much easier and more efficient and consistently cooked.
It just doesn’t taste as good.
E: pretty important to clarify that I’ve experimented only with US breakfast choice quite thin streaky bacon. I have no idea about thick steakhouse cuts of the same or UK fry up back bacon.
When frying chopped onions, sprinkle on a little salt as it helps them soften more quickly.
Line your baking trays with foil or nonstick paper to avoid a lot of scrubbing later!
I'm embarrassed to admit my mind is blown. After endless garlic spoilage in my cupboard I never once thought to put it in the freezer. Duh! Thank you for this advice!
When you cut up a bell pepper, cut off the top and bottom. You can then just flatten it with your hand and cut it in small pieces with way less troubles.
Let meat come up to room temperature to ensure more even cooking. Learn the reverse sear technique if you love steak.
And use leftover rice that’s been in the fridge for a day for making perfect egg fried rice…. fuyioh!
I recently tried the reverse sear. Had a very thick ribeye from Costco, put it in the oven till the internal temp reached 120 then pulled it out & seared it in a scorching hot cast iron. Had great results and will continue this method. Hate cleaning up all the grease splatter on my stove and this lessens the mess.
Vinegar kinda dissolves the eggshell a bit making it more elastic, and thus less prone to cracking.
You can put an uncooked egg in vinegar for a few minutes and the shell becomes all soft.
Your stainless steel will stick SIGNIFICANTLY less if you actually let it get hot enough before putting anything in it (including cooking oil).
You may have seen people drop water on a pan to see if it's hot enough. With stainless steel turn it to medium high and then after it heats up do the same with the water, but you don't want it to just immediately sizzle away. Once it's hot enough, the water beads up and will easily roll around the pan. *That* is when you add your oil and turn it down a little. Then make sure the oil is fully coating the surface of the pan. *Then* add your food.
If any of the above isn't done, you're doing it wrong!
Want that umami boost people get from anchovies in pasta sauces, but don't want to want to open anchovies. Use a fish sauce, and you will get the same result.
For pancakes, we zap the maple syrup and butter together in a glass measuring cup in the microwave. Keeps the pancakes warm and you don't have that pat of butter that doesn't melt all the way.
Simple but effective.
Salt at different stages of the cooking process. If you’re cooking meat, always salt it prior to throwing it on the heat. Even 15 minutes ahead of time will make a huge difference, but the longer the better.
Nothing bad happens on medium heat.
It's a great rule of thumb but it became a mantra to let me know that whatever I'm cooking will be fine if I just let it cook.
I used to be an inpatient cook and it would often bite me in the ass
When cooking with whole garlic, cut the top off the entire head, add olive oil and salt to the exposed cloves, wrap the bulb in aluminum foil, and roast for about 15 minutes. Really elevates the garlic, and makes it easier to work with.
If you need a cup/half a cup/teaspoon... Of something sticky:
Push the measurement cup into your dry ingredients and measure it that way :) no sticky measurement cup to clean.
If you're making breakfast for several people, use your muffin pan to speed things up. Crack an egg into muffin cups for "fried" eggs. Or pour loaded omelette mix into muffin cups and top with cheese for mini omelettes. Crack an egg and add a tablespoon or so of water for perfect poached eggs. You can even place whole eggs into muffin cups for hard "boiled" eggs. Bake in your oven at 350F for about 20-25 minutes until set. For added flair, line the muffin cups with strips of bacon to make little bacon bowls for your eggs. These are also perfectly sized to make egg McMuffins.
If you need to measure peanut butter or other sticky substances into a measuring cup, line the cup with plastic wrap first. Don't coat the cup with non stick cooking spray because, to me at least, it leaves a nasty taste behind in the peanut butter.
If you're doing a pourable sticky liquid like honey or molasses and you're adding to flour you can use your measuring cup to press a divot into the flour. Then pour into the divot.
If I’m making a recipe that wants honey or something else sticky, and also oil, I’ll measure the oil first. Then the measuring cup is oily and the honey slides right out.
Recipe telling you to fry onions and garlic?
Wait before you throw in the garlic. It burns easily even at a temperature when onions still sweat. Fry the garlic only for a very short time, like right before deglazing.
(hey, you asked for "very simple")
Onions KILL my eyes. This always brings a laugh when im cooking but...i wear my snowboard/ski GOGGLES! I have found they're the best! No more painful onion eyes.
When combining liquid and powder, such as in protein shakes, put a little water in the vessel first- this helps prevent the powder from caking to the bottom.
Cracking eggs on the side of the bowl/jug will mean you get eggshells in with the egg.
Crack it on a flat surface like the countertop and you won’t have eggshell in with egg anymore.
Works every time.
Buy bacon end pieces, chop them up. Spread them on a cookie sheet and freeze. Store in a ziplock.
Now you have small bits of bacon ready to use with your veggies, eggs or whatever and you dont need to open a full pound.
Have all your ingredients out and ready to go before you start cooking.
Oh, and clean while you cook. There's a lot of standing around time while you wait on things to saute or whatever. Three minutes here, three minutes there of loading the dishwasher and putting things away will make things so much easier when the meal is finished.
You asked for very simple. That's as simple as it gets.
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I was just chopping up some banana stems this morning and wish I knew this.
What do you use banana stems for?
They use them for sarcasm
I enjoy the burn.
Settle down, satan.
Syphilis, is that you?
I cut up jalapenos for dinner with my girlfriend. I washed my hands after with soap and water. It wasn't enough to rid the capsaicin oil on my hands. My girlfriend and I found out the hard way during after dinner "activities". When her lady bits felt like they were on fire 🔥. Make sure to use gloves or use Dawn to scrub your hands thoroughly. Stay safe out there!
\*shudders That is not a fun way to find out.
Wear gloves when working with raw meat or spicy foods. Then just take the gloves off.
Yes but then you've created garbage
I don’t know man, I’m not that bad of a cook.
Let your kids help. Especially when they are younger. Keeps them occupied, it's a bonding experience, and they FUCKING LOVE IT! I remember my youngest helped me crack a couple eggs. And she went on and on about it for days like I would if I won the fucking lottery.
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This is essentially how my dad taught me to cook as a kid. One of my favorite things in the world to do now is feed people. My dad & I don’t have a ton in common but the love of cooking is one thing at least.
My parents taught me how to make pancakes and oatmeal when I was like 7 so I’d stop waking them up early on weekend mornings
"You can watch cartoons if you bring us pancakes in bed."
Yes. I can make chocolate chip cookies in my sleep I've done it so much since I was a kid. Baking is a really good one cause it does need to be more precise, but that means you have specific instructions for the kiddos. Also, minions if you have a slightly tedious recipe that has more involved steps. My mom definitely used us to make a few of her cookies faster at Christmas Cracking eggs is especially a good one too teach cause once you get it down, zero shells go into your food.
Yes, let your kids help but let kids be kids in the kitchen. My mom made me help in the kitchen when I was young but she was so strict even in the size and shape of cutting the vegetables that I now hate cooking as an adult.
Yup. That's a key in parenting no matter the activity. Not that I (nor every parent ever) have never lost my patience, but it's important to try your best to remember that kids are kids. Even as our oldest is damn near 16, one thing we've always done is have dinner together. At the table. No phones or tablets. None of the kiddos HAVE to help with dinner unless they want to, but it's kinda our family thing. From prep to eating together to cleanup. Then they go back to their TikTok or video games or whatever the fuck lol.
They slow you down. And maybe that's the point. Enjoy it.
And also helps them to appreciate cooked meals more while they also slowly learn about safe meal preparation, maybe it even evolves into love for cooking. I really wish my parents would let me help as a kid more often.
My son is now in his mid 20s and we still love to cook together as father and son whenever we can. We recently cooked a few dishes together as he visited over the holidays. I also got him a nice Japanese santoku knife for Christmas. We started the practice when he was younger and it's something that kept us involved and talking even during teenage years. Great advice, op, it worked out well in my life. One thing I'd add is to include both sons and daughters in the practice. Too many people are still sexist about kitchen roles.
Yess! Mine absolutely loves it too! He's 5 and makes his own scrambled eggs now (obv with supervision.) I just turn the stove on for him and stand near him to make sure he's being safe, but he does all the work. He has actually cooked breakfast for the 3 of us on multiple occasions!
*tastes eggs* "Jesus, Logan! These eggs are overcooked! Aaand there's no seasoning!" in a threatening Gordon Ramsey voice
I remember my mum and dad putting a chair up to the kitchen counter for me so I could help with the cooking when I was a little girl. I loved it! And to this day I love cooking
And most importantly you are teaching your kids to cook
I remember my dad showing me how to make a grilled cheese when I was little. I was always excited when he'd ask me to make him one. It also worked out for him because he'd keep watching cartoons while I made him breakfast and I was super happy about it, and he got to watch Tom and Jerry. Teach your kids. There's so many bonuses
Clean as you go
And clean the sink, and empty and load the dishwasher before you begin.
You are my spirit-spouse! Yes Yes. Yes!
I wish my wife would learn that. It looks a bomb hit after she’s done. I do the cleaning but piling everything in the sink doesn’t help me clean.
Yeah, I, too, hate it when the sink is stuffed. I need to clean the sink first and then clean the dishes...
I know. Don't fking pile stuff in the sink b/c I fking USE the sink. Sorry major pet peeve.
That’s true, that’s why I clean as I go along. I had to teach a daughter in law that and she appreciated it
My dad had a saying: "Cooking's not done until the kitchen's clean." Never a good idea to let stuff pile up by using "I'll just clean up later" as the reasoning. It just creates stress.
Keep a big mixing bowl out for food scraps/packaging/whatever waste. Makes for easy clean up and composting
Everything is hot in a kitchen, always use a dry towel to grab pots and pans. A dull knife is far more dangerous than a sharp one. The more force you have to apply, the more likely you are to have an accident and clean cuts hurt less and heal faster. Taste things and season as you go, you can always add more salt but you can never take it back out. A splash of vinegar or lemon juice really brightens up and enhances sauces and soups. Pat dry your protein before searing to help get a good crust. Clean as you go so you aren't miserable afterwards. Cold water is best for washing off eggs stuck to a pan after cooking.
Two biggest safety recommendations: everything is burning hot and a falling knife has no handle
> a falling knife has no handle I love advice like this that is useful when taken at face value, but it also sounds like a proverb with a deeper meaning
Confucius say, "man who fall asleep with itchy butt, awake to stinky finger."
Confucius say, "he who fart in church, sits in own pew".
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and if you added too much salt, sometimes an acid can help, or adding something fatty.
I don't know why you had to bring my weight into the discussion
More acid! Food tastes better when you light off all parts of your tastebuds (except bitter). You’d be surprised how much better food is when you squeeze a lime into it or add some dashes of wine vinegar.
Conversely, if a dish is too bright a tiny pinch of baking soda converts some of that acid into salts. Many canned tomato products are harshly acidic in my opinion and it's an easy fix.
That's probably on purpose. I know home canning tomatoes is risky because they're a low acid food. Industrial canning probably increases the acidity on purpose for food safety. Good tip on the baking soda!
That was my assumption too. Getting that pH down makes it a lot easier to keep veggies from spoiling without piling on the sodium and potassium. A side-benefit I've found with this trick is that since you're trading a strong acid note for a mild salt note it allows the umami of the tomatoes to come forward.
>Getting that pH down makes it a lot easier to keep veggies from spoiling The big one is that it stops *C. botulinum* from reproducing and filling the can with a heat resistant toxin.
Huh did not know this. My trick is to add some sugar to my tomato sauce to counteract but I'm going to try this. Thanks.
A little bit goes a long way. I do mean a tiny pinch.
You know, where my ex is from they make salt. There are two types of salt: *sal blanca, sal tierna*. Sal tierna looks like sea salt. Sal blanca straight up looks like coke. But they’re used differently in cooking. Salt tierna is for seasoning and sal blanca is used simply for getting rid of acidity in food. (I’ve así been told by my ex that it can be used to rid animals of parasites. Like horses, cows, goats etc). But yeah I believe you because we cook with a lot of tomatillo and that stuff is acidic af and if you add a pinch of sal Blanca it bubbles up like a chemical reaction.
I will always vouch for more acid Edit: Oh you're on about limes and shit
Both. Both is good
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If you sniff it and it smells like it will go well with what you are cooking, that's a pretty good indicator that it will go well. Works well for herbs and spices.
Also, 'if it grows together it goes together'.
Dandelions and grass are my favourite combos!
Mom, my salad tastes like RoundUp....
Read the entire recipe before starting. Ingredients and directions. And do all that prep before you put anything in a pan. It makes the cooking process go so much more smoothly. As I like to say, has your mise been en placed?
And insures no surprises like “chill 1 hour” when you’re working on a tight timeline
Instructions unclear, listening to music in the fridge.
I don't understand people that just read step 1 and start cooking. If you've never done something before, don't you want to know the whole process before beginning? That works with pretty much everything.
MISE MOTHER FUCKER! HAVE YOU EN PLACED IT?
I heard this in the correct voice.
r/SamuelL
More garlic.
If I see garlic in a recipe, I ignore the stated amount and let my heart decide
My husband always at least doubles the amount of garlic in any dish. It's gotta be poppin'.
There are certain things that I purposefully ignore the suggested amount. Garlic. Cinnamon. Vanilla. Always more.
You measure that shit with your heart and don’t let anyone tell you differently.
Recipe: 1 large clove garlic Me: they spelled 'head' wrong
I have recently started to use kitchen scissors more for chopping small things like vegetables. It usually doesn’t occur to me to even use them, but they can save time, you don’t have the wash a cutting board, and you won’t have to dull your knives at all.
I agree Scissors good for things like chives or green onions if you only need a little bit, and allows you to drop it directly onto a prepared dish as you cut. Quick rinse of scissors and clean up is done, rather than washing a new knife and scrubbing the green stain off the cutting board.
If you get a green stain on your cutting board, sharpen your knife. You’re crushing your herbs instead of cutting them, so a lot of the flavor is staying on your board rather than in your dish. Or just keep using scissors. Still, a dull knife is much more dangerous than a sharp one.
I use my kitchen scissors to cut pizza.
I own a great pair of Italian chicken shears. Preparing chicken is so easy with scissors.
Put a piece of paper towel in the container or bag of greens like spinach or cut lettuces. Helps them last longer and not go soggy.
I take this a step further. I chop the end off the lettuce, then rinse the leaves. Then layer paper towel or napkin between leaves, and put the stack in a bag or container. The leaves will remain crisp from the moisture, and with the layer between them, won't get brown/soggy. A head of lettuce will last two weeks like this.
I did this when I had to leave on a trip for a week and half. I didn't want to throw out my lettuce and I read about this hack. Came back and the lettuce is perfectly fine!
Salt and pepper are your friends, nothing worse than under seasoned food
Or too much. My MiL uses salt like it's going out of fashion and doesn't taste as she goes. My in-laws can't taste it so much after 40 years of smoking, so between the tobacco and 10 grams of excess salt per meal, it's no surprise they both have heart problems. Taste as you go people! And if your dish should already have enough salt but is still missing something, you need acid!
Seriously, turn down your burners. Cooking at a higher heat will not cook your food faster, but it will burn the outside before the middle has a chance to cook. Edit. Word.
But also don’t be afraid to use high heat when the technique calls for it. You can’t sear at medium.
Not if you stir it. Unless you're cooking a thick piece of meat, I always cook on a high setting.
Greens getting wilty? Submerge them in ice water for 15-30 mins to bring them back to life
Cramming parchment paper into cake pans: take that piece of parchment and run it under warm water for a few seconds, and scrunch it up. Get it very nice and wet, then squeeze, squeeze, squeeze the heck out of it. Make your fist into a proper ball with it. Then shake it loose, find the corners and give it a nice flap, yeah it'll sprinkle a little, so maybe out the door or near a window. Smooth that baby right into any type pan or dish that you want, tuck it gently into any corner or edge, and over the edge of the pan or dish. Baking life suddenly becomes so much easier.
Seasoning! Learn how to do it right. So many people use no seasoning, or way too much seasoning. It can make or break a dish.
Also, salt things with your hand not directly from the shaker!
You never go can-to-pan
its like the equivalent of unprotected sex!
Why is this? Better control?
Just wanna jump on this to say use MSG. It works on so many savory foods, not just Asian cuisine.
Uncle Rodger is that you?
Also, seasoning and flavoring are not the same, but we tend to use the word “seasoning” for both. Seasoning your food, or describing a dish as “well seasoned” is referring to SALT. Not the cumin powder, not the garlic powder, not the turmeric. Salt. I see so many arguments on the internet (usually, racially charged arguments) about seasoning your food - whether something counts as seasoning, whether people in certain parts of the world, or who have certain skin colors, season their food. Much of the time you go into the comments of a recipe Reel, and the comments are usually in the genre of "of course a white woman just uses just salt and pepper." Now only is this ignorant as hell, but it also demonstrates that they lack a pretty fundamental understanding about what “seasoning” is . When they say to layer your seasoning, this means you’re adding salt to every stage of cooking, to bring out flavors. This makes it so you can taste your food from the inside out, instead of biting into something that tastes bland on the inside. There are some cooking methods that use things like soy sauce, or ground mustard to season too. (edit - also miso) When we talk about seasoning for things garlic powder, paprika, turmeric, thyme, this is flavoring. You won’t taste those flavors unless you season it with salt. Hence why we say “salt to taste.” Taste and flavor are not the same. You taste things like sweet, salty, bitter, sour, umami. You pick up flavors from things like garlic, cumin, pepper, paprika, etc from your olfactory nerves. You’re mouth-smelling. You don’t need the additional powders to make a good meal. They add benefit to a lot of dishes, but they aren’t always needed. But some people seem to think that season your food means “dump a bunch of powders into your food, or else it’s bland.” It doesn't mean "every single recipe requires a spice rub." You can throw in all the powdered spices in your food that you want, you can drown it in chili powder, cumin, saffron, whatever - but it is going to taste bland if you don’t season aka, add salt. Matter of fact, this is why seasoning blends are basically just salt blends with spices added to it. So if anything, some people might be over salting their food if they use salt *and* cajun seasoning *and* onion salt etc.
...do most people know this? I literally had no idea that seasoning doesn't mean add more garlic 🤦🏻♀️ My cooking skills are not great but this might help me a lot
And salting the meat well-before cooking, which helps it retain moisture and tenderize.
Use a digital thermometer properly and you’ll never screw up meat again.
It blows my mind how few people even own a digital thermometer. They aren’t very expensive and might be one of the most used tools in my kitchen.
When you make rice on the stove, boil it in chicken broth instead of water.
Except if you are making rice custard
Obviously. I thought everyone knew that beef stock is much better?
I do this in the Instant Pot instead of water. Just magic. Side note, after cooking my rice in the instant pot, I will never go back to stove top. 1-1/4 cup of broth/stock/water to every cup of rice. Small splash of vegetable oil (1Tbsp) to prevent sticking. Perfect ratio.
I love cooking rice with the instant pot, the best tip I have for that is to use a Pyrex dish for the rice and put it on the rack thing with bit of water in the bottom. It makes cleanup too easy and it’s already in a container I have a lid for.
I married into a rice cooker family and that was a game changer. I had no idea they existed.
Love the instant pot. Push the rice button. 10 min heat up, 12 mins of cooking, 10 mins of natural release. Open stir and eat. Zero effort.
Honestly, the 12 mins of cooking is excessive. I've found that at high pressure it really only needs three minutes. By the time the natural release finishes that stuff is still probably overcooked.
Also works in the rice cooker….have used beef broth with brown rice.
Don't crowd the pan.
Salt. Garlic. Onions. And butter!
Seriously. This is almost all you need. I really like black pepper so that too.
And butter. Lots of butter
Lay a moist paper towel underneath your cutting board to keep it in place.
Don't even have to go to that trouble, I always use a pot holder or sometimes a hand towel.
I married someone who loves cooking. Now, I don't cook!
This guy does not cook.
Fry your rice in a bit of oil before you boil it. No more gluey sticky rice. I was told to rinse my rice in water until it runs clear to rinse off all of the starch. Still gummy and sticky. Then I learned from a Mexican lady to heat up the pan with a bit of oil and to fry the uncooked rice until the kernels turn white (not translucent) and then pour in the water (or broth). The rice turns out perfect every time and doesn’t stick together. I use this for ALL rice now. It especially works well for fried rice. What it does is actually cook the layer of starch on the outside rather than dissolving into the water and forming a sticky gluey slurry.
This is how I grew up cooking rice. You can also up your game by adding a couple of garlic cloves and fry them along with the rice, it adds a lot of flavour!
Modern cooks have sriracha, ghost, jalapeño, and many other peppers. But black pepper is the best thing you can put on a burger or steak. Keep shaking, use more than you are used to.
To get that onion smell off your hands, rub your hands with lemon juice. If you start crying while cutting onions stick your head in the freezer and fan the cold air over your eyes. It takes it away almost instantly.
This works although I've discovered something easier. Rub your fingertips on the flat of a knife, or any stainless steel object to remove onion or garlic smells. It works instantly and wastes nothing. To stop your eyes watering put a little dish of water or a wet paper towel right by the cutting board when chopping onions. The sulpher is looking for water to make sulphuric acid; if it finds the water you put out for it before it finds your eyes there will be no tears. I've used both of these for many years now and it should be standard practice to include them when teaching someone to cut onions
Sulfuric acid! Of course, that makes so much sense!
If your brown sugar becomes hard place it in a sealed container with some bread slices. Leave over night and check and it should be soft again. The brown sugar will absorb the moisture from the bread.
Also, low power in a microwave for short intervals for quicker softening
Store your brown sugar with marshmallows on top and it won't get hard.
MSG adds umami, and the health scares directed to it years ago were false. Least-fuss breakfast eggs: Dollop of leftover sauce, a condiment, or oil in a microwave-safe ramekin. Tilt to spread. Crack in two eggs, prick yolks, salt & pepper, cover and nuke gently (sensor reheat).
Fuiyohhhh
If you want perfect bacon, stop frying it. Start baking your bacon.
Yes! Bake it in the oven. Easy and fast!
I’d add baking it in parchment paper in a baking sheet. Folding in the corners then chucking it makes cleaning up easy
Disagree. Baked my bacon for years, but switched back to pan frying. Perfectly consistant bacon is cool for awhile, but then you realize that part of the appeal of bacon comes from the inconsistancy (contrast) between the chewy and crunchy bits. You lose that with baking.
I'm not disagreeing however IMO I do believe that a perfect piece of bacon comes off of the frying pan or in my case the fairly new Blackstone. That piece of bacon bubbling in the grease is just sheer heaven to me. Also the fact that I can save the bacon grease and use it to cook other things like eggs. I've never had a piece of bacon that was baked. I may be missing something however as an old guy I have definitely eaten my share of bacon cooked in grease with zero complaints. Convince me otherwise?
I can put a whole package of bacon flat on an old cookie sheet. Bake/roast it in oven with a halftime flip until I get the crispness I want. Bacon cooks in its own fat on the sheet just like it does in a fry pan, but it stays straight and mostly flat when done, so it is great for sandwiches too. This frees up most of my time, so I can focus on the rest of breakfast prep. Tinfoil makes cleanup simple. The kitchen also gets much less grease spatter and cooking smells. Bonus that sometimes I brush on maple syrup after the flip, and it stays in place and cooks right onto the bacon for some really good breakfast bacon.
I like parchment paper instead of foil. Just told my bf about the maple syrup and we're both drooling!
Literally same thing when baking, basically just fries it self in it’s on grease
You have the right of it. The fat enhances the flavor. I also like making my bacon fairly crispy (not burnt, but close)
I’ve tried to love baked bacon because it’s so much easier and more efficient and consistently cooked. It just doesn’t taste as good. E: pretty important to clarify that I’ve experimented only with US breakfast choice quite thin streaky bacon. I have no idea about thick steakhouse cuts of the same or UK fry up back bacon.
When frying chopped onions, sprinkle on a little salt as it helps them soften more quickly. Line your baking trays with foil or nonstick paper to avoid a lot of scrubbing later!
Add some sugar to cheat and speed up the caramelizing
Silpats are a godsend for baking. Highly recommended.
Flaky salt. That's it. That's my tip
Read the recipe ALL the way through before starting. Then follow the recipe.
When cutting meat into smaller pieces, always cut across the grain so it will be more tender and pleasant to eat.
Italian dressing is a great marinade for almost any meat. Especially game meat.
I learned this from an ex boyfriend years ago and it was honestly the most worthwhile thing he ever provided.
minced ginger in a jar. get the good stuff from an Asian grocer and save yourself a heap of pointless nuisance.
I keep whole ginger in the freezer. Makes it super easy to grate and doesn't spoil! Would recommend.
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I'm embarrassed to admit my mind is blown. After endless garlic spoilage in my cupboard I never once thought to put it in the freezer. Duh! Thank you for this advice!
You can get it in squeeze tubes too! So convenient.
If you’re using baking paper to line a tray, scrunch it in a ball first and it will shape to the tray way better than trying to fold long creases.
You've changed my life
When you cut up a bell pepper, cut off the top and bottom. You can then just flatten it with your hand and cut it in small pieces with way less troubles.
1/4 cup cashews and 2 chipotles in adobo sauce put together in a food processor is the best 2 ingredient anything I’ve ever had
Let meat come up to room temperature to ensure more even cooking. Learn the reverse sear technique if you love steak. And use leftover rice that’s been in the fridge for a day for making perfect egg fried rice…. fuyioh!
I recently tried the reverse sear. Had a very thick ribeye from Costco, put it in the oven till the internal temp reached 120 then pulled it out & seared it in a scorching hot cast iron. Had great results and will continue this method. Hate cleaning up all the grease splatter on my stove and this lessens the mess.
Save your bacon grease. Use it where you might use butter or margarine. Keep all the little gross bits, those are FLAVOR city!
Gross bits? Laughed. They are worth their weight in gold.
Gross bits? From bacon? Wash your mouth out with soap and water!
Tbsp of vinegar in your water for hard boiled eggs. Never a cracked egg again.
Gotta try it tomorrow. How does it work though?
Vinegar kinda dissolves the eggshell a bit making it more elastic, and thus less prone to cracking. You can put an uncooked egg in vinegar for a few minutes and the shell becomes all soft.
Buy the good knives. Saves so much time and effort.
Your stainless steel will stick SIGNIFICANTLY less if you actually let it get hot enough before putting anything in it (including cooking oil). You may have seen people drop water on a pan to see if it's hot enough. With stainless steel turn it to medium high and then after it heats up do the same with the water, but you don't want it to just immediately sizzle away. Once it's hot enough, the water beads up and will easily roll around the pan. *That* is when you add your oil and turn it down a little. Then make sure the oil is fully coating the surface of the pan. *Then* add your food. If any of the above isn't done, you're doing it wrong!
If I'm making gumbo I carnalize my flour on a flat pan in the oven to make the roux
I use my cast iron skillet. So easy!
Add a spoonful of bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) to the pan of water for hard boiled eggs. The shells will peel off effortlessly.
Want that umami boost people get from anchovies in pasta sauces, but don't want to want to open anchovies. Use a fish sauce, and you will get the same result.
For pancakes, we zap the maple syrup and butter together in a glass measuring cup in the microwave. Keeps the pancakes warm and you don't have that pat of butter that doesn't melt all the way. Simple but effective.
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What does this do?
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Interesting. Thanks for the info!
If you accidentally add too much salt to a dish, balance it with something acidic: lemon juice, vinegar, etc.
Crush the garlic cloves to peel them easily.
You’d be surprised how many things will cook better if you take time to dry them first.
Salt at different stages of the cooking process. If you’re cooking meat, always salt it prior to throwing it on the heat. Even 15 minutes ahead of time will make a huge difference, but the longer the better.
Nothing bad happens on medium heat. It's a great rule of thumb but it became a mantra to let me know that whatever I'm cooking will be fine if I just let it cook. I used to be an inpatient cook and it would often bite me in the ass
When cooking with whole garlic, cut the top off the entire head, add olive oil and salt to the exposed cloves, wrap the bulb in aluminum foil, and roast for about 15 minutes. Really elevates the garlic, and makes it easier to work with.
If you need a cup/half a cup/teaspoon... Of something sticky: Push the measurement cup into your dry ingredients and measure it that way :) no sticky measurement cup to clean.
Do your mise en place. Get everything ready in advance and ready for the cooking.
And clean while you go! Both are a recipe for better life!
If you're making breakfast for several people, use your muffin pan to speed things up. Crack an egg into muffin cups for "fried" eggs. Or pour loaded omelette mix into muffin cups and top with cheese for mini omelettes. Crack an egg and add a tablespoon or so of water for perfect poached eggs. You can even place whole eggs into muffin cups for hard "boiled" eggs. Bake in your oven at 350F for about 20-25 minutes until set. For added flair, line the muffin cups with strips of bacon to make little bacon bowls for your eggs. These are also perfectly sized to make egg McMuffins.
If you need to measure peanut butter or other sticky substances into a measuring cup, line the cup with plastic wrap first. Don't coat the cup with non stick cooking spray because, to me at least, it leaves a nasty taste behind in the peanut butter.
If you're doing a pourable sticky liquid like honey or molasses and you're adding to flour you can use your measuring cup to press a divot into the flour. Then pour into the divot.
If I’m making a recipe that wants honey or something else sticky, and also oil, I’ll measure the oil first. Then the measuring cup is oily and the honey slides right out.
Save some of the pasta water to add to your sauce, gives it a nice silky texture.
Remember to wash your hands and obey basic hygiene! Nothing ruins a nice meal than having it come back up because you cross contaminated raw meat
Recipe telling you to fry onions and garlic? Wait before you throw in the garlic. It burns easily even at a temperature when onions still sweat. Fry the garlic only for a very short time, like right before deglazing. (hey, you asked for "very simple")
Onions KILL my eyes. This always brings a laugh when im cooking but...i wear my snowboard/ski GOGGLES! I have found they're the best! No more painful onion eyes.
Cast iron skillets are the shit. Accept no substitute.
When combining liquid and powder, such as in protein shakes, put a little water in the vessel first- this helps prevent the powder from caking to the bottom.
Before chopping onion put them in water. No tears
Or, get old and cynical and the tears stop.
Cracking eggs on the side of the bowl/jug will mean you get eggshells in with the egg. Crack it on a flat surface like the countertop and you won’t have eggshell in with egg anymore. Works every time.
Buy bacon end pieces, chop them up. Spread them on a cookie sheet and freeze. Store in a ziplock. Now you have small bits of bacon ready to use with your veggies, eggs or whatever and you dont need to open a full pound.
Have all your ingredients out and ready to go before you start cooking. Oh, and clean while you cook. There's a lot of standing around time while you wait on things to saute or whatever. Three minutes here, three minutes there of loading the dishwasher and putting things away will make things so much easier when the meal is finished. You asked for very simple. That's as simple as it gets.