"Scrape with the blunt side of the knife."
"I used to painstakingly clean mushrooms one by one with a little brush. Then I saw Jacques Pepin just dunk them in a bowl of water and say “give them a bath right before you’re going to use them.” So much easier!"
"If you’re not going to finish your food before it goes bad, put it in your freezer. Gordon Ramsay isn’t going to come out and start yelling at you because you used frozen chicken."
"If there is water in the pan, the Maillard process (browning of food from searing) will never happen.
If there is water in the pan, the temperature is less than boiling temperature (100 Celsius), and maillard needs 140-165 to happen. This is why recipes call for wiping moisture off steaks before searing them."
"Don’t cut both ends off of an onion when you want to dice it, leave the bit where all the layers are held together"
"It’s easier to get thin clean slices when you freeze meat before cutting it"
"Do not over crowd your pan when browning meat or veggies. You’ll steam them instead of getting a hard seat. I also replace the water in brownie or chocolate cake recipes with coffee (box or home made)"
"Brown your butter when making brownies and cookies."
"Turn the heat down."
"Freeze soup kits. A lot of times I’d buy celery and herbs for stock and only use what I need. I’ve since made little kits from leftovers so I can make it whenever I want."
"I almost never used my non stick pans for searing meats. I would always panic when the meat stuck, no matter how much oil/butter I used. I would force it to unstick right away, often ripping up the meat. It took my years to learn that the meat will unstick itself once some of the fats render out. I learned it from Master Chef."
"When I find cut up chicken on sale, I stock up. I separate the individual pieces on a parchment lined baking pan and set it in the freezer. Once solid, I then wrap and bag it, and return it to the freezer. Much better than freezing the entire package as a solid mass. It took me 30 years to figure this out."
"Freeze your ginger and grate it from frozen without peeling. Peels end up on the outside of the grater, and it lasts for ages in the freezer. You’ll always have fresh ginger on hand."
"Poach eggs in a ladle."
"Taste as you go."
"Damp towel under the cutting board"
"Reverse taring – put your full ingredient bin on the scale, set it to zero, and measure what you’ve taken out. This way you can weigh ingredients into something hot or unwieldy without getting another dish dirty"
"Mince fresh parsley (or basil) and spread it out in a gallon zipper freezer bag and freeze. When it’s completely frozen squeeze out the air and roll it up and tuck it somewhere handy in your freezer. It stays green and you can use as much or as little as you want."
"More of a cleaning tip. Cooked with an older guy at a local bar & grill. We were cleaning up for the night and one of the kid mac&chz exploded in the microwave when I forgot it. So I was scraping and scrubbing this hard burnt cheese and pasta out by hand. The old cook saw me struggling and grabbed a soapy wet rag and nuked it for 2 minutes. Presto! He wiped the inside of the microwave with a paper towel in seconds. Brilliant! It’s how I clean microwaves now."
"This is more baking than cooking but save the wax paper wrappers that sticks of butterare packaged in. When you need to butter a pan, wipe it with the remaining butter on the wrapper then toss. Easy to do and nothing to clean."
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I agree. A mushroom reacts as a sponge. Taste becomes terrible. I'm picking my own mushrooms in the season (here, Belgium, from end of August till October, I go everyday and have a dryer)) and just brush away the dirt (if any). Be careful though, one has to know what he picks (my wife, a doctor, doesn't trust me and doesn't eat it :-) ) Other question, why does she let me to eat it :-)?
#2 I was always told that but watched Alton Brown from Good Eats disprove it. Soaked the mushrooms and compared the weights before and after. Minimal change.
The one about reverse taring isn't bad (although it's more about baking, don't see myself weighing things when cooking :D)
#18 I have always been told to freeze fresh herbs in water.
#19 Nuke a bowl of water or vinegar for a minute does the same thing.