27 culinary life hacks from an amateur chef

Instruments

1. You can place a wet rag underneath to prevent the cutting board from moving around the table. Alternatively, wind cling film on your hand in several layers, remove the resulting ring and put one such under each corner of the board.

2. When beating meat, it is advisable to wrap the hammer and board with plastic wrap. This will extend the lifespan of the tools, as the pieces of meat will not clog in them.

3. The sharper the knife, the safer it is. First, you subconsciously understand that you should be careful and pay due attention to the position of your fingers and the product. Secondly, there is no need to apply force to a sharp knife - there is less risk that it will jump off.

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4. If you want to keep your knife in good shape, don't cut it into glass boards, plates, and most importantly, salt. This completely kills the cutting edge.

5. Learn to transfer what you have cut onto the knife. This saves time and keeps your hands clean!

6. Leftover sauce in soft packaging (for example, mayonnaise) can be easily squeezed out with the handle of a kitchen knife. Place the bag on the board, press the butt of the knife on top and move it away from you towards the lid.

7. If you don't have a rolling pin, you can easily replace it with an empty bottle - beer or wine.

8. Milk for cappuccino can be made at home using a French press. Just heat the milk in the microwave and beat with a press. It turns out an excellent dense foam, on which, if desired, you can paint with chocolate syrup.

9. Marinate the meat in bags until it is evenly marinated. If you have an evacuator, that's even better!

10. The easiest way to get the egg shell shard is with the half of the shell itself. Scoop an egg with a shard into it and let the egg drain. The shard will remain in the half.

Frying

11. Make sure to wipe dry before pouring oil into the pan. Otherwise, you risk getting an oil bomb in the eye. Believe me, this is not the most pleasant thing.

12. Place food in a hot skillet away from you to avoid splashing oil.

13. To prevent the olive oil from burning in the pan, you can add a little sunflower to it.

14. If you want a golden crust, just place the food in the pan and leave it alone. Do not move the pan, just allow some time for the sugars in the product to caramelize and give the desired shade. But don't overdo it.

Meat

15. For the meat to be soft, it must either be fried super quickly or stew for a super long time.

16. If you want to get a delicious golden color when frying a large volume of medium-sized pieces of meat, fry in several passes. If you put everything in the pan at once, it will cool down quickly, and instead of frying, stewing will begin - a lot of juices will come out, there will be no crust.

17. Buy a whole chicken and learn how to carve it. It's easy, but much cheaper. The breasts can be cooked on the same day, the skeleton can be boiled with vegetables, getting a rich broth, and the legs and wings can be frozen to bake later.

Sauces and condiments

18. If after frying in a pan you still have dark spots, these are the sugars of the fried foods - the most delicious! Simply add liquid to a preheated skillet, scrape along the bottom with a spatula, evaporate a little for a great sauce or gravy.

19. If you are making a cold sauce or cocktail and need to taste it, but drinking directly or licking a spoon is not possible, just drip the liquid onto the dimple at the base of your thumb. This will be enough to understand what is missing.

20. A simple and incredibly tasty marinade for chicken wings: teriyaki or soy sauce, garlic and hot peppers. Marinate for 30 minutes.

21. Remember: spices always reveal their taste and aroma much better if they are paired with a small amount of oil (for example, olive oil).

22. Put the herbs in an ice mold, cover with olive oil and freeze. You will get aromatic taste bombs that can be added to the finished dish.

23. In a new bottle of olive oil, you can put a couple of sprigs of thyme or other herbs, so you get the fragrant oil right out of the bottle. You can also add a couple of chili peppers.

24. You can make your own natural flavor enhancer. In warm water, mix equal amounts of salt and sugar so that, having tasted the resulting liquid, you cannot say for sure whether it is salty or sweet. This solution can be used to inject the chicken before baking or pour over rice.

25. When using hot peppers, adjust the pungency by removing or retaining seeds and veins, which are the most capsaicin. And yes, as a rule, the smaller the pepper, the angrier it is.

26. To make the breading look like in KFC, you can add a little oatmeal to the breadcrumbs.

27. Mix the garlic and herbs in the butter, shape the sausage, wrap it in plastic wrap and foil and freeze. Cut off the washer of the resulting fragrant oil as needed.

Be sure to try a couple of these life hacks and tell us the results!