The holiday season has finally arrived! The holidays tend to be a busy time for shopping, family get-togethers, and a lot of cooking.
If your holiday schedule involves hosting large parties, a small family dinner, or anything in between, you need some smart cooking tips to help save you time in the kitchen so you can also enjoy the holiday gatherings.
And below we have some cooking hacks that can save you time this season.
Softening cold butter
An ingredient that frequently trips me up is softened butter. I cannot ever seem to remember to take the butter out of the refrigerator in time to bring it to room temperature.
A quick remedy I have recently learned is to cut the butter into chunks and place it on a saucer. Heat a saucepan. Invert the saucepan over butter and saucer. By the time the saucepan cools you will have softened butter.
Toasting oats for oatmeal
There is a super simple way to up the flavour of your oats before making oatmeal: toasting them.
A Redditor once said toasting rolled oats over medium-high heat until they are brown instantly adds more depth to the flavour. You can also use them in smoothies, and more, all while making your home smell like fresh-out-of-the-oven oatmeal cookies.
Mistakes
Too much salt? Use a splash of vinegar to provide a counterbalancing punch of acid. Too much heat? Try a drizzle of honey to condition out the spice.
Freeze meat before slicing
If you want to create paper-thin strips of beef for cheese steaks or chicken for stir-fry, one of the go-to kitchen hacks is to freeze it for at least fifteen minutes first. Your knife will slide right through for pro-level cuts, instead of turning your meat into a mushy mess.
Stop watering down your iced coffees
Instead of using ice cubes (which will water down cold drinks), save any leftover coffee or tea and freeze. Use these ice cubes when enjoying a refreshing iced coffee or iced tea.
Get inspired with more cooking hacks found in the latest edition of the IOL Food DigiMag here
Make sour milk when you are out of buttermilk
One of the great culinary partnerships is buttermilk and baking soda. The two combine to produce a decadently light texture and buttermilk’s acid helps smooth out baking soda’s sharp taste. If you are doing some baking that calls for buttermilk and you find yourself out, whip up some sour milk to use as a substitute.
To make the equivalent of one cup of buttermilk add one tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar to a liquid measuring cup.
Fill with milk to the one-cup mark. Stir and let sit for five minutes. Sour milk is not the right substitute for all situations.
If you are making something like a salad dressing or fried chicken that needs the consistency and flavour of buttermilk, you can use three parts yoghurt and one part milk.
Bake bacon in the oven
Ever wonder why the bacon you get at a restaurant is always evenly and consistently cooked with no raw ends? Ever wonder why the middle does not get all crumbly or hard and overcooked?
The difference is all in the cooking. Whereas most cooks fry up bacon in the frying pan, most restaurant workers bake it in the oven. Try it out at 200 degrees Celsius and be amazed.