How to fight back tears while peeling onions, making mayonnaise every time, or whipping up the perfect egg whites? Discover simple yet life-changing tips.
If you love cooking, here are 50 popular and lesser-known, often revolutionary cooking hacks you should try today.
1. To whip egg whites or whip cream, start beating the egg whites or cream on low speed, then beat on high speed when the mixture begins to froth.
2. Place the wooden spoon over the boiling water so that it does not boil.
3. To prevent the eggs from breaking in the boiling water, make a hole on top of the egg with a needle.
4. For soft mashed potatoes, add a pinch of soda before mixing all the ingredients. This trick allows you to aerate the cooking.
5. To grate vegetables and raw vegetables more easily, lubricate the grater with oil so that they slide naturally.
6. If your rice is overcooked, run it under cold water to remove excess starch. Drain and heat in a saucepan over low heat.
Chemistry to save mayonnaise
Adding a tablespoon of ice water will help the mayonnaise rise more easily. Stock photo
7. The secret of inevitable mayonnaise. First of all, it is necessary to add well-beaten egg yolk and neutral oil little by little and with a whisk. Second, a good understanding of the chemical phenomenon brilliantly explained here is essential.
8. If your custard is overcooked and lumpy, pour it into a plastic bottle and shake vigorously to smooth.
9. If your salad is old, soak it in sugar water for an hour, it will return to all its crunch.
10. Before making the whipped cream, put the whipped cream and the salad bowl in the freezer for 10 minutes. When in contact with the cold, the fat in the cream absorbs air more easily and gives a more airy consistency.
11. Butter does not tolerate high temperatures well. To prevent burning or blackening when sauteing meat or vegetables, add a drop of oil to bring your knob of butter up to temperature without burning.
12. So that the spinach leaves do not lose their beautiful green color, boil them in carbonated water. Chlorophyll, the pigment that gives color, will not go away.
13. To roll the dough and prevent it from sticking to the rolling pin, put baking paper, the ball of dough on the table and cover it with another sheet. All you have to do is spread it.
14. Tired of shedding tears while peeling onions? Refrigerate for 10 minutes before peeling and slicing. You can also put it in a bowl filled with cold water and keep it cold for 30 minutes. Onion does not like the cold, so it will not release its gas.
15. If you don’t have a pastry bag, take a freezer bag and cut off one of the corners. Be careful to make a small hole to make the temporary piping bag easier to use.
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A beautiful green avocado
A few drops on the flesh of an avocado and it will stay green. Stock photo
16. In order to save half an avocado and prevent the flesh from browning, put a few drops of lemon on it, the acidity will prevent the oxidation of the fruit.
17. To stop the cooking of hard-boiled eggs and get the perfect consistency, put them in ice water immediately after removing them from the boiling water.
18. If your honey is crystallized, melt it in a bain-marie for a few minutes, then place in a container wrapped in cloth to avoid heat shock.
19. Do you have trouble lifting bread, pizza or brioche dough? Simply cover the bowl containing the dough with a damp cloth and place it near a radiator (or in an oven heated to 30°C), away from water.
20. To get a soft and well puffed madeleine, place the preparation in a suitable mold, then put it in the refrigerator. Bake for ten minutes according to the recipe. The heat shock will create a nice bubble on the top of the dough.
21. Want to keep your fruit or chocolate chunks from settling on the bottom of your cake? Just grab a freezer bag and toss the pieces in it along with some flour. Shake the bag to coat, sift everything to remove excess and fold the fruit into the batter. The flour will stick to the pieces where they are placed.
22. Once your red meat is cooked, let it rest in a bowl lined with aluminum foil for a few minutes. The juices thus penetrate better into the tissues, which makes the meat tender and juicy.
23. Fill the chicken with sparkling water so that it browns properly in the oven. The minerals in the water improve cooking and tenderize the meat.
24. If you add a few drops of lemon to your caramel, it won’t be too liquid at the end of cooking. Citrus fruits avoid the crystallization of sugar, which is responsible for the hardening of the material.
25. If you don’t want your souffle to be cakey after baking, add a teaspoon of cornstarch to your egg whites when they are well whipped and stiff. It will bring relief to your preparation.
26. To whiten the onion without burning it, fry it in a pot with plenty of water. Cooking for 20-30 minutes should be very gentle and continue with a closed lid. Salt and stir the mixture from time to time.
27. If you don’t have an oven, but you want to heat a pie without the dough being too soft, put it in a pan and heat it with a lid and on low heat; it will stay crispy. This method is also suitable for pizzas and pastries.
28. To cut small pieces of chocolate, place the tablet in the cloth, take the wooden spoon and tap it quickly. Then you’ll have plenty of pieces without hurting your hands.
A lasagna that holds together
Adding a beaten egg to the lasagna sauce keeps it from being too runny. Stock photo
29. If your lasagna is usually too watery, add a beaten egg to your sauce. In this way, they always maintain a perfect appearance.
30. To sweeten a sauce (e.g. tomato), nothing like a spoonful of honey or a sugar cube. Their sweetening power will counterbalance a strong aroma or pronounced acidity.
31. To reduce the bitterness of endives, simply cook them twice. Cooking them in water reduces their bitter taste.
32. To get stuffed tomatoes that don’t contain too much water, simply salt the insides of them and let them drain for an hour, upside down, before cooking. Salt will effectively absorb excess water.
33. Season red meat after cooking, not before, or the pepper will burn in the pan. Only salt can be added before and during cooking because it draws out the juices.
34. Want to know if your oil bath is at the right temperature? Dip corn seed in it; when it explodes, the temperature is right.
35. Sprinkle your pie crust with tapioca, that manica starch, to keep it crunchy when you bake it with juicy fruit.
36. If you overdo it with your salad dressing, put a ball of breadcrumbs in a bowl and stir to absorb the excess.
37. If you want to collect very hard lemon juice, put it in the microwave for 1 minute, it will soften and it will be easier to squeeze. You can also soften it by rolling it on the work surface with the palm of your hand.
38. How to fix a Béarnaise sauce that has gone sour when the egg is overcooked? Easy. Pour a spoonful of cold water into another pot and gently pour the mixture. Mix gently. Water will restore the preparation.
39. For soft ginger, bake it in the oven next to a bowl of water. After the bread comes out of the oven, put on gloves and wrap it in plastic wrap to prevent water from evaporating. This process allows you to recover an excessively dry cookie.
How to make cream
40. Are your radishes too soft? Do not throw them away, rather soak them in plenty of cold water with vinegar for several hours. This mixture has the ability to restore the crispiness of vegetables and raw vegetables.
41. To prevent the sausages from spoiling and exploding in the pan, cook them over low heat, covered, in a bath of boiling water for 15 minutes. They will already be a little cooked, all that remains is to brown them in a pan.
42. Are your lentils always mealy and too hard? Adding baking soda to the cooking water will reduce the cooking time and make them more digestible.
43. Say no to fluffy meringue on lemon pies. Use 50 g of sugar for one beaten egg (we will use 150 g of sugar for 3 eggs). Cook your meringue pie in the oven on low heat for 30 minutes before serving.
44. To keep cauliflower or sauerkraut white, add a tablespoon of flour to the cooking water, this will prevent this vegetable from turning yellow.
Hot and soft donuts
Boil water in a pot and cover it with the plate on which the pancakes are placed. They will stay warm and soft. Stock photo
45. If you want to keep pancakes warm and soft for dinner or a snack, boil water in a pot. Cover it with a plate where you will place the pancakes one by one. Cover them with a bell jar; the water vapor will warm them while moisturizing them.
46. You always make a lot of rice. Just count 60 grams of raw rice per person, no more.
47. Is it baking powder? No need to run to the grocery store, just use sodium bicarbonate, which acts as a natural leavening agent.
48. If you want to taste an avocado and it’s not ripe enough, put it in a bag with a banana. Leave them at room temperature overnight. The next day it will be ready to taste. If you want to eat it right away, put it in the microwave for 30 seconds.
49. To melt chocolate in a bain-marie, the bowl should not be in direct contact with water; we choose a large container placed on a small pot. Indeed, it is steam that cooks, not boiling water.
50. Oil splatters when it comes into contact with water in a pan (this is the case with freshly washed vegetables). To avoid these splatters, add a pinch of salt to the pan before adding the oil.
Source: Le Figaro
