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Kitchen Tips
Practical kitchen techniques worth knowing - how to get a better sear, softer cookies, brighter vegetables and less waste, each one read in full at its source.
39 tips
Meat & seafood
Marinate steak in yellow mustard
A plain jar of yellow mustard makes a working steak marinade: its vinegar (acetic acid) gently tenderizes the surface, while the turmeric and ground mustard seed season as it sits. Coat the steak all over and marinate 2 to 24 hours depending on the cut, but don't push past that — longer and the acid turns the outside mushy. It works well on tri-tip, flank, skirt and T-bone; Dijon and other mustards do the same job, and balsamic vinegar, garlic or tarragon are classic additions.
Source: Foodie
Salt steak well ahead of cooking
Salt a steak at least 45 minutes before cooking, or better, overnight uncovered on a rack in the fridge — 12 to 48 hours gives the deepest seasoning. Avoid the in-between window of about 5 to 45 minutes, when the salt has drawn moisture to the surface but the meat hasn't reabsorbed it, so the steak steams instead of searing. Given time, the salt dissolves muscle proteins so the meat holds onto its juices, and the air-dried surface browns into a proper crust.
Source: Serious Eats
Velvet chicken for stir-fries
Velveting gives stir-fried chicken that silky, tender restaurant texture. For 1 pound of chicken, whisk 1 tablespoon rice vinegar, 1 egg white, 1 tablespoon cornstarch, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt and 1 tablespoon oil; coat the chicken and refrigerate 30 minutes. Simmer it in water with a second tablespoon of oil for about 3 minutes, until just opaque, then drain it very well before it hits the wok — the thin coating protects the meat from the pan's harsh heat.
Source: The Kitchn
Pat meat dry before searing
Blot meat thoroughly with paper towels right before it goes into the pan. Surface moisture has to boil off before browning can start, so a wet steak or chop steams and turns grey instead of building a crust. Season with salt and pepper only at the last moment — salt left sitting draws moisture back out and you'll have to pat dry again — then lay the meat in a hot, lightly oiled pan and leave it undisturbed for a few minutes; it releases on its own once the sear has formed.
Source: The Kitchn
Rest meat before slicing
As meat cooks, its muscle fibers firm up and push moisture toward the surface. If you cut in straight away, those juices pool on the board and the meat eats dry; resting lets the moisture redistribute and be reabsorbed. Tent roasts loosely with foil and give them roughly 10 to 20 minutes — large cuts also keep cooking a little from carryover heat, which is why recipes often have you pull them slightly early.
Source: The Kitchn
Season burgers with onion soup mix
Mix one packet of onion soup mix into two pounds of ground beef, halving the amount for one pound, with no extra salt or pepper needed. Add 3 to 4 tablespoons of water or beef broth for two pounds and mix only until the powder is no longer dry, so the mix hydrates instead of drawing moisture out of the meat.
Source: Tasting Table
Top chicken pot pie with frozen tater tots
Skip the pastry crust and cover creamy chicken-and-vegetable filling with an even layer of frozen tater tots, with no thawing needed for the tots or the vegetables. Bake uncovered so the tots crisp; one tested version uses a 9-by-13-inch dish at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for about 30 minutes.
Source: Tasting Table
Bind meatloaf with instant mashed potato flakes
Use instant mashed potato flakes in place of breadcrumbs as the meatloaf binder; as they absorb liquid from the meat, milk, and egg they thicken, hold moisture inside the loaf, and keep it from crumbling. Let the combined mixture sit for a few minutes before adding the meat so the flakes can set up. Most flakes are also gluten-free, so check the label if that matters.
Source: Foodie
Dry-brine steak for 24 hours on a rack
Salt the steak thoroughly all over and refrigerate it uncovered on a rack, not a plate, for 24 hours so air can circulate and the surface dries for a better crust. The salt first draws out moisture, dissolves in it, and is then reabsorbed, seasoning and tenderizing the meat. Large-flake kosher salt distributes and adheres best, and leaner cuts such as sirloin, round, and flank benefit most.
Source: Chowhound
Hold curing meat at 70 to 85 percent humidity
Keep a curing chamber or refrigerator at 70 to 85 percent humidity for most cured meats, monitored with a hygrometer. Drier air hardens the outside while the inside stays wet, trapping moisture where pathogens can grow; wetter air leaves the surface damp enough for spoilage bacteria. Use a humidifier or dehumidifier to hold the range steady over the whole cure.
Source: The Takeout
Judge cured meat by weight loss, not by the calendar
Weigh the trimmed meat before curing, tag it with that starting weight, and write down a target weight 30 to 40 percent lower. The cure is finished when the meat reaches roughly two-thirds of its original weight, not on a set date. Salt by percentage of the meat's weight rather than eyeballing it, using a scale with 0.1-gram resolution for salts and spices.
Source: The Takeout
Vegetables & fruit
Blanch and shock vegetables
For vegetables that stay bright and crisp all week, cook them briefly in generously salted boiling water — about 2 to 3 minutes for sturdy vegetables like green beans and broccoli, 1 to 2 minutes for delicate ones like asparagus and snap peas. Move them straight into an ice bath to stop the cooking, then drain and dry them thoroughly on towels. Stored in the fridge lined with paper towels, they keep 4 to 5 days and need only a quick reheat or toss into a dish.
Source: Simply Recipes
Soak sliced onions to tame the bite
Raw red onion can bully a salad or salsa. Submerge the slices in cold or ice water for at least 10 minutes, stirring once or twice, then drain. The sulfur compounds responsible for the harsh bite leach into the water, leaving the onion mellow but still crunchy. A soak in lime juice, lemon juice or vinegar works too when you want a lightly pickled edge instead.
Source: The Kitchn
Microwave citrus for more juice
A whole, uncut lemon or lime gives up noticeably more juice after 15 to 20 seconds in the microwave — just until warm to the touch, not hot. The gentle heat softens the cell walls and relaxes the membranes, and rolling the fruit firmly under your palm on the counter breaks them down further before you slice and squeeze. Peel off the produce sticker first, and if the fruit comes out hot, let it stand 30 seconds before cutting; with no microwave, a few minutes in warm water does the same job more slowly.
Source: Simply Recipes
Ripen avocados in a paper bag
Avocados ripen only after picking, driven by the ethylene gas they give off — a paper bag traps that gas and speeds things up. In tests, a hard avocado took 3 to 5 days to ripen in a bag at room temperature, and adding a banana, an ethylene heavyweight, cut that to 2 to 3 days. Judge ripeness by a gentle press near the stem end, not by skin color, and once an avocado is ripe, refrigerate it to hold it for up to about five days. Microwaving doesn't ripen an avocado; it just cooks it unevenly.
Source: Serious Eats
Tell a ripe watermelon by its field spot
Turn the melon over and look at the patch where it rested on the ground. A creamy, buttery-yellow field spot means it ripened on the vine; a white or pale-green spot means it was picked too early. A ripe melon also feels heavy for its size and has a dull rather than shiny rind.
Source: Simply Recipes
Give strawberries the sniff test before buying
Strawberries stop ripening the moment they are picked, so aroma is the reliable ripeness check: ripe berries smell sweet and floral, almost candy-like. No smell means underripe, and a sour or vinegary smell means the sugars have started fermenting and the berries are past their prime.
Source: Simply Recipes
Wash apples as soon as you get home
Apples pass through many hands before purchase and can carry dirt, wax, and contaminants — and fruit flies can lay eggs on them at the store that hatch in your kitchen. Rinse each apple under cool water for 20 to 30 seconds while rubbing the surface, or soak briefly in one part white vinegar to three parts water, then dry before storing.
Source: Simply Recipes
Baking
Grate cold butter for biscuits and pastry
For the flakiest biscuits, grate the butter instead of cutting it in. Run a cold stick over the largest holes of a box grater (the slicer side gives visible sheets for extra-flaky layers), dusting the stick with flour as you go so it doesn't stick to your hand. Chill the shreds 10 to 15 minutes in the freezer before mixing. The uniform pieces distribute evenly and melt into steam pockets, giving lift and layers without overworking the dough.
Source: King Arthur Baking
Measure flour by weight
A cup of all-purpose flour should weigh 120 grams, but a cup scooped straight from the bag can pack in as much as 160 grams — enough to turn a good bake dry and crumbly. Weighing with a scale removes the guesswork entirely. Without one, fluff the flour in its container, spoon it lightly into the cup until it overflows, then scrape a straight edge across the top to level it — never dip the cup into the flour.
Source: King Arthur Baking
Chill cookie dough before baking
Chilling drop-cookie dough for as little as 30 minutes makes the biggest single difference: the fat firms up so cookies spread less, and they bake up chewier with better browning. Longer rests keep improving things gradually — dough aged for days in the fridge turns darker in color and more pronounced in flavor as it slowly dries and the flour breaks down. If you only have patience for one pause, make it that first half hour.
Source: King Arthur Baking
Cream butter and sugar properly
Creaming isn't just mixing — the sugar crystals cut tiny air pockets into room-temperature butter, and those pockets help leaven the bake. Beat butter and sugar about 4 minutes on medium speed in a stand mixer, until the mixture turns pale and fluffy. Stop there: under-creamed, it stays gritty and dense and the cookies bake up grainy; beaten too long, it takes in so much air that cookies puff up and turn cakey.
Source: King Arthur Baking
Bring baking ingredients to room temperature
Room temperature means about 70°F, and it matters: butter and eggs at that temperature incorporate into batters smoothly instead of curdling, and cold milk or water can slow yeast down. Forgot to plan ahead? Cover cold eggs with warm tap water when you first walk into the kitchen and they'll be ready by the time you've gathered everything else. For butter, pour boiling water into a heatproof glass, empty it, and invert the hot glass over the stick for a few minutes; warm milk in 15- to 30-second microwave bursts.
Source: The Kitchn
Make quick chocolate mousse from pudding mix and cream
Whisk one 4-ounce package of chocolate pudding mix and 1 tablespoon of dark cocoa powder into 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream until thick and fluffy, with no folding or separate whipping step. If the mousse comes out too thick, thin it with a tablespoon of milk or half-and-half. It holds its shape at room temperature better than a traditional mousse.
Source: Mashed
Grains, pasta & rice
Save the pasta water
Before draining pasta, reserve at least 1 1/2 cups of its cooking water. Transfer the pasta to its sauce a little shy of al dente and finish it there for about 2 minutes, adding the pasta water in splashes of about 1/4 cup at a time. The starch in the water helps the sauce turn glossy, emulsify and cling to every piece instead of pooling at the bottom of the bowl.
Source: Serious Eats
Rinse rice, then let it rest
Two habits separate fluffy rice from gummy rice. First, rinse the grains in several changes of water until the water runs clear — that washes off the powdery surface starch that otherwise cooks into a clumping slurry. Second, after the covered simmer (about 18 minutes for medium-grain rice), leave the pot off the heat for about 10 minutes before you touch it, then fluff gently with forks to release the steam and keep the grains light and distinct.
Source: Serious Eats
Toast rice in fat, pilaf-style
For pilaf-style rice, stir the rinsed, well-drained grains into hot butter or oil with your aromatics and toast them for about 5 minutes, until very lightly golden, before any liquid goes in. The high heat deactivates some of the surface starch's thickening power, so the finished rice is far less likely to turn gummy and the grains stay separate — the same reason a dark-toasted roux thickens less than a pale one. Add the liquid, cover, cook about 15 minutes, then rest 5 minutes and fluff.
Source: Serious Eats
Sauces & flavor
Bloom spices in hot fat
The flavor compounds that matter most in spices are oil-soluble, not water-soluble, so spices dropped into a pot of liquid never fully open up. Heat your fat until it shimmers — sizzling on contact, but not smoking — then add the spices: whole spices get 30 to 90 seconds (mustard seeds are ready when they pop), while ground spices need only 20 to 40 seconds of constant stirring. Have the next ingredient ready and add it immediately; ground spices left in hot oil past their window turn bitter.
Source: Savory Spice Shop
Finish a flat dish with acid
When a finished dish tastes fine but somehow blah, the missing piece is usually acid, not salt. Add lemon juice — or a few shakes of white or red wine vinegar — slowly, starting with just a teaspoon or two, tasting as you go. There's a point where the flavors suddenly pop and taste distinct without the dish reading as lemony at all; push much past it and the dish turns too acidic, so creep up on it.
Source: The Kitchn
Deglaze the pan for a quick sauce
The browned fond stuck to the pan after searing is the start of a sauce, not a washing-up problem. Pour off all but about a tablespoon of fat, soften some minced shallot in it, then add a splash of brandy, wine or stock and scrape up every browned bit as it bubbles. Add more stock, simmer and reduce until the sauce glazes the back of a spoon, and whisk in cream or a little Dijon to finish — five minutes of work for a sauce that tastes like the meat itself, concentrated.
Source: Serious Eats
Eggs & dairy
Test eggs for freshness in water
Set an egg in a bowl of water and read its position. Lying on its side at the bottom means it's quite fresh; standing upright on the bottom means it's older — still fine to eat, but use it soon or hard-boil it; floating at the surface means it's past its prime. Eggshells are porous, so air slowly enters as an egg ages and the growing air cell makes it buoyant. For any floater, crack it into a separate bowl first and discard it if there's any off odor or odd appearance.
Source: The Kitchn
Temper eggs into hot milk
Cold yolks dumped into hot milk scramble on contact; tempering warms them gradually so custards stay silky. Whisk the yolks with the sugar, bring the milk just to a simmer — small bubbles at the edges, never a rolling boil — then pour the hot milk into the yolks a splash at a time, whisking constantly with the other hand. Return everything to low heat and whisk until the custard coats a wooden spoon and a finger dragged through it leaves a clean path, about 5 minutes; don't let it boil.
Source: Simply Recipes
Add pickle juice to fried eggs
Near the end of frying, substitute pickle brine for the teaspoon of water normally used when lidding eggs to set the tops. The brine helps the whites stay firmly set instead of feathering, while its vinegar, salt, and any herbs from the jar season the eggs and cut through the rich yolk.
Source: Chowhound
Whisk taco seasoning into scrambled eggs
Whisk 1 teaspoon of taco seasoning into about six eggs before cooking, enough for two to three servings. The packet supplies the salt along with cumin, garlic powder, and onion powder, so no further seasoning is needed before the eggs go in the pan.
Source: Foodie
Skip the milk in scrambled eggs
Added milk, cream, or water dilutes the eggs' flavor and the extra liquid can turn the scramble tough or rubbery. Cook the eggs with just salt, pepper, and plenty of butter, and if you want insurance against dryness keep any added liquid to no more than about a teaspoon per egg.
Source: Simply Recipes
Storage & prep
Store fresh herbs like a bouquet
Soft herbs — parsley, cilantro, dill, mint — keep best treated like flowers: trim the stem ends, stand the bunch in a glass of cool water, and change the water every couple of days. In the fridge, cover the bunch loosely with a plastic bag and they'll last a week or two; basil is the exception and stays on the counter, since refrigeration blackens its leaves. Woody herbs such as rosemary and thyme prefer the opposite treatment: wrap them loosely in a damp paper towel inside a container or bag in the crisper, where they'll keep at least 10 days.
Source: The Kitchn
Freeze ginger and grate it from frozen
Keep a whole knob of ginger in the freezer instead of watching it shrivel in the fridge. When you need some, peel the frozen knob with a vegetable peeler — a spoon won't bite on frozen ginger — and grate it straight from frozen on a Microplane. It comes off in a fluffy, fine pile with none of the stringy, pulpy fibers fresh ginger leaves behind, and you grate only what you need before the rest goes back in the freezer.
Source: The Kitchn
Keep brown sugar soft — and revive it
Brown sugar hardens because the molasses that keeps it soft loses its moisture to the air. To revive a solid block, seal it in an airtight container with a slice of plain sandwich bread laid on top and leave it about 24 hours; the sugar absorbs the bread's moisture and turns scoopable again (apple slices or a water-soaked, blotted terracotta disk do the same job). To prevent the problem, store brown sugar airtight with as much air pressed out as you can manage.
Source: King Arthur Baking
Tools & technique
Hone often, sharpen rarely
That steel rod in the knife block doesn't actually sharpen anything. Honing realigns the edge back to center and smooths microscopic burrs, removing little or no metal — think of it as brushing your teeth: a quick, frequent routine before you cook. True sharpening is the dentist visit: it grinds away metal to form a fresh edge, and a knife in home use needs it only once or twice a year. If honing stops bringing the edge back, that's the sign it's time.
Source: The Kitchn
