PrintKitchen hacks?
We're looking for kitchen hacks—you know, novel uses for ordinary appliances and gear, a tricky way to ease food prep, etc. What's your secret?
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14 Comments:
Here's a whole bunch of creative Ikea kitchen hacks.
raphael at 11:35AM on 08/08/07
Sometimes when needing browned sausage for something, say, a pasta sauce, it really adds flavor to pour a couple bottles of beer into a slow-cooker, add raw brats, Polish sausage, etc., and let it cook for about 8 hours (set for Low heat) with the lid on. Afterward, just drop the cooked sausage into a colander and crumble th sausage with your hands. (The casing will likely also come apart.) What meat you use and what beer you use definitely defines the resulting flavor.
LunaPierCook at 11:46AM on 08/08/07
Well being Chinese I eat a lot of rice therefore I have a rice cooker. So when I am making something quick like say chinese sausage or some veggies that need to be steamed i put them in a small bowl and put them on top of the rice in the cooker when its say half way done and they steam and are ready when the rice is.
kitchenlove at 12:50PM on 08/08/07
When I need to roast green chilies I set up my charcoal chimney starter and load it half full of charcoal. After about 15 minutes there is a extremely hot bead of coals inside the chimney. I put one of my grill grates on top of the chimney and place a few chilies on the grate and blister the skin until black. Then I place them in a large zip bag to steam. After 10 minutes the blackened skin slides right off with little effort, ready for Colorado pork green chilie, top a cheeseburger or mix with some great summer tomatoes.
Colorado Jim at 2:10PM on 08/08/07
@ jim
What a darn fine idea.
intheyearofthepig at 2:47PM on 08/08/07
I have a George Foremen grill, and I use it when I am making panini's(spelling on that?)...works perfectly.
Lilartist at 3:41PM on 08/08/07
I use my little wand-type milk frother to emulsify vinaigrettes.
Dominic
the zen kitchen
dvchurch at 4:32PM on 08/08/07
We have two coffee grinders. One is for coffee the other is for making dry rubs. I put all my spices in there and let them go around and them add brown sugar or whatever and spin it around some more. Clean this with stale bread ONLY. Do not use anything else. If you are needing bread crumbs for a meal coming save the breadcrumbs since they will have some flavor.
I also use the spice/coffee grinder for coconut when I make my macarons with coconut. A good grinding of the coconut makes them look uniform like the rest of the macarons I make.
JerzeeTomato at 4:45PM on 08/08/07
Whenever a recipe calls for melting chocolate and butter or cream in a double-boiler, I scoff. Then I heat the butter or cream until it steams a bit, turn off the heat, toss in chopped chocolate, wait 5 minutes, and stir. It never seizes or scorches and I only have to wash one pot.
butterface at 5:31PM on 08/08/07
Maybe a little known fact...I'll throw two totally frozen 1+ lb packages of beef stew meat or other type of meat, pork, or poultry into the crockpot with whatever seasonings come to mind, put it on at noon or even a little after if I forgot to put it on earlier, put it on "high", and it WILL get done, nice and tender by 6 pm. Never fails to amaze me.
wwwthekitchendesigner org at 7:59PM on 08/08/07
These are great. Lots of time-saving tips here. Will be adding them to my own personal knowledge base now. Thanks!
Adam Kuban at 9:42AM on 08/09/07
Instead of buying a salad spinner, I roll up wet salad leaves in a large kitchen towel, hold the 2 ends together and spin it around over my head in the back garden. Gets all the water out, works a treat. Centrifugal force and what not. Although I've come close to twisting my shoulder from over-enthusiasm :) cue taken from jamie Oliver!
turkiyaki at 11:35PM on 08/09/07
I use my immersion blender to make hummus. It takes about a minute to throw all the ingredients into the container and blend. It's a lot easier and faster to clean up than using the food processor.
Also, when I make pasta, after the water comes to a boil again after adding the pasta, I turn off the gas and let the heat of the water cook the pasta almost to al dente while I make a quick sauce in a skillet. Then, I add the pasta and cook it the rest of the way in the sauce. It probably doesn't save a lot of energy, but if a lot of people did it every time they made pasta, it would add up.
hereandthe at 8:00AM on 08/10/07
I use my tongs and paper towel to wipe out hot pans of grease after browning bacon, hamburger, etc. Used to use paper towel only and boy, I had some hot fingers! Now I clasp the paper towel in the tongs and save my fingerprints.
Also, a handy way to get rid of the fat from draining ground beef, bacon, etc. Mold a 'cup' of aluminum foil and place it in the drain where your garbage disposal is. Pour the fat into the cup. Let cool, remove the cup, crimp the foil, and toss out.
Michigander at 12:09AM on 08/11/07