Cooking hacks

[OldTinHat]

I love butternut squash but loathe preparing the damn things so don't have it nearly as much as I'd like. I know you can get frozen squash but it has the skin on which I find unpleasant.

Anyway, imagine my delight discovering that if you cut off the top and bottom, score the skin and microwave it for at least 3m 30s, it's a doddle to peel. Why did I not know this 20 odd years and dozens of squash ago?!

What are your cooking hacks to make life easier that I should also have known years ago?

(Peeling ginger with a teaspoon is another duh one of mine that I discovered a few years back - thanks cooking programme!)

You can freeze ginger whole and grate from frozen. Chillies freeze well too. I’ve got a drawer in the freezer that is full of stuff like that. Herbs in the packet I’ve just put in there. Half tins of tomatoes in tubs. Ends of celery chopped up in tubs….all good for soup.

I buy all frozen chopped herbs, garlic, onions, spinach (for cooking), butternut squash etc

IMO you’re missing out on eating the skin of the squash, it’s the best bit!

@JustJam4Tea that's a good tip and I didn't know about being able to grate ginger from frozen. It's too easy to waste food like herbs and ends of tins so this is useful - thanks!

@Pyri I use frozen peppers as they're cheaper than fresh but I'll have to look into those others. Another great way to save on waste!

But you're wrong about the skin on butternut squash! Bleurgh! 😂😂

I make a beef stifado which requires lots of small whole shallots. I used to spend ages sat there peeling the pesky skins off, crying at the same time. One day I googled "how to peel shallots easily" and found that by blanching them in boiling water the skins slide off in seconds. Can't believe it took me so long to find that out.

Cutting celery. Don't pull a stick off and chop it up. Just cut the end (like slicing bread) and get multiple pieces with one or two cuts.

I used to use fresh ginger and chillis (we have a lot of stir fries) but now I nearly always use the little jars of paste - mine come from Asda.
I still use fresh garlic though.

Two things I couldn’t believe I didn’t think of before:

A zester for getting the outer peel off lemons and oranges. I didn’t even know you could buy such a wondrous gadget and it was only £7. Before that I used to loathe using the box grater - admittedly not very often, but for e.g. proper lemon meringue pie, and pre Christmas, for mincemeat and puds.

The other - when measuring anything messy like soft butter or golden syrup, if you need say 100g, put the tin or tub on the scales, set them to 100g and then take out messy stuff until it’s back to zero.

I couldn’t believe how long it had taken me to work this out! (Decades, I’m fairly ancient.)

The other - when measuring anything messy like soft butter or golden syrup, if you need say 100g, put the tin or tub on the scales, set them to 100g and then take out messy stuff until it’s back to zero.

The other thing you can do @GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER is to weigh the dry ingredients first and then add the wet ingredients, so it sticks to that and not the tub. Ie, if you need 2 parts sugar to 1 part golden syrup, do the sugar first then pour the syrup on top of the sugar so it doesn’t touch the weighing bowl

One I picked up here and am forever grateful to the Mnetter that shared it.

I was always struggling making a white sauce. Someone said heat up your milk before adding it to the roux.

So I now heat up my milk in the microwave for 5 minutes, add it slowly to the roux (no need to have the hob on) and then after all the milk is added return it to the hob and gently heat again.

Honestly it's transformed my cheese sauce and I can have it made in a fraction of the time I used to. No lumps. No waste. No mess. No burnt pans.

Whoever you were - thank you!

Turmeric root, like ginger, can also be grated from frozen.

Even better - make your white sauce in the microwave! Milk, butter, flour in a jug lightly stirred together. Nuke for a minute then stir. Another minute then stir. From then on do 30 secs at a time until it’s thick.

I’ve taught my 8yo to do this as she loves cheesy pasta and cauliflower cheese so now she’s in charge of making the sauce if she wants it.

Snip herbs with scissors rather than trying to chop them.

@OldTinHat

I love butternut squash but loathe preparing the damn things so don't have it nearly as much as I'd like. I know you can get frozen squash but it has the skin on which I find unpleasant.

Anyway, imagine my delight discovering that if you cut off the top and bottom, score the skin and microwave it for at least 3m 30s, it's a doddle to peel. Why did I not know this 20 odd years and dozens of squash ago?!

What are your cooking hacks to make life easier that I should also have known years ago?

(Peeling ginger with a teaspoon is another duh one of mine that I discovered a few years back - thanks cooking programme!)

@OldTinHat even better, just roast it whole. When it's done you can scoop the squash out with an ice cream scoop. No need for chopping, peeling, scoring etc until it's cooked and soft.

@Pinkflask

Even better - make your white sauce in the microwave! Milk, butter, flour in a jug lightly stirred together. Nuke for a minute then stir. Another minute then stir. From then on do 30 secs at a time until it’s thick.

I’ve taught my 8yo to do this as she loves cheesy pasta and cauliflower cheese so now she’s in charge of making the sauce if she wants it.

Amazing tip!

If you are making a sponge cake and realise too late that you won't have enough eggs, one tablespoon of ordinary vinegar will work as an egg, up to 50 %. In other words, if your recipe needs four eggs, up to two can be replaced by two spoons of vinegar. Something I used a lot when I was making big traybakes for after school. but had to watch every penny. The sponge won't taste or smell of vinegar, honest.

Weigh eggs in their shells for cakes and then add the rest of the ingredients at the same weight as the eggs. It really works.

Frozen onions and frozen leeks. Love them, makes cooking so easy!

@liverpoolnana

If you are making a sponge cake and realise too late that you won't have enough eggs, one tablespoon of ordinary vinegar will work as an egg, up to 50 %. In other words, if your recipe needs four eggs, up to two can be replaced by two spoons of vinegar. Something I used a lot when I was making big traybakes for after school. but had to watch every penny. The sponge won't taste or smell of vinegar, honest.

That is so interesting.

Anything else as an egg substitute?

My friends son is allergic, but loves baking.

@billy1966

Not quite what you asked but if you save the liquid from chickpea tins, you can use it to make meringues.

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/vegan-meringues

The scissors and herbs is great ,I put herbs into a cup and snip away with scissors so much easier.

[quote MissMarplesGoddaughter]@billy1966

Not quite what you asked but if you save the liquid from chickpea tins, you can use it to make meringues.

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/vegan-meringues[/quote]
Will definitely pass those on, many thanks.

I bought myself a little kitchenaid chopper, absolutely love it.

I’m vegetarian and lots of veg prep required. This thing makes my life so much easier.

Should say I’ve got a full sized food processor but it lives in a cupboard and I can’t be arsed dragging it out. This little gem stays on the counter.

I cut the squash in half and roast it, then scoop the flesh out.

I grate the whole block of parmesan and put it in a container in the freezer. It doesn't stick together and you can use it straight from the freezer. Saves the block going manky as i don't use it up quickly enough.

Quite a few things can replace eggs in a recipe... see chart. Hth. 🙂