The Latest on Food Hacks: Page 10

I grew up eating Korean, Japanese, and Chinese food, but it wasn't until college that I experienced Thai and Vietnamese cooking. Once I started, I couldn't get enough of these cuisines. The dishes had an incredible richness and savor that I couldn't identify, but whatever it was, it made me want to keep eating.

Summertime means lots of parties, picnics, and barbecues—and wherever a group of fun-loving adults can be found basking in the sun's rays, delicious cocktails are sure to flow freely.

Avocados have been the darling of the food world for quite some time now—so you'd think that we might have already exhausted the ways in which to enjoy this amazing fruit.

Scrambled, sunny side up, hard-boiled, soft-boiled, over easy, and poached: there are only so many ways to cook an egg before you get bored and look for inspiration somewhere else.

Onion scrubs, salt and olive oil blends, a baking soda slurry... despite the many methods already out there to clean your (old or brand-new) cast iron cookware, there's one you may not have considered: using a potato.

Peanut butter cookies may not have as big a fan base as their chocolate-chip counterparts, but their distinct flavor is loved by many a cookie enthusiast.

Why, for the love of God, do people keep inventing ridiculous devices that make the simplest things more complicated in the name of convenience? This may be a rhetorical question that will forever go unanswered—because these crazy gadgets just keep rolling out, one after the other.

It's no secret that the microwave is a modern-day wonder that, when used correctly, can cook a wide variety of food in a snap.

We are huge BLT sandwich fans. We are also huge sushi fans. After a morning spent heatedly debating which of the two we would like for lunch, we ultimately decided that we wanted both.

Plastic wrap is, arguably, man's greatest invention—or at least, the 2000 Year Old Man thought so. Its primary use is to protect food from getting dried out in the fridge or on the counter; but if that's all you're only using it for, you're missing out.

A carefully constructed frittata is one of the culinary world's perfect wonders. It's inexpensive to create, can be made with all sorts of leftovers, and is outstanding to eat for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. However, frittatas can go downhill fast and come out spongy, tasteless, dry, and over-done.

We admit it: we are ranch dressing fanatics. We like to put it on our simple salads, spread it across our chicken wings, and dip homemade sweet potato fries in it. Plus, since childhood, neither of us can eat pizza without ranch dressing to accompany it.

A visit to Disneyland is not complete without a trip to the Tiki Juice Bar where the famous Dole Whip soft serve dessert resides. These golden swirls of frozen pineapple-y goodness are an essential part of any magical visit.

Fresh, homemade pasta definitely beats the dried stuff from the store. However, most of us aren't usually in the mood to knead dough for 10 minutes... or to clean up a sticky, doughy, floury mess afterward.

My first time opening a coconut was a confusing and frustrating experience. I remember the loud echoing noise as I hit it with a knife, a hammer, and my countertop. It took multiple tools, YouTube videos, and plenty of angry sighs for me to get it open.

Store-bought marinades and sauces have an ability to jazz up the simplest items. But after a while, those favorite tastes seem a bit repetitive and mundane, and that got us to experimenting with different add-ins to make our marinades stand out. Fruits, herbs, spices—all of the usual suspects were delicious, but not spectacular.

In the moment, buying a dozen donuts always seems like a good idea. In retrospect, however, it's always too much... and you inevitably end up with a box of stale donuts a few days later.

When we were kids, snacks on-the-go or in our lunch box were often Kellogg's Nutri-Grain cereal bars. There were flavors like strawberry, blueberry, and our beloved apple-cinnamon.

Quesadillas are great, don't get me wrong. Cheese, tortillas, meat... what's not to like? But I'm going to take a stand: your regular old quesadilla is boring. It's time to step it up a notch and get out of your quesadilla comfort zone.

When a craving for crunchy tacos hits, it's undeniable.

Many "quick and easy" donut recipes involve a donut pan and an oven, but those are basically just mini cakes shaped like donuts. Chances are, if you're in the mood for a donut, you aren't looking for a cake "donut" recipe—you want the real thing—a donut shop donut, fresh out of the fryer and topped with sugar or glazed to perfection.

Mashed potatoes are a reliably tasty side dish, but they can definitely get a little boring sometimes. So if you're looking for that extra 'oomph' that goes beyond the classic butter and salt seasoning, try infusing your next batch with the flavor of baked potato skins.

Taco Bell's in the news for umpteenth time, and today the controversy is over their infamous beef taco meat. Gizmodo leaked a picture of Taco Bell's "Taco Meat Filling" and surprise, surprise— it's missing a lot of the "meat" that it claims in its advertisements.

You may have caught our prior list of excellent egg hacks. Well, we've rounded up 10 more awesome tips and tricks to perfect your egg game. Check 'em out below.

We keep at least half a dozen hard-boiled eggs in the fridge for times when we're on the go and need a quick snack. Often, we eat them sliced in half with a pinch of sea salt and black pepper, or we just make some deviled eggs or a quick egg salad—but these gets old very quick, and our creativity tells us to do otherwise.

The biggest problem with plastic wrap is also its most useful trait: its incredibly clingy nature. Plastic wrap seems to stick to itself or you before you can get it over the plate, bowl, or food you're trying to preserve. And once you do manage to get it in the right position, it never sticks as well as you need it to.

Bacon on burgers and sandwiches is truly a wonderful thing, though not when it slides out and lands on your plate. Or, even worse—the floor.

Pitting cherries is really annoying. There's no neat way to do it with a knife and, though they make a tool that does it, not everyone has space in their kitchen for a gadget that does so little. But fresh cherries are so delicious when they're in season... it's almost worth the extra hassle and/or space usage.

The decadent, chewy, fresh-from-the-oven brownie is a classic American dessert. US History Scene states that the first brownies ever made were a result of socialite Bertha Potter Palmer's request of her chef at Chicago's Palmer House Hotel in 1893 "to create a dessert that could be tucked into a box lunch for ladies to eat while attending the Columbian Exposition."

We like to think of ourselves as caprese connoisseurs. When we made our first batch of the iconic tomato salad, we became obsessed with the classic combo of fresh basil, sweet tomatoes, and creamy mozzarella cheese. But after a while, we wanted more than just the basic, layered Italian summer staple.

It's hard to argue with the notion that wine and pasta are a winning combination. I mean, millions of Italians can't be wrong.

There are two kinds of people standing in the international section of the grocery store: the kind who love Pocky and the kind who don't yet know that they love Pocky because they've never had it.

When we tell folks how often we use apple cider vinegar, they are baffled and bewildered. "I've had a bottle sitting in my pantry for 10 years," is the response we encounter most. And "I never use it!" Some have never even used apple cider vinegar at all in their lifetime, believe it or not.

One of the common complaints about dry pasta is that it lacks depth of flavor. This is why, once cooked, it often pairs best with bold and complexly flavored sauces.

The potato masher is one of the most dreaded tools in my kitchen; it always gives me flashbacks to when I had to mash potatoes for Thanksgiving dinners while growing up.

When alcohol tastes bad, there's little you can do to save it—or so you think. While it might seem easier to toss your entire bottle of old, opened wine, or to give up and drink crappy vodka anyway, there are creative ways to turn a spoiled or just plain bad boozy beverage into one you actually want to drink.

A perfectly-roasted artichoke is a thing of beauty, but not everyone has the time (or patience) to deal with the extra fuss. So if you want an artichoke and you want it now, look no further than your ever-convenient microwave, which lets you steam one in only 10 minutes—no steamer basket necessary.

Don't Miss:

There are countless recipes for mug cakes (and breads) on the internet, but not all of them are good. Mug cakes promise a warm, moist, and fluffy cake after a few minutes and with minimal work... but sometimes, all you end up with is a chewy, rubbery mess.

Charcoal is a famously prized substance when it comes to food and drink. Grilling aficionados swear by it, and its purifying properties make it the main ingredient in Brita filters (and its alternatives).