10 culinary life hacks with familiar products

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Life hacker has collected little tricks that will definitely come in handy in the kitchen. Even if you are an experienced chef, you are sure: in our selection you will find for yourself a new way to cook familiar foods easier and tastier.

1. Don't fry the bacon - bake it

If you love crispy bacon strips, you'll love this life hack. Do not fry the bacon in a pan, it is better to preheat the oven, put it on a baking sheet and send it to bake. This is exactly what is done in American restaurants, where bacon is prepared on an industrial scale. Believe me, the bacon will turn out to be not only crispy and crispy, but also very aromatic.

2. Prepare a juicy chicken fillet in a parchment envelope

If you are tired of boiled chicken fillet, and you don't want to fry it, try another method. Take chicken meat, do not spare herbs and black pepper, salt a little, put in a parchment envelope and bake in the oven.

You can fold the envelope as you like, as long as the meat juice remains inside during cooking. Note that my chicken turns out to be dry if the walls of the envelope consist of one layer of parchment. But if you make both the bottom and the top of the envelope from a double sheet, then the fillet turns out to be incredibly tender and soft.

Chicken prepared this way can be added to salads or eaten with a side dish.

3. Heat the spices and they will release all their aroma

Preheat spices in a skillet before adding spices to food. For a salad, for example, it is not necessary to heat black pepper, but for any other dishes this life hack is fair.

When you heat spices, they give more flavor to the food. You can heat the spices and before you grind them, then the pleasant smell will intensify. If stored in an airtight container, the rich taste and aroma will last for a long time.

4. Make garlic the base of the sauce and don't worry about bad breath

Many people are afraid to include garlic in their daily diet due to its pungent smell. This is true, because the "flavor" of this food eaten at lunch will only disappear after you brush your teeth.

But baked or fried garlic can be used as a base for a sauce, then the smell will be less strong and persistent. Of course, such a sauce should not be taken with you to work, but it is quite suitable for dinner.

Bake a head of garlic or saute a few cloves until soft and golden brown. Use a garlic press to turn them into a paste. Add a teaspoon of oil and salt. Whisk until the mixture turns white. Add some lemon juice and whisk again. You can add spices, paprika or tomato paste, fresh herbs to this base. The sauce goes well with vegetable dishes, meat, poultry.

5. For a quick pumpkin puree, microwave it

You can cook a lot of dishes based on pumpkin, and, as a rule, you will have to turn the vegetable into a puree for this. Peel the pumpkin, cut it into small pieces and place it on a plate (use a microwave safe dish). Cover the plate with plastic wrap and microwave. Depending on the power of your microwave oven, it will take 10-15 minutes to cook the pumpkin. Then remove the plate and mash the pumpkin with a fork. You will get a puree, on the basis of which you can make cupcakes, pies and much more.

6. Tofu tastes better if you put it under the press

Many people dislike tofu soy cheese and compare its taste to cardboard or paper. It seems that this is exactly the case when tofu is tasteless only for those who do not know how to cook it. This soy cheese easily accepts the flavors with which spices and sauce are infused. And so that the tofu is firm and does not soften during cooking, use the following life hack: put the tofu under a press so that excess water comes out of it, and only after the cheese becomes elastic, start cooking.

7. Vegetables retain more nutrients when baked

One of the biggest mistakes we make in the kitchen is when we cook vegetables. This is not the best solution, because during cooking they lose a lot of nutrients. Therefore, try baking vegetables before using them in a salad or ready-to-eat meal.

• Beets, carrots and potatoes can be wrapped in foil or placed on a wire rack, greased with butter and baked until tender. After the vegetables are baked, peel them, add to a salad, or eat with salt and spices.
• Cabbage cut into small pieces, salt well and place on a baking sheet. Sprinkle generously with spices and bake until tender. Before removing the cabbage from the oven, grease it with oil and hold it for another five minutes - it will brown and finally reveal its aroma.
• Bell pepper better to bake whole until soft. When done, transfer to a saucepan or container and cover for five minutes. During this time, the peel will separate from the pulp - you just have to peel the pepper. Pepper pulp can be added to another dish. Or you can sprinkle with spices, salt, add wine or balsamic vinegar and marinate for several hours. This is delicious.
• Eggplant you can and should bake too. After that - peel, cut into pieces, beat in a blender or fry with an egg. In any case, the eggplant pulp will be very soft and aromatic, and the dish will be delicious.
• Green pea (eg frozen) can be sprinkled with spices and salt and dried in the oven. You will get a very tasty and healthy snack, better than chips or sweets.

8. Broccoli is best steamed

Above, we advised baking vegetables, not boiling them. But with broccoli, the story is completely different. This healthy vegetable should be steamed. During cooking or frying, it loses the lion's share of nutrients, so if you want your food to be not only tasty, but also healthy, learn how to steam broccoli inflorescences. After the cabbage is cooked, sprinkle with oil and salt. Season to taste.

9. Defrost frozen vegetables in the oven

The packaging of frozen vegetables often states that they need to be cooked in the microwave. But, if you put these vegetables in the microwave, they will become rubbery, tasteless and will all smell the same. It is better to defrost them in the oven, browning and drying. The moisture remaining after defrosting will evaporate. The taste and texture of the vegetables will be perfect. Then they can be fried or added to soup.

10. Rest meat and baked goods

Do not eat baked goods or meat in the hottest heat. The meat should rest - lie down after you cook it. During this time, it will become tasty and juicy.

If you take a cake or pie out of the oven and immediately start cutting it, be prepared for it to crumble even under the sharpest knife. It is necessary to wait until the baked goods have cooled down, and only then can you cut them and transfer them to a plate.

You've probably seen numerous photos on social networks in the style of "I tried to make this wonderful cake according to a recipe from the Internet, and nothing worked." This is all because they were cut and smeared with cream, breaking the technology.