Food Hacks How-Tos
Kitchen First Aid: How to Treat Minor Cooking Injuries with Food
Minor mishaps occur all the time in the kitchen, whether you cut your finger while dicing an onion, scorched your hand in a grease fire, or burned the roof of your mouth because you were to eager to taste-test your killer pasta sauce.
Mess-Free Muffins: No Mixing Bowl Required
In my opinion, the greatest food hacks are the ones that help you cut way, way down on dishwashing. That's especially true when it comes to baked goods, which usually involves dirtying up a couple of mixing bowls, measuring cups and spoons, some kind of stirring implement, and the baking pan itself.
How To: Food Hacks from Our Facebook Fans
We're always looking for great food hacks to help us become better cooks who can create delicious food with less waste, fuss, and hassle. You never know where the next good tip will come from, so we've all learned to keep our eyes and ears wide open.
Coffee Mugs: They're Not Just for Coffee
Coffee mugs: nothing proliferates more quickly in my kitchen cabinets. People are always handing them out as gifts or as swag, plus I always seem to find a vintage model or two at a garage sale that I'm compelled to buy. I used to do a yearly purge of my excess muggage, but it turns out it's a good idea to hold on to one or two extras.
How To: Fix the One Mistake Most People Make When Cooking with Garlic
Garlic isn't just a food, it's a legend. It's been found in the pyramids of Egypt and is referenced in the Bible. Hippocrates, the father of Western medicine, prescribed it regularly, and it was given to the first Olympic athletes in Ancient Greece to enhance performance (take that, Lance Armstrong). And, of course, it's famed for its ability to ward off evil, whether it's in the form of vampires, demons, or werewolves.
How To: Make This Spicy Korean Pork Stew with Only 3 Ingredients (And Almost No Effort)
You either love kimchi or you hate it, but for those of us who love it, its salty, briny, spicy crunch is the stuff of life. Honestly, if you're not eating it regularly, you should start, since it's being studied for an amazing list of health benefits, including anti-cancer, anti-aging, and antioxidant properties; obesity and high cholesterol prevention; and promotion of immunity and skin health. The beauty of kimchi is manifold:
How To: 12 Things Cheap Vodka Is Good for Besides the Obvious
The origins of vodka are shrouded in mystery, with both Russia and Poland laying claim to its invention. Some say Genovese merchants brought vodka (then known as aqua vitae, or the water of life) in the late fourteenth century to Russia. For many years, vodka wasn't just an alcoholic beverage: it was also consumed as medicine.
How To: Order Liquid Cocaine & Other Crazy Drinks Off the Starbucks Secret Menu
In-N-Out Burgers on the West Coast is famous for their not-so-secret and secret menus, along with their cheap, no-fuss burgers. Pre-internet, you felt like you were actually part of a small, select club when you knew what secret menu items to order.
How To: Deep Frying Without a Deep Fryer: Which Pan Is Best for the Job?
I don't deep fry food that often, mostly because it uses a ton of oil, which is expensive, and the cleanup is a son of a mother. (That oil really splatters everywhere.) Plus, no matter how careful you are, you will get hit by hot oil at some point and it will not be pleasant.
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.
How To: The Tricks to Making Delicious & Tender Kale Salads Every Time
Kale is the new baby spinach: it's taken over salads everywhere, and for good reason. This nutrient-dense vegetable is a member of the brassica family, which also includes cabbage, broccoli, and watercress. Recent studies show that people who eat more brassicas tend to have less cancer. Not only that, but kale and other brassicas can actually clear air pollutants from your body.
Herb Slapping: You've Gotta Get Physical for More Flavor
Fresh herbs can be delicate, and it's not always easy to figure out how to cut, crush, or muddle them to make the most of their flavors. Get too rough, and you have a bunch of bruised and muddy-tasting herbs, which is due to too much chlorophyll being released. Don't do enough prep, and the herbs don't release the essential oils and volatile molecules that are the foundation of their flavor.
How To: 11 Fun & Useful Facts About Java
Coffee! It's so amazing that J.S. Bach wrote a comic opera about caffeine addiction. Meanwhile, more than half of Americans 18 years or older start their day with a cup of the hot stuff. Most of us take coffee for granted, but it's a bean that can surprise you. Read on to understand more about coffee and how to take advantage of all that it offers.
Ingredients 101: Buying, Grinding, & Tempering Spices
The world of spices can be bewildering. They promise to make your food more flavorful if you know how to make the most of them. Unless you know a couple of essential tricks, however, it just seems like you're adding bits of colored powder to your food.
How To: 8 Food Hacks That Make Instant Mashed Potatoes a Pantry Essential
Look, I'm no food snob. I once dedicated an entire day to eating only deep-fried things (butter, Twinkies, Oreos, pickles) at the Minnesota State Fair. But even I draw the line at instant mashed potatoes. I mean, why bother? It's not that hard to make perfectly delicious and fluffy mashers yourself.
How To: The Food Hacks Guide to the Ultimate Homemade Kahlua & Irish Coffee
Coffee liqueur is pretty easy to make at home, and if you've read our guide on why instant coffee is a pantry essential, you know that we recommended the powdered stuff over fresh-brewed when making your own Kahlua at home...until now.
How To: Water, Lemon Juice, Vinegar, or Nothing: Should You Even Bother Rinsing Chicken?
There's an ongoing debate about whether or not it's safe or even desirable to rinse meat before you cook it. Many fall into the anti-rinsing camp, saying that it's not effective at dislodging bacteria, especially on poultry, as we've discussed before. Meanwhile, some argue that rinsing certain meats, like bacon, could be beneficial since it possibly prevents it from shrinking.
How To: The Essential Secrets for Amazing Homemade Mac & Cheese
Macaroni and cheese is one of those dishes that automatically make me feel all is right with the world. I even like the boxed kind in a pinch. However, real macaroni and cheese is pretty easy to make and is worlds better than the boxed kind. It's also pretty easy to make really, really good macaroni and cheese once you know some essential pointers.
How To: Plants Like to Binge, Too! The Guilty-Pleasure Foods Flowers Thrive On
Having someone send you flowers will almost always lift your spirits. Wilting, dying flowers, on the other hand, aren't so great to look at and smell even worse. While there are time-honored tricks to keep flowers alive longer (change the water regularly, put a penny in the bottom of the vase, and cut stems diagonally are three that come to mind), it turns out that a few items in your kitchen are pretty useful at making sure those blooms stay perky.
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: The Food Hacks Guide to Breading & Frying Meat to Perfection
Whether you call it chicken-fried steak, country-fried steak, Milanese, wiener schnitzel, or breaded cutlet, there's something irresistible about a piece of meat that's been treated until it's thin and tender, dredged in beaten egg and flavorful bread crumbs, then fried until the coating is crisp enough to shatter when you bite into it.
How To: Stop Waiting Around! Bring Eggs, Milk, & Butter to Room Temp in Minutes
I'm an impulsive baker, which means that the instructions to "bring ingredients to room temperature" make me want to kick myself for not thinking ahead. Sure, some ingredients like milk or water you can heat up, but that means messing up an extra pot or pan.
How To: 9 Ways to Use Gatorade for Function, Fun, & Frivolity
Gatorade: its popular red flavor can stain the whitest fabric, and its sweet taste is oddly refreshing after breaking a sweat. If you've ever participated in a sport, you probably spent halftime at games and practice breaks chugging the stuff. Though it made its name as a sports drink, Gatorade is also a well-known hangover helper—but its beneficial and interesting uses don't end there. The brightly colored drink can do so much more than just hydrate you.
How To: Clean "Uncleanable" Scorched Spots from Pots & Pans
You're in the middle of cooking and a car alarm, cute kitten, or neighborhood brawl made you step away from the stove for a few minutes longer that you should have. It happens to almost every home cook. Most of the time, nothing dramatic happens, but every now and then, you end up with something like this:
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: 12 Food Hacks for Perfect French Toast, Every Time
French toast is one of those things that everybody kind of knows how to make, but few people know how to do really well. And while the dish originally does hail from France (its original name, pain perdu, means lost or wasted bread), it has become a beloved American breakfast dish.
How To: 8 Delicious Frozen Waffle Food Hacks
Just like Leslie Knope, I love waffles. Unlike that imaginary character, I don't require that my waffles come from JJ's Diner. I have a deep affinity for frozen waffles as well as the homemade ones. They're so convenient! A few moments in the toaster, and you have a great foundation for a sweet or savory topping, or just a big fat slab of butter and a little syrup. Turns out there's a great big world of frozen waffle innovation out there that I had never dreamed existed. And remember, frozen ...
Molecular Gastronomy 101: How to Cryogenically Freeze & Shatter Berries
"Cooking" with liquid nitrogen seems like one of those activities that should be strictly limited to pros who are appearing on Top Chef, but it's the only way you'd ever be able to make Dippin' Dots at home. If that isn't enough of a reason for you to get some LN2 for your kitchen, check out this dose of pretty:
How To: You Only Need 3 Ingredients for This Amazing Pasta Sauce
One of my favorite things is finding an easy way to make what is normally a complex dish. Case in point: pasta sauce. Usually its depth of flavor is the result of fresh herbs, shallots, tomatoes, seasonings, olive oil, and a touch of dairy being cooked and added in stages. Long simmering mellows out each component's inherent character and turns pasta sauce into something that is far greater than the sum of its parts.
How To: 12 Brilliant Kitchen Hacks Made Possible with Aluminum Foil
Aluminum foil is one of those things that every cook, experienced or just starting out, has in their kitchen. And while we may think we know how useful this handy material can be, there are hundreds of ways we could be utilizing tinfoil to make our lives a whole lot easier.
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: Your Juicer Is Actually a Sauce Maker in Disguise
There are several reasons why restaurant food tastes so good. One is that the cooks know how to make reductions, which involves cooking down large amounts of liquid until it becomes a pool of thick, glossy sauce. While this technique isn't hard to learn, it can be time-consuming.
How To: 9 Drinking Straw Hacks That Don't Suck
The drinking straw isn't just there to help you make annoying noises when you get to the bottom of your soda. That little tube of plastic is extremely versatile and can make your life a lot easier with a little know-how. Curious? Read on to find out more.
How To: The Two Things You're Not Doing for Perfect Macaroni & Pasta Salad
The noodle is a noble thing. And while I love ramen and pasta, I have a real soft spot in my heart for macaroni salad (especially the kind that comes with Hawaiian plate lunch) and the type of pasta salad that's dished up during picnics and barbecues.
Nature's Food Hacks: How Honey's Magical Qualities Make It Indispensable
Only a handful of food products are impervious to spoilage—dried rice, salt, sugar—but even among those, honey is unique in that it remains edible without any preparation necessary. It's like this: if you came across honey in an Egyptian tomb, as archaeologists have, you could taste it and never guess it was thousands of years old.
How to Nap Smarter: Just Add Caffeine (Really)
Naps provide some serious mental and physical benefits, but not if they last too long or occur too late in the day. Ideally, you want to awake from a nap feeling alert and refreshed enough to attack the rest of your tasks with renewed zeal, but not energized to the point where you can't get to sleep at night. Alas, most of us don't know these tricks and end up messing with our sleep cycle (guilty).
How To: Rid Your Kitchen of Fruit Flies Once and for All
Even the best-maintained kitchens occasionally get a fruit fly infestation. These critters descend, lay eggs (up to 500 at a time!), and then disappear usually only after extreme cleaning efforts (i.e., finally attacking that weird puddle of goo behind your refrigerator).
How To: Chia Seeds Are Super Healthy—Here's How to Make Them Super Delicious
In case you haven't heard, chia seeds are off of the novelty plant grower and in your supermarket. Why? Because they're a nutrient-dense food loaded with calcium and fiber (18% and 42% respectively of your RDA per one ounce of seeds). There are even some preliminary studies that show chia might be useful in combating diabetes.
Nature's Secret Code: How to Select Vegetables at Their Peak
There are a lot of people out there who don't like vegetables, but I would contend that that's because they haven't eaten any really good vegetables. I thought I hated tomatoes (okay, technically a fruit, but used mostly as a vegetable) until I ate some fresh from a garden. One bite of a juicy, ripe heirloom tomato made me realize that I love tomatoes—it's those bland, mealy supermarket tomatoes that I hate.
Listen Up, Java Snobs: Here's How & Why You Need to Use Instant Coffee
Okay, it's true: even the highest quality instant coffee is never going to replace really good fresh beans (and properly cleaning your coffee maker) when it comes to creating a great cup of joe. However, instant coffee does have all kinds of uses in the kitchen, as the smart folks over at Reddit observed.