10 Cooking Hacks That Are Both Unusual and Useful
The folks over at BuzzFeed compiled a bunch of their favorite cooking tricks, and some of them are actually really useful!
10. Cook your pasta in red wine.
Pasta and red wine go together perfectly, and apparently, you can cook them together too. Cook pasta in red wine rather than water to add flavor and color.
9. Roast your pasta before you cook it.
Photo Credit: Food 52
Whaaa?! Yes. Roasting makes the pasta nuttier and browner and adds a unique flavor. You must roast the pasta while it’s still dry for this to work.
8. Roast your white chocolate.
Speaking of roasting! If you’re into baking, try roasting your white chocolate on a sheet pan in the oven. It turns golden and nutty.
7. Make instant potato chips in the microwave.
Photo Credit: Pixabay
Ever too lazy to buy a bag of potato chips, but really need to eat some potato chips right that moment? If you have some potatoes on hand you can make potato chips in the microwave in a couple minutes.
Game-changer.
6. Use mayonnaise as a non-stick layer.
Coat your meat or fish with mayonnaise before you put it onto the grill, and it will prevent the food from sticking and help it cook more evenly.
5. “Ripen” your cookie dough first.
Photo Credit: Pixabay
The secret to the perfect cookies is… letting the dough sit for several days before baking it. This reportedly improves the texture.
4. Use your slow cooker as a sous vide machine.
Sous vide cooking has been all the rage amongst foodies for pretty much ever. If you’re handy and have a bit of time on your hands, you can hack your slow cooker to behave like a sous vide machine to save money on equipment.
3. Cure your egg yolks.
Photo Credit: Bon Appetit
If you want to seriously impress your next brunch guests, bury some egg yolks in a mixture of salt and sugar for a few days and then put them into the oven to dry out. The yolks become cured and firm, and you can grate them on top of other dishes.
2. Make your own cheese sauce.
Cheese sauce solves all problems. You can make your own at home with just water, cheese, and sodium citrate (a type of salt that you can buy online). Easy-peasy.
1. Make vegan meringue with chickpea water.
Photo Credit: Pixabay
An episode of The Great British Bake-Off will confirm that this trick does, in fact, work. It’s also known as “aquafaba.” The liquid from a can of chickpeas can be whipped into meringue in place of egg whites.
Now get into the kitchen and make some magic!
