Kitchen Hacks

Cooking is hard. Here are a few tips and tricks to make it easier.

1. Roll whatever leftover meal you have into dumplings and freeze them

I often have leftover ground beef or pork and have used dumplings as a way of easily storing it later for quick consumption. Add chives, cabbage, carrots, even edamame if you can blend it to the ground meat for added flavor (just be careful to not add more than a fourth or else your dumplings may become too soggy on the inside and fall apart. You can buy premade dumpling skins (look for the circular white ones) at most chinese grocery stores. For instructions on how to fold them see here. I've found that using the pleated version presents them from falling apart so quickly when cooking. For instructions on how to freeze and later cook them see here.

2. This is how you're supposed to be dicing an onion. Or any round vegetable or fruit for that matter.

3. This is a quick way to peel a lot of garlic at once and it surprisingly works! I've found that the jar works better than the two bowl method for shaking because it's easier to shake it harder. Otherwise, I always use the flat of a knife to smash the garlic then peel.

4. If you have slightly stale or freezerburned bread, you can bring it back to life by wetting a paper towel and placing is over the bread and then microwaving it for 30 seconds effectively steaming it. Watch out, the bread can very hot when you take it out but will be much softer. Just be aware that it will dry out quickly within 15 minutes

5. You can generally use your eggs way after their expiration date. Use the float test to check them. In a bowl, fill water until your egg is submerged. If the egg sinks on its side to the bottom, it's fresh. If it sinks but tilts upright then its a little older but still good and actually better for hardboiling. If your egg floats its time to throw it out.

6. If your kitchen/apartment is very smelly after cooking, boil a little white vinegar and it will neutralize the smells.

7. Use kitchen scissors when cleaning beef or chicken. It makes it much easier to remove unwanted parts like fat, skin, or cartilage than a knife.