Cooking is fun, but super hard sometimes. Keep these tips and tricks in mind next time your showing off your culinary genius.
Is your Baking Soda or Powder still good to use?
Baking something? Using baking powder or soda that has gone bad could ruin your whole recipe, not to mention it wastes all those ingredients. Check if you baking soda or powder is still good with this kitchen hack:
Baking Powder: Mix just a teaspoon with warm water. Does it bubble? That means your baking powder is still good!
Baking Soda: Mix a little bit with some vinegar. Same thing, if it bubbles, that means it’s still good to use! Baking soda doesn’t typically come with an expiration date, so this is a great kitchen hack to know!
Make bad wine taste good:
We’ve all ended up with that bottle that’s just “meh.” But you’re not one to waste wine and neither am I. There are a few options for making your drab wine fab. For one, you can add fruit to white whine for a nice sangria. If you have bleh red wine try drinking it with a meal that has mushrooms. For reasons science has yet to explain, this improves the flavor. Finally, for wines with that awful sulfur smell and taste, try throwing a penny into the bottle, the copper in the penny neutralizes the sulfur smell and taste. Not a bad kitchen hack, and you’re not wasting!
Big burgers without getting too thick:
We all love a good big burger. But do you ever wonder why when you want to make a big burger at home, it gets WAY thick? Overall they take forever to cook and are harder to eat. There is one simple step to fix BOTH problems. Simply poke a small hole through the center of your patties before you cook them. This will cause the burgers to cook faster, and also won’t cause them to shrink/thicken up! Additionally, the hole closes up during the cooking process, so you can have perfect patties every time!
Buying the perfect avocado:
How do you know if an avocado is ripe or not? If you sneakily pop off the stem, you can see the color underneath, which is a great indicator of ripeness. If your creamy green is too ripe, the color under the stem will be a darkish brown. A “just right” avocado will shine green when the stem is removed. Also, be sure to be checking out the dark avocados to start with, the lighter green ones are under-ripe.
Check if your eggs have gone bad:
Don’t trust the “use by” date on your carton? There’s an easy solution for figuring out if you’ve got a bad egg. Put your eggs in a large bowl of water. If it sinks and rests on its side at the bottom of the bowl, congrats! Your eggs are safe to eat! If your egg is on the bottom but standing upright, it’s barely holding on, so better eat your eggs quick! Lastly, if your egg is floating, get rid of ‘em.
Keeping brown sugar soft:
All my baker buddies can relate, there is nothing worse kitchen-wise than hardened brown sugar. There is a super simple solution to softening and reviving your brown sugar that doesn’t involve taking a hammer and chisel to it. While using butter isn’t so much a kitchen hack as a general suggestion... Simply stick a piece of bread in the bag of brown sugar and it will keep it from compacting! Without getting all science-y, trust me, it works. For smaller bags of brown sugar, you can use a marshmallow too!
Shuck corn *better* than a pro:
Shockingly, apparently even those who grow corn often don’t know this little hack. Shuck your corn easily by putting it down on a cutting board, chopping off the end with the stem, and sliding the corn out by standing it upright and pulling up the leaves. Easy peasy!
Get tough lids off with a bottle opener:
Stubborn lid? Tired of wasting time trying to gain the strength of 10,000 men to open them? If you don’t have one of those handy silicone helpers handy but you DO have a bottle opener, this hack is for you. Lift with the bottle opener at the edge of the jar lid until you hear a pop. Then you can easily unscrew the lid! Alternatively you can use any sharp thing to get the lid to pop.
Use dental floss for pastries:
Want the perfect cut in your cake, cinnamon roll, or soft cheese? Look no further than your bathroom cabinet! Dental floss (preferably unflavored, unless you like a minty twinge to your sweets) will make a clean uniform cut into any soft solid.
Use butter instead of vegetable oil for a richer taste:
With a French chef for a father, I didn’t even know you could use anything BUT butter for sauteing or whatever you might use vegetable oil for. You can greatly improve a number of foods this way. It works great for brownies to really give them that gooey-chewy-deliciousness. Sautee your garlic and soften your onions in butter instead of plain-ol’ oil for a richer, more full taste. Rub down your baking pans with butter instead of spraying them with chemical-infused PAM. I could go on forever about the greatness of butter. If you want a really full taste go for the european stuff, it really doesn’t cost much more.
The perfect sunny-side up egg:
If you struggle with getting your sunny-side eggs to come out perfect, you’re absolutely not alone. Getting your sunnies to spread out evenly to look nice and cook through is super hard, but use this trick and you’ll be golden. Grab a ramekin or similar type bowl and break your egg into it. Next, you’re going to take a moment to whisk the whites - JUST the whites, take your time and avoid stirring in the yolk. This little step will help your egg spread evenly and perfectly in the pan.
Make bacon like a pro:
Ever wonder how whenever you order bacon from a restaurant, it’s perfect? Evenly crispy, no floppy ends and partially burnt middles? Well here’s the trick -- make your bacon in the oven. Try it out, line a cookie sheet with tin foil, or if you have a wire rack, flip it over in a cookie sheet and lay your bacon on that. Spark up the oven to 400-420* and enjoy that bacon!
Need more life hacks? Click here for some handy outdoor survival tips.
