We want our salad greens to be freshly washed, but we also don’t want them to be wet. Most people use a salad spinner to dry their greens after washing, but if you don’t have one you can get the same effect by putting your wet lettuce into a clean pillowcase and spinning it around like a centrifuge. More »
Lots of people these days avoid dairy and instead reach for alternatives to milk. We’ve covered making your own soy milk and almond milk in the past; if you prefer rice milk you can make your own by blending rice, water and a sweetener. More »
Vanilla bean seeds are useful for many recipes, but can be a pain to remove. An easy trick if you don’t need them in a hurry is to cut off the ends and soak them in rum for a couple of weeks. More »
Take advantage of your oven and make your kitchen smell wonderful by baking apple cores, banana peels or other fruit discards at a low temperature. More »
Along with Christmas meals comes Christmas baking, and whether it’s slightly singed bottoms or crunchy biscuits that are supposed to be chewy, this guide from Test Kitchen can help you get out of serving up bad baked goods. More »
Dry chicken and overcooked steaks don’t have to be a staple of your Christmas dinners or homemade meals. Sous-vide is a cooking method that uses immersion in hot water to cook food over long periods, low and slow, resulting in some of the most succulent and tender meat you’ve ever tasted and an easy, hands-off cooking process that anyone can do. More »
Part of the fun of the Christmas season is baking cookies in all shapes and sizes. If you don’t have the cookie shapes you want, making your own custom cookie cutters is easy: all you need is a printout of your shape and a cheap foil pan. More »
Need to thaw some frozen meat? Tips and tricks blog Lifehackery recommends pouring a cup or so of vinegar on the frozen flesh. The vinegar will lower the freezing temperature of the meat so it will begin to thaw more quickly, and the acid in the vinegar will break down connective tissues, making the meat more tender. More »
Instead of microwaving your leftover cold pizza to make soggy hot pizza, try this: reheat the pizza slices in a large skillet on medium heat for 4-5 minutes, adding a domed lid for the pizza made with aluminium foil to help reflect heat back to the toppings without trapping steam inside. More »
Heavy frying pans are designed to conduct heat efficiently when cooking food, and you can also use these same pans to quickly defrost frozen foods. Line a heavy frying pan with aluminium foil, place your food in the pan, and place the pan on your stove top or an oven rack (turned off, of course) to facilitate defrosting. More »
