I want your kitchen tricks I will share some of mine

[stopbeeping]

I am looking for tips for things you didn't do until recently that changed your cooking

Some of my faves atm are

II microwave small potatoes that I've hassle backed for about 10 mins then I put them into a baking tray with oil and seasoning of my choice, I paint them with a silicone brush it really gets in there it's changed our potato love in this house and then into oven for around 40 mins it's like having par boiled potato but less mess before roasting, can also squash them when cooked in microwave instead of cutting them into a hassle back

Also I make fajitas but now I put them into a baking dish put some salsa and cheese and herbs into them kind of in a taco shape with all the fillings into each one and then I put that in the oven for about 15 mins and it's so so much tastier then normal fajitas, also stops my kids from making such a mess!

Any tricks I can steal?

If you're doing a roast chicken, mash up some butter with herbs/garlic or some miso/ginger and stick it under the skin. Helps it baste better. Slosh some sherry in the pan with some water while it's cooking. And about the minutes before it's done, stick a cup of basmati rice and twoish of water round the bird and let it bake in the oven so it's all done together.

For a cheese sauce (e.g. for macaroni cheese) just put the butter, flour and milk all in the pan together at the same time and heat slowly whilst whisking. Add the cheese at the end and you’re done, without the need to melt the butter, then faff around adding flour then butter carefully. When I first tried it I was convinced it would be a lumpy mess, but it works every time.

I thought you put herbs etc in at the start of cooking, what is the point of adding them at the end? And potato ‘river’ is ‘ricer’, is that not obvious?

Mash I make en masse (potato/sweet potato/root veg), including any butter/milk. Freeze it in a food bag a nuke from frozen for 5 minutes.

I chop onions/ mushrooms/ stir-fry veg mix, en mass and freeze. Stir-fry from frozen or add to recipes. Yes you can buy pre chopped. But I also often get veg for free off olio. Same with cauliflower rice, carrot spaghetti, but that's just a few minutes in the microwave.

Use the slow cooker for everything. When batch cooking I have the next load ready to go. Dump one cooked recipe into a mixing bowl, rinse and in goes the next load. Run it 24hours a day for a weekend and I have 8 portions of 6-8 different meals. And as a single Pringle that's nearly 2 months of dinners. I do cacciatore, curry, Dahl, mash for with sausage, cottage pie (base and mash in separate loads)...

I also make protein porridge that just scoops into a cup and add boiling water. Basic oats, protein powder/meal replacement, sultanas and cinnamon/choc chips/dried cranberries, (add dried milk if you used a protein that would be mixed with milk). I mix up a couple of dry batches once a month of different flavours. Then just scoop it into a mug for breakfast.

A teaspoon of cocoa in any beef mince dishes makes it taste much beefier.

Put pepper on strawberries. It really brings out the flavour in them. More than you would ever imagine.

I'm baffled by the one that says to add dried herbs at the beginning of cooking rather than the end to "absorb misture during cooking".

Has anyone in the history of the world ever added dried herbs at the end of cooking?

@Theos why so rude?? & where is your groundbreaking contribution??

I'm a keen cook and haven't tried OP's suggestions, looking forward to these! Thanks @stopbeeping for this thread

agree with frozen mash - the pellets are brilliant for arranging on a Bolognese type mix for cottage pie, or making fish pie.

@AlisonDonut intrigued by this remoska cooker; never heard of them before.
I'd been thinking about getting an airfryer - so was disappointed to see a thread this morning where many didn't like/use them once purchased.

Agree. Suggestions don't have to be groundbreaking, just little things that people may never have heard of. I've picked up a couple of things on this thread I'm going to try.

Some of you sound like great cooks!

My hack is microwave onions until soft before frying.

I never make a roux for a sauce, I use plain flower in a water to make a watery smooth paste and whisk that into the milk. Add butter to sauce if you want but it's good for a reduced fat sauce when using reduced fat cheese.

Everything can be frozen (nearly)
My daughter has homous for lunch at school a few times a week. I freeze it in small pots. Take out if the freezer in the morning, defrosted by lunchtime.

Oh, I always cook fat more rice than needed - I don't know why but I hate cooking rice.
I rinse the remainder in cold water, drain well and into the freezer.

I have a remoska because years ago, our cooker broke and we didn't have enough to replace it. So I bought a large remoska and used the oven as storage.

I used it as a main oven for a good 2 years, until we could afford a new one.

I now don't even have a standard oven, I have the remoska after giving the large one away and buying a smaller one, I have an air fryer and I have a table top tiny oven. The air fryer is a different beast, it cooks everything much quicker whereas the Remoska cooks everything slower. I've done roasts in it, I've done pizzas in it, I've done cake in it. I use it mainly now for one pot mash ups, stews, pasta sauces, soups, many veg roasts, and mash!

The air fryer I use for chips, felafels, sausages etc, things that I like crispy.

@Bodybags do you add water in with it?

This one https://recipekeeperonline.com/

I do. About 2 cups full.

I make mashed potatoes from baked potatoes. I bake several kgs of potatoes and although some baked potatoes will be served for dinner, and others stuffed and frozen for other meals, the bulk of the potatoes will be mashed with a ricer (or similar) and frozen into portions (either for serving or for topping pies).

The potatoes are perfectly fluffy, never watery, and you add butter, salt etc. to your preference when mashing.

DS makes boiling hot porridge and adds frozen fruit to it - as the fruit defrosts it cools the porridge.

I try to make extra roast carrots, parsnips and potatoes so that there are leftovers that can be heated up with some stock (I just use an oxo cube) to make soup. Doesn’t always go to plan - DS can eat his own body weight in roast veg.

Love these tips. Microwave a whole swede pricking it first. Makes it much easier to chop once softened a bit. I was left it on a bit too long today and was able to mash it. Also I use tinned carrots if I want to do a quick cottage pie mince as we all know carrots take for ever.

My Mum is a Chef, and she always does this. Spag bol too. Bloody luuuuuuuuvly

Heaped teaspoon of coffee and slightly more of cocoa. About a third of a mug of hot water to dilute it.

I leave the oven door open after cooking as well, especially in the winter, to warm the kitchen up. We've only got one small radiator in there and it's not big enough to heat the room adequately, so the oven works a treat.

It's the salt. The secret to delicious food is always armfuls of butter and salt.

That's hardly necessary. It's certainly not polite.

I'm stealing the swede! Chopping for root mash is a nightmare. Thanks

Me too! DH loves mashed swede and i always dread cooking it! Top tip - thanks :-)