These days, time is precious. Here are nine kitchen hacks from chefs, housekeepers and experienced home cooks to help make your time in the kitchen easier, faster and more rewarding.
- Freeze Meat 15 Minutes Before Slicing – It makes slicing or dicing any cut of meat into uniform pieces for stews, or stir frying, especially if the meat is tough or you’re working with a less-than-sharp knife.
- Chop Chicken Easily – If you’re cutting up chicken breast, use a pair of sharp kitchen scissors instead of a knife. It’s efficient, effective and easy.
- Store Knives on a Wall Magnet – It’s more hygienic than a knife block, plus it saves on counter space. It’s also safer than plunging your hand into a drawer full of sharp knives.
- Pit Cherries With a Beer Bottle – Need to pit a pile of cherries? Remove the stems, place each cherry over the mouth of a clean, empty beer bottle and press a chopstick through the cherry. The pits collect in the bottom of the bottle with no cherry juice mess to clean up.
- Bring Eggs to Room Temp Quickly – If your recipe calls for room temp eggs, you don’t need to waste time waiting when you take them out of the fridge. Place them in a bowl full of hot water for five or 10 minutes and they will be good to go.
- Keep Brown Sugar Soft – If you’re tired of hacking away at hardened brown sugar, storing it with a piece of bread in the container will help keep it soft. If it’s still in the original box and too hard to use, pop the sugar in its inner waxed paper container into the microwave for 10-20 seconds.
- Save Over-Salted Dishes – If you were heavy-handed with the salt in your dish, bring the flavors back into balance by squeezing in a little lemon juice.
- Enjoy Summer’s Berries All Winter Long – Yes, you can freeze those blueberries and raspberries. Freeze them in small batches with a little sugar or lemon juice added to keep them from turning brown.
- Get Those Tight Lids Off Easily – Don’t get frustrated trying to open impossibly tight jar lids. Use the pointed end of an old-fashioned beer can opener under the edge of the lid and pry open until the seal pops.
