Hot Food Hacks Posts
How To: De-Stink Old Smelly Jars with Two Simple Ingredients
It's so nice to be able to reuse old glass jars for food storage. Occasionally, though, even the sturdiest container has to be recycled because it retains the smell of its previous contents. Usually the culprit was garlic, garlic-based, or something pickled, and you're certainly not going to store your fresh herbs or fruit in that. There is, however, a quick and easy way to get that old stink out of your jar and make it usable again. You just need two things...
How To: Turn Your Favorite Fruit Juice into Cheap Homemade Booze
Making your own alcohol at home sounds like fun, but it's a long, complicated, and sometimes expensive process. You need all sorts of equipment, and by the time you're finished, it's been a few weeks—even months.
How To: Unlock Your Oven's Secrets to Bake, Broil, & Roast Like a Pro
The oven is arguably our most essential kitchen appliance (right alongside the fridge, freezer, and yes, even the microwave). But even though we've been using them for a few millennia, many of us know so little about our ovens that our cooking or baking can feel like a roll of the dice sometimes.
Turkey Day Hacks: 7 Alternatives to Traditional Stuffing
When it comes to Thanksgiving, some people live for stuffing (or dressing, if that's what you call it). Personally, I love all stuffing, even the boxed kind. However, even the classics can start to feel a little staid and dull after a while.
How To: Do This Before Freezing Chicken, Turkey, & Other Poultry for Insanely Juicy Meat
I'm no coupon-cutter (I just don't have the patience for it, sadly), but I do love buying things in bulk to save a buck or two. And one of the staples on my bulk-buy list is chicken; I cook with chicken so often that trying to save money on it is a no-brainer.
How To: Make Cereal Milk—A Momofuku-Inspired Drink
If you have satisfying memories of slurping up the sweet milk left in the bowl after eating your cereal, then this cereal-infused milk will make you feel like a kid again. Although people have technically been enjoying cereal milk since the invention of cereal, it was recently made popular as a standalone drink by the playful and quirky Momofuku Milk Bar in New York City. Created by pastry chef Christina Tosi, it's a "recipe" that is both simple and brilliant. The original Momofuku brand cere...
How To: Dry Fruit in Your Oven—No Dehydrator Required
Dried fruit makes a great, healthy snack by itself, and it's a nice addition to both sweet and savory dishes. Most people assume you have to have a dehydrator to make it at home, but you don't really need one unless you plan on drying fruit pretty frequently. Your oven does the job just fine. Drying fruit in an oven is a pretty simple process: just bake it at a low temperature for a long time. It's usually cheaper than buying dried fruit from the grocery store, and a great way to use extra fr...
How To: 5 Simple Tips to Upgrade Your Packaged Ramen Noodles from Instant to Gourmet
Instant ramen has been popular in the States for decades, and restaurants that serve the real thing in any variety you can imagine have been popping up everywhere in the last few years. But you don't have to go out or cook all day to have a gourmet ramen experience.
How To: Why You Should Never Throw Away Chicken Fat
Poor chickens. Bacon fat is revered (and justifiably so), and duck fat is a staple at most fine grocers. Marbles of fat make a steak divine, and goose fat is the holy grail of fatty goodness. Yet chicken fat is usually thrown away.
How To: Why You Should Use Boiling Hot Water for Faster Ice Cubes
It's a small but very real frustration: you want a chilled drink, but you open the freezer only to see nothing but empty ice trays. Fortunately, there's a simple way to make ice cubes quickly—use hot water. Yup, you read that correctly. Hot water freezes more rapidly than cold.
How To: Doctor Store-Bought Salsa So It Tastes More Like Homemade
Fresh salsa is so tasty. Who can resist the robust mix of spices, the mouth-watering heat of jalapeños, and the juiciness of fresh tomatoes? Alas, I don't always make my own and have to get the pre-made stuff.
How To: 10 Reasons You Need to Add Cinnamon to Your Coffee
Creamer, milk (whole or skim), sugar, or even butter—you've probably added at least one of these to your coffee to improve its taste at some point. If you're looking for something different, though, try a new twist with a dash of cinnamon. This sweet, sharp spice can do so much more than improve coffee's taste, and I've got 10 examples for you to consider.
How To: Sour Patch Recipes Your Kids'll Go Crazy For
In my opinion, there is no candy greater or more timeless than Sour Patch Kids. They're the ultimate treat: sweet and refreshing, yet sour and tangy. These contrasting flavors are what make Sour Patch Kids perfect for the people of all ages—especially your kids. So let's make dishes that incorporate this awesome candy into your cooking rotation!
Cook for Garlic & Onion Haters: Alternatives & Substitutes
Hard as it is to imagine, there are people out there who loathe garlic and onions. Some might have allergies or medical conditions like IBS, or are supertasters (i.e. people who carry a certain gene that makes them extremely sensitive to how certain foods taste). Others might just be picky eaters.
How To: Make Soggy, Wilted Lettuce & Other Leafy Greens Edible Again
Sometimes you've got a head of lettuce that you want to eat but it lacks a certain youth. In other words, it's wilted and browning at the edges. Other times, you get to the grocery store near the end of day and the only lettuce or greens available look a little on the sad side. Never fear. You're not doomed to a meal of fast food or mouthfuls of soggy salad. You can easily revive those leaves and have something crisp, green, and delicious for your next meal, so don't dump it in the trash.
How To: 10 Key Things Everyone Should Know About Seasoning, Cleaning, & Maintaining Cast Iron Pans
Cast iron is one of the best surfaces to cook on, but taking care of it is a whole 'nother story. It's not as simple as just washing it in soapy water like all of your other pans, and everyone has different ideas about how it should be done. It seems intimidating at first, but once you learn the basics, you'll be making the best steaks, homemade pizza, and fried chicken of your life.
How To: Make Perfectly Sized, Uniform Patties for Sliders & Mini Burgers Without Getting Your Hands Dirty
There is no such thing as a pulled pork slider. In fact, there is no such thing as a pork slider. Or a chicken slider. Or turkey or fish. The term "slider" actually means a lot more than just a hot miniature sandwich, and if it's not beef, it automatically missed the first cut. Sorry, but that is not a slider above.
How To: DIY Altoids! How to Make Your Own Miniature Mints in Any Flavor You Want
It's always a good idea to have a pack of mints on hand, especially right after a cup of coffee or a lunch made with loads of garlic. Whether you're going on a date, to the dentist, or to an interview, bad breath is a major faux pas and totally avoidable. Simply pop a mint! But not just any old mint — homemade ones not only freshen your breath but can give you a sense of pride every time you need one.
How To: The Easiest Way to Make Homemade French Onion Soup—In Your Microwave
I was fortunate enough to be visiting one of my college classmates in Columbus, GA last spring and saw two large bags of onions in his kitchen... but not like the ones you get at the grocery store. Two standing 50 lb. bags!
News: Ditch Your Mandoline for a Handheld Slicer Instead
At first glance, mandolines seem like such a good idea. After all, who wouldn't want a tool that can create picture-perfect and paper-thin slices of fruits and vegetables that would put even the sharpest chef's knife to shame? Your French fry game would never be the same. Salads would become works of art. Your casseroles would cook perfectly evenly, since the ingredients would be cut uniformly.
Weird Ingredient Wednesday: The Mushroom That Tastes Like Candy
Mushrooms are glorious: they're nutritional powerhouses, add meaty savor to just about any dish, and are cheap and plentiful (mostly). But just when you thought you knew best how to use edible fungi (in gravies, as portobello burgers, stewed and served over pasta, just to name a few uses), you learn something new: there's a mushroom out there that tastes like maple syrup. Yep, maple syrup.
How To: The Foil Lids on Your Snack Pack Foods = Handy Makeshift Spoons
You've packed your own lunch and can't wait to get to the little vacuum-sealed cup of dessert you brought along. You keep rummaging in the bottom of the bag, searching for the spoon you're certain you packed…except you didn't. Uh-oh.
How To: You've Been Wasting the Best Part! 5 Delicious Uses for Your "Empty" Nutella & Peanut Butter Jars
Some food jars seem like they're actually designed to prevent you from enjoying every last bit inside. The remnants of sticky foods like Nutella and peanut butter are almost impossible to scrape out with a knife or spoon, and it's a shame to throw out something that tastes so good—especially when it's the best part. A spatula could help you get that last drop out from the walls or bottom easier, but that's just ruining your chance at maximizing the full potential of those remains into somethi...
How To: Yes, You Can Roast Ginger—It's Simple & Gives Any Dish an Intense, Smoky Flavor
Ah, ginger. From stir fry to smoothies, ginger is a reliably sharp and refreshing flavor that adds zing to everything it touches. It may be a pain in the ass to remove the skin from ginger (or not), but the zest it brings to food is well worth the trouble. Don't Miss: How to Brew Your Own Ginger Beer Like a Boss
News: Leftover Pizza Should Never Go in the Fridge [DEBATE]
Okay, check your Food Safety guidelines at the door, because things are about to get real subjective in here.
How To: Make Easy Ice Cream at Home in Under 10 Minutes
Homemade ice cream is so good and you can make it with just a few ingredients and no special equipment. Most cookbooks and magazine recipes expect you to have an ice cream maker at home, but you can imitate the churning effect of an ice cream maker by shaking or tossing around the ingredients inside a tightly sealed ziplock bag.
How To: Cook Your Bacon in Water for Perfect Texture & No Splattering
Bacon isn't hard to cook on the stovetop, but every cook who's been hit by splattering fat knows it's not the most pleasant kitchen task to tackle. If you're cooking bacon for a lot of people, you can avoid this by cooking it in the oven on a roasting rack, DIY or otherwise.
How To: Cook Polenta in 15 Minutes Instead of 40
I became a big fan of polenta while studying Italian cooking. Previously, it never occurred to me that ground corn could create a dish that could rival the best pastas or potatoes. Those rich, golden bowls of cornmeal, cooked until tender and flavored with good olive oil, butter, sea salt, and fresh herbs soon became one of my favorite things to eat.
Food Hacks Explains: What Makes or Breaks a Perfect Pie Crust (& Why)
Making a good pie crust can seem intimidating to the uninitiated, but once you master this skill, a whole world opens up to you. Not only can you make all manner of fruit, custard, and cream-filled pies once you know all the tricks, you can branch out into the world of quiches, savory pies, and flaky, crispy turnovers, too. We've already told you how to get perfect, firm fruit pie fillings, so now, let's learn about crust.
How To: Why Kitchen Shears Are the Best Tool You Aren't Using
Listen, I'm not disparaging using really good knives—they can literally change your life, or at the very least, the way you work in the kitchen. However, there are many cutting and slicing tasks where you're better off using a sturdy pair of kitchen shears rather than a chef's or even a paring knife.
How To: Temper Chocolate & Why You Should Never Skip This Step at Home
"Tempering chocolate" is one of those intimidating-sounding kitchen tasks that keeps novice cooks away from some really fun stuff like making candy, chocolate-dipped biscotti, and fruit.
How To: The Squeaky Clean Trick to Eating an Orange Without Getting Your Fingers All Sticky
As a kid, there was nothing more fulfilling than sinking my teeth deep into the succulent flesh of an orange, savoring every drop of juice that wasn't busy sliding down your chin and onto your clothes. While my adulation for oranges never ceased as I grew older, the way I consumed the precious fruit did evolve with my maturity. Gone were the days of messy eating, and here I was now, peeling my oranges as a teenager, taking my precious time in separating each individual slice for a clean and t...
How To: You're Doing It Wrong — This Is the Easiest Way to Make Rice
For those of us without rice cookers, conventional wisdom tells us that the stove is our only real option (unless, of course, you dabble in microwavable rice). However, if you're only using the stove for cooking rice start-to-finish, you're missing out on the easiest way to make perfect rice every time.
How To: Use Chayote Squash for Fries, Salad, Pie, & More
Several years ago, I moved to Brooklyn, New York, just outside a Spanish neighborhood. It was here that I was introduced to chayote. Fast-forward to present day: I live in Los Angeles and buy several chayote squash a week to cook with—yes, I said several. It's so versatile and healthy! For the uninitiated, chayote (chai-YOH-tee) is a light green squash shaped like a pear originating from central Mexico. Although it's considered a fruit, chayote is a member of the Cucurbitaceous (gourd) family...
How To: The Fastest Way to Get Pieces of Shell Out of Your Egg
I've cracked thousands of eggs in my life, yet I still usually mess up when I make my morning eggs. Sometimes I crack the egg to hard and end up leaving half of the white on the counter. Other times I don't crack the egg hard enough, and end up spending 20 seconds digging with my fingers until I can pry apart the shell. Sometimes I puncture the yolk on the shell, and other times the entire thing slips out of my hands.
News: These Edible Flowers Will Literally Shock You
Eating flowers is a time-honored culinary tradition, from nibbling on nasturtiums to grazing on candied violets. And why not? They look beautiful and lend a unique floral flavors to salads, desserts, and anything in between.
Skip Home-Brewed Beer: Sake Is Easier to Make & Just as Good
Each flavor of sake, the national spirit of Japan, comes with its own fans, not unlike whiskey aficionados here in the States. While sake is often called "rice wine," it is more akin to a malted beverage like beer.
Ingredients 101: How & Why You Should Clarify Butter
Unless you're vegan or lactose intolerant, butter is an indispensible ingredient. However, butter is no one-trick pony. It can take many forms that make it even more versatile and useful in the kitchen. Clarified butter has many advantages over regular butter—but there are certain cases where you shouldn't use it. More on that later.
How To: Fix Runny Fruit Pies with These Two Surprising Food Hacks
Pies and soufflés: these are two dishes that can try even the most experienced cook. Berry pies can be especially challenging, since the high water content of cherries, strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries often leads to a big, leaky mess once you cut into your beautiful pie.
How to Prep Tofu Properly: A Beginner's Guide for Tofu Haters
When you know how to cook it, tofu is a delicious dish in and of itself—truly. Too many people have been subjected to poor quality or badly cooked tofu and told to eat it because it's a "healthy alternative" to meat. Usually what they bite into is a bland, rubbery mess coated with a random array of flavors.