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Food Hacks And Tips

#161
TheBear said:
Not sure if this has been mentioned yet, but I have a few tricks (not sure how many of these would count as "hacks"):

1. Pre-cut/mince/julienne peppers, onions, shallots, celery, etc and measure out exactly amounts of each. Then wrap each measured portion in "Press 'n Seal" or a Ziplock freezer bag and write down the food and amount on the outside. Makes it a lot easier to add a portion of peppers or onions to a skillet in the morning before your coffee if you don't have to do any actual work in preparing them.

2. I like garlic, so I buy a lot of it, mince it as finely as I can and then put a saucepot of olive oil on the stove. When the oil is heated up just hot enough I add all of the garlic and wait until the garlic bits start to turn a yellow-orange, then remove the saucepot from heat and let it air-cool. It gives me what I call a cheater's version of roasted garlic, infuses the oil and if I store the garlic and oil together it'll last for a super long time. Now I can use just the garlic, the oil or both as a baste, drizzle or just to dip.

3. When buying cuts of beef, pork, poultry or fish I'll rub down the food with herbs, salt, pepper, oil or whatever then freeze the individual steaks/cuts/chops/fillets with the flavoring a still on them. That way I can take out one rosemary and cracked pepper steak, one Cajun tilapia fillet, one chipotle chicken breast and one BBQ pork chop from the freezer and have them all during the course of a few days.

4. I love to macerate fruit, particularly strawberries, and once the fruit has become nice and soft and is surrounded by its juices and sugar I'll divide up the juice. Freeze it in individual plastic containers and then you can get a shot of whatever juice you want in a morning smoothie sometime later.

5. Scrambled eggs are awesome and I eat them at least twice a week, so when I put the skillet on the stove I sprinkle in some herbs (usually rosemary, thyme or sage) in the bottom of the skillet, sometimes with a little bit of olive oil or bacon fat (from bacon that I've previously cooked and frozen separately). Now I can get started on preparing my eggs and when I can smell the aroma of the herbs warming up in the pan and releasing their oils I know that it's time to put the egg mixture in.
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I guess they are sort of time hacks, and some good ones.

I've done meat items fresh from the store as you suggest in #s 1 & 3, but not with vegetables...yet.

#4 is a good one too,.
Baggies work for that, and also ice cube trays for smaller measured-out portions of stocks and even left over wine.

Once frozen, cubes can be dumped into larger freezer bags so there is no need to thaw out larger amounts, just keep plopping one or a few at a time as needed.
 
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#162
If you want to simmer a long-cooking sauce or stew partially covered, make a slit a little less than halfway through the center of a wine cork width-wise, then insert the cork to the pan's rim.
Place the cover on the pan which will now will allow the steam to escape while remaining stationary.
 
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#164
We've been enjoying a roast chicken recipe lately that just rocks.

So easy:
Allow bird to come to room temperature (important).
Dry bird with paper towels (don't wash it first, the bugs just spread, and you'll be killing them all in a minute) making sure you dry the cavity.
liberally sprinkle with fresh cracked black pepper and salt making sure you get the cavity.
Truss bird with twine.
Place on rack over a deep-ish pan, and place in a preheated oven at 450ºF (230ºC or Gas Mark 8).

Yes.

Takes about 50 minutes to an hour depending on oven.

Juicy. Delicious. The liver and heart I usually fry in butter with S&P.
 
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#165
Solid, wooden chopping boards can be scrubbed down thoroughly and then blasted for a couple of minutes, on high, in a microwave oven, making them one of the most hygienic options out there. Only use solid, well-seasoned wood, pine's good. Glued ones may go seriously sideways :)
 
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#166
Tom Bomb said:
Solid, wooden chopping boards can be scrubbed down thoroughly and then blasted for a couple of minutes, on high, in a microwave oven, making them one of the most hygienic options out there. Only use solid, well-seasoned wood, pine's good. Glued ones may go seriously sideways :)
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I have one made of strips of maple, 18 X 24 (won't even fit in a microwave) I've been using for 35 years. NO PROBLEM.
 
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#171
Regarding storing onions, potatoes, and garlic:

To develop and keep that dry outer layer, onions need to be “cured” and kept in a dry and dark environment like a pantry, which is not as damp as the refrigerator (potatoes do not fare well in the fridge either.)

Also, lack of air circulation will cause onions to spoil, so try not to let any part of them rest on a surface that doesn't allow full air circulation.

Those net bags that bulk oranges are sold in work well when hung from its end, as well as a nylon stocking.

Never store them near potatoes, which give off moisture and gas that can cause onions to spoil quickly.

Eating onions and garlic which has sprouted is OK as long as you remove the bitter sprouts, unless that's part of the flavor of the dish.

Consuming potato sprouts is another story as are considered toxic due to their potentially high concentration of glycoalkaloids, which can have an effect on the nervous system.
 
#174
To avoid getting capsaicin all over your fingers and hands w/o using plastic gloves, use an apple corer to remove the seeds from a large jalapeno pepper.

If they all don't come out in one pass, fill the hollowed pepper with water and drain.
 
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#179
Someone showed me how to drain pasta after cooking: sink the bowl of your colander into the pan and turn the whole thing over (obviously holding on to the handles :woot:). Can't believe I've been doing it wrong all these years.
 
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#180
cdef said:
Someone showed me how to drain pasta after cooking: sink the bowl of your colander into the pan and turn the whole thing over (obviously holding on to the handles :woot:). Can't believe I've been doing it wrong all these years.
Click to expand...

I never heard of that one, I'll try it next time.
I always set it in the sink then pour it inside, which is the way most people do it, even on TV.

Way back when, I started pouring it very slowly to avoid it splashing back through the bottom of the strainer.
Not my favorite no matter how clean the sink is.

Sometimes I even set the colander on top of an upside down pan or even inside it when I made a couple of pounds of pasta at a time, as pouring too slowly would heat up my hands rather quickly.
Inside the pan helped me save some of the pasta water to add to the sauce.
 

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