8 Genius Kitchen Hacks
I’ve always wondered what it is about cooking that I love so much. Perhaps it’s because it allows me to create something which provides so much pleasure to others. It is about recognition, about those spontaneous gestures of delectation when somebody enjoys my food. Perhaps that is why I’m unable to cook for myself. I simply lack the motivation.
But there’s also the creativity, the making, the learning, the discovering of all those simple techniques that make you enjoy the kitchen more and more by getting better and better.
So I thought I would share some of my cooking hacks to make your time in the kitchen that little bit easier and enjoyable.
How to make your salad leaves crisp
Nothing disappoints me more than eating a salad with soggy leaves. So how do you prevent such a disaster? Most leaves have a waxy layer that protects the plant from liquids but not from oils. So you can do a couple of things. One, put your leaves in a bowl with cold water and ice cubes. This will turn the leaves crisp and tender. Then dry the leaves and dress them with an emulsified vinaigrette as opposed to adding the oil and the vinegar separately. By doing this the oil is contained in little droplets of vinegar, avoiding direct contact between the oil and the leaves and making your salad super crisp and fresh.
How to cook a potato in under 5 minutes
You fancy a baked potato for dinner but can’t be bothered to wait for 20 minutes? We’ve got the perfect solution. Take the potato, slice it in two halves and drizzle some olive oil on top. Double wrap each half separately in cling film and prick with a fork. Cook in the microwave at full power for 3 minutes. Done.
How to squeeze more juice from your limes and lemons
Chopping your lemons in two and squeezing each half with your own hands will only give you around a third of all the juice contained in the fruit. Why? Because citrics have a strong inner fibrillar structure that needs to be fully dismembered in order to access all the juices. To make the most of your limes and lemons, roll them forwards and backwards over your kitchen top applying pressure until they are soft. This will break the fibres. Then cut them in two and squeeze. The result? More juice, much faster!
How to avoid the bad smell when you cook cauliflower
Cauliflower is great but it can often release a stenchy smell when it’s being cooked. The solution couldn’t be easier. Add a bit of milk to the cooking liquid, whether this is water or stock, and the smell will simply disappear.
How to keep your greens super green when you cook them
The colour from our greens comes from the chlorophyll. When cooked for several minutes they often lose their natural colour because the continued high-temperatures destroy the chlorophyll. So if you want your greens to not only maintain their vibrant green colour but to intensify it, you need to cook them in boiling water for 30 seconds. Then quickly move them into a big bowl with cold water and ice cubes. This will interrupt the cooking and it will fix the chlorophyll. You can now keep cooking them without the greens losing their colour. This technique is called ‘blanching’.
How to make soft caramelised onions in 10 minutes
Making caramelised onion in the traditional way can take up to 90 minutes. This is all good if you have the luxury of time but if you don’t the wait can be a deal breaker. So here’s how to make caramelised onions in 1/9th that time: add a pinch –no more than ⅛ teaspoon– of baking soda per large onion you cook. Your caramelized onions will be ready in 10 minutes and they will be softer. This has to do with how pectin gets weakened by the baking soda. But that’s a story for another time…
How to maintain your cooking knives
A great cooking knife is a chef’s most important tool. Of course, you can spend a fortune on a high-quality knife but more often than not, a well maintained, medium-quality knife can out perform an expensive knife that hasn’t been looked after. So… always use your knives on an appropriately smooth surface. Don’t drag the knife over the kitchen top to collect the chopped ingredients as this will damage the edge. Wash them well immediately after every use, then dry them with a clean cloth. Don’t put them in the dishwasher. If you cook on a daily basis, sharpen the edge every couple of weeks. And finally, keep the knives in a knife block, always with the edge looking up so its own weight doesn’t damage the edge.
How to separate the egg white from the yolk super fast
Sometimes separating the egg white from the yolk can be a little tricky, especially when you’ve got many eggs to separate. However, there is a super easy, clean and fast way to do this. Start by cracking all the eggs in a bowl. Take an open 500ml plastic bottle and squeeze with your fingers to apply pressure and remove some air from the inside. Apply the top of bottle to a yolk and release the pressure so that the bottle sucks the yolk. Repeat the same operation with as many yolks you’d like to separate. Finally, drop them carefully in a different plate or bowl.
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