5 Kitchen Hacks you’ll be glad you followed
Get organized and use some basic rules to start you off right
Much has been written about cooking, organizing your kitchen, and using some shortcuts. My aim is always to simplify things and save time. Like working with a blunt knife is a waste of time and a source of headaches.
Here is my list of 17 Kitchen Hacks which I divided into 2 groups: Prep+Organizing and Quick Tips.
Prep+Organizing
1. Mis en place, a BIG time saver
Yep, we use a fair amount of French (and Italian) in the kitchen. Don’t let that scare you, though. ‘Mis en place’ means have all your ingredients measured, cut, peeled, sliced, grated, etc. before you start cooking. Pans , mixing bowls, tools are all set out and ready to go.
It’s a great method to save time and assemble meals quickly and effortlessly. (And you don’t freak out when your pasta is al dente but you can’t find your strainer.)
2. Keep your workplace clean, amigo
Most serious chefs will tell you that cleaning as you go is the best habit, easy to learn, and saves you time. It’s really easy to clean that mixing bowl while the meat balls are cooking. Can you see that? And when you’re done eating there’s not a mountain of dirty equipment in the sink. Cool, right?
Btw, make sure you keep that sink clean. Deep-cleaning it with Clorox once a week is a must to maintain a kitchen free of bacteria!
3. Knifes, a chef’s best friends
Investing in a good knife set is well worth the extra cost. And you don’t even need a big set with ten knifes. All I ever use is a big chef’s knife, a paring knife, and a bread knife. Naturally, I prefer German knife sets. I use a WMF set my sisters bought me 18 years ago and I take very good care of it. I have also used Zwilling knifes but the WMF chef’s knife is better balanced.
If you use your knifes daily, you should sharpen them about twice a year. Use a honing steel (comes with most knife sets) to realign the edges and keep it sharp.
4. Use that oven not just for cooking and baking
I never serve hot food on cold plates. Most modern ranges nowadays have compartments to warm up plates, often at different temperature levels. My plates have to be too hot to hold them without oven mitts. Important if not everything is ready to finish at the same time.
In that case you need to also use the oven to hot-hold you food while other items are still finishing. Hot-holding at 250°F is a good rule for most foods. Be careful with meat, though. If the steak is medium rare and you let it sit at 250°F it will continue to cook.
Don’t forget to turn on that oven while you’re prepping. You don’t want to wait 15 minutes because you forgot to turn on the oven.
5. Recipes and how to deal with them
Recipes are often just a guide. If you find an ingredient that you like much better than what’s in the recipe, change it, substitute, play with it. If you don’t like garlic, don’t put it in.
The most important thing I learned dealing with recipes from different sources, read them through completely! That way you know what you have to do. Figure out what takes the longest and do that first. Like marinades, for instance. Or put in that roast first so you can work on your sides while it cooks. It’s obvious, isn’t it?
Make sure you add your ingredients in the right order so the flavors can develop. Example: Fresh herbs often don’t cook well, they go in at the end.
So if you are just starting out with your cooking adventures, take a deep breath and don’t be afraid to start small and grow to more complex dishes over time. If you are already a seasoned cook, send me you favorite short and simple recipe and I’ll try it out before posting it.
