Kitchen Hacks That Will Save the Day
Do you like home cooking? Are you looking forward to spending time in the kitchen and preparing a new mix? Whether you’re a veteran or newbie, we’ve collected some helpful tricks anyone can use to make cooking easier.
Ever wonder why a recipe that says it takes an hour to cook online ends up in your kitchen in 1-2 hours and a half? This often happens because the person who wrote this recipe knew some useful tips and tricks, and you didn’t. If you’re ready to take your culinary skills to the next level, read on. We’ll teach you 45 amazingly simple and ingenious kitchen hacks that will change the way you cook forever!
Bacon Mystery
Are you interested how the bacon you get in a restaurant is always cooked evenly and the edges are perfectly crisp? Ever wonder why they don’t get crumbly, hard and overcooked? It all depends on the preparation. While most home cooks fry bacon in a pan, most restaurant workers bake it in the oven. Try it in temperatures between 200 and 250 C and be amazed!
Slicing Cherry Tomatoes
Cherry tomatoes add a delicious burst of flavour and colour to any dish, but cutting them in half is really tricky if you have to do it fast. But you won’t! Not with this little kitchen trick. If you have two plastic lids of the same size, all you have to do is place a bunch of cherry tomatoes between the two lids (horizontally) to stabilise them and run a knife through everything at once. Remove the top lid and all the cherry tomatoes will be neatly sliced.
Orange Candles
Candles can be made from oranges, and it’s pretty simple too. Start by cutting the orange in half. Don’t cut the part where the stem was – this part will become your “wick” inside the orange, so you need to cut perpendicular to this part. Then remove the pulp from the inside of the orange, but be careful not to remove the part that protrudes inside where the stem joined. This becomes the “orange wick”. Now pour some oil into the orange half. Olive oil works great. Then use a lighter and light the “wick”. And there you have it! Your own, zero-waste, orange-scented candle!
You can also try cutting the orange half at the edges of the pattern. Another chance is to take the other half and remove the pulp from it as well, and then use it to cover the bottom half. Cut a hole at the top to open the flame. Add some other patterns if you like. The orange candle looks beautiful, bright and smart and will impress your dinner guests.
The Pancake Pattern Trick
Piping fancy pancake shapes with an icing bag isn’t the only way to make get create pancake art in our kitchen. Another easy way is to use cookie cutters, the same ones you use to make sugar cookies for the holidays. Just place them in the skillet, pour the batter into the contours and watch your pancakes bubble and rise into amazing shapes. Of course, they will mostly be shaped like Christmas trees and gingerbread men, but who doesn’t want to be festive all year round?
Moreover, don’t forget that you can do the same with the eggs when you cook the sunny side. Simply pour them into round cookie cutters and watch them cook perfectly in shape. No one ever has to know your secret!
Soften Butter in Minutes
You know when you decide to bake something and the recipe calls for softened butter, but you forgot to take the butter out and you feel like the universe is against you? Yes, we’ve been there. It turns out there is a perfect solution to soften butter, without melting it, and it only takes a few minutes!
Just take a glass and heat it, then place it on top of the butter (or oil). You can heat the glass by wiping it with warm water or by placing it in the microwave for a few seconds. The butter under the glass will quickly soften and will be of a suitable consistency so that it can be easily cut and spread! This is, of course, a solution for people who like to limit their microwave use or are worried about completely melting the butter.
A Light Way to Peel the Orange
Laziness is no longer an excuse for not eating fruit! Oranges are delicious, but peeling them is a pain. Especially with all that extra lingerie around the fruit. But does it have to be so? Not if you try this orange peel hack. Place the orange on a cutting board. Cut a small piece from the end with a knife, and then do the same with the opposite end. Next, cut out a perpendicular line. You want to peel the orange completely, but not completely. Then you can pry both ends apart and stretch the orange in a long strip. Voila! A simple, mess-free way to peel your citrus fruits.
Cooking may be a joyful process if you know some tips to make it easier for yourself. Let us know in the comments if any of these hacks have helped you out!