Kitchen tips and tricks

[Torzelbaum]

This thread is for sharing ways to make kitchen tasks easier or to get better results.

I stumbled upon this trick the other day while toasting some sandwich bread. Previously I had noticed that the bread was toasting up OK but not evenly across the entire surface. While I was about to put the slices in my toaster I happened to notice that the particular bread I was using was taller than it was wide. I wondered if this was affecting the toasting and so I decided to see what happened if I turned the slices 90 degrees so that neither the narrow "top" or "bottom" of the slices was pointing up in the toaster slots. Lo and behold the rotated slices came out almost perfectly evenly toasted.

Your toaster and bread may vary so you might not see the same results but if your toast is not coming out as evenly toasted as you like this might be something to try.

(I did clean the crumbs and a big chunk out of my toaster recently but I think I was still seeing the uneveness after that.)

 

[zonetrope]

I love this thread idea. Here's how to cook great rice without a rice cooker or Instant Pot, just a normal saucepan. It's super easy.

1) Soak it for an hour beforehand. This helps make it fluffy, like restaurant rice.
2) Drain and rinse the rice to get the starch out. This keeps the grains from sticking to each other and the pan.
3) Add water appropriate to the type of rice you're making — usually a 1:1 ratio, and I find you can even go slightly lower with the water.
4) Cover and heat on high until the water is just about to foam over (this tends to happen very suddenly, so keep an eye out), then immediately remove from heat. Wait half an hour, and the trapped steam will cook the rice.
5) EAT THE RICE!!!!!!

 

[WisteriaHysteria]

Tired of your eyes watering while chopping onions? Don't wear uncomfortable goggles or do other silly things. Just try these twelve easy steps!

1) Chop your onions next to an open flame.

Actually, that's the only step! It's so simple. The flame will naturally draw in and ignite the onion chemicals that make your eyes water. If you're lucky enough to have a gas stove then this is a very easy thing to do, just ignite that bad boy and get to choppin'. Otherwise, get a big ole candle or something.

 

[Büge]

Or, if you don't want to risk a fire hazard, stick out your tongue and breathe through your mouth. The onion fumes will be drawn towards your mouth and stick to your tongue.

 

[Kirin]

We tend to have lots of candles around, so I'm gonna have to try that method next time I'm doing a batch of onions...

 

[Paul le Fou]

How much flame? Like, will a single candle do the trick, or would it need to be a big one/several candles?

 

[Kirin]

I tried it last night with a large three-wick candle behind the cutting board, and it seemed like maybe it was helping for a while, but then I hit one of those mutant onions with an internal skin layer and I had to kind of rip it apart to get out the bad bits, and that process definitely overwhelmed any help the flames were providing.

 

[WisteriaHysteria]

I always did it next to a stove burner, which is appreciably more fire than your standard candle. I did it b/c Martha Steward said so IIRC

 

[Lady]

Or, if you don't want to risk a fire hazard, stick out your tongue and breathe through your mouth. The onion fumes will be drawn towards your mouth and stick to your tongue.

Tried this last night. Wound up with a bit of onion eyes and realized I'd forgotten to continue mouth breathing. Maybe I need to try it while wearing a mask.

 

[ThornGhost]

I always just think about something sad and cry for real when I'm chopping onions. Nice emotional release and nobody asks any embarrassing questions that might suggest I'm not an emotionless robot

 

[Ixo]

Ixo's most helpful kitchen tip: Make sure your measuring cups aren't in the currently running dishwasher before you begin cooking, not mid-way through.