Kitchen Skills

Kitchen Hacks Make life easier with helpful tricks from prepping to preparing food

Even seasoned cooks can use some helpful kitchen hacks. And as people are staying home and cooking meals from scratch more often, every little bit of advice can help. For suggestions, we turned to someone who is an expert on the subject, author Anne Sheasby. In her newest book, “How to Dice an Onion,” Sheasby’s “hacks, tips and tricks for the home cook” are a fabulous guide to the kitchen and provide valuable insight for making every dish stand out as well as sharing little tricks for all things food related. Sheasby’s advice is helpful for both beginners and seasoned chefs to ensure the process of preparing your food is both exciting and simple, from how to store and prepare vegetables to how to spice up any soup or salad dressing. — Justine Szafran

15 AUTHOR FAVORITES Sheasby has selected some of her favorite tricks from her book to highlight how to make the most of your kitchen skills and add some zest to any meal.

AQUAFABA The liquid in a can of chickpeas (that we tend to drain off), is an ideal egg (white) substitute for vegans. It can be whisked until thick, glossy and white, and used to make things like meringues, pavlova, mousse, mayo and ice cream. Or it can be used to lighten or add moistness to baked goods such as brownies and muffins. AVOCADO Avocado flesh makes a great and healthy alternative to dairy foods in recipes such as smoothies or smoothie bowls, dressings, dips, mayo, salads and sandwiches. It can also be used to make tasty dairy-free chocolate avocado mousse/pots. BAKING When baking, use the wrappers from blocks of butter or hard margarine to grease cake and loaf pans. BREAD Use celery salt or garlic salt instead of regular table salt when making savory bread dough to add a subtle flavor to the baked loaf.

CAKE If you are dividing cake batter between two pans, it is important to divide the mixture evenly. Weigh the filled pans to check. CHERRIES Pit (stone) cherries inside a plastic bag to prevent the juice from splattering everywhere. COUSCOUS For added flavor, use good-quality stock (vegetable or chicken are ideal) instead of water to cook couscous or roasted buckwheat.

DRESSINGS For a richer-flavored salad dressing, use a nut oil instead of regular olive or sunflower oil. EXCITING ICE Make ice cubes from different colored fruit juices, then pop into children’s party drinks for extra appeal. GINGER Try using a metal spoon to scrape the skin off of fresh ginger. To preserve freshness, you can freeze ginger to be grated later. HOT PANS Sturdy kitchen tiles make good trivets for hot pans. Glue a piece of felt or cork on the back to prevent the tile from scratching your work surface. MUSHROOMS An egg slicer is a quick and easy way to slice small mushrooms (one at a time) or small cooked beets into thin, even slices. PIZZA If you don’t have a pizza cutter, cut a baked pizza into slices with clean kitchen scissors.

STOCK To remove fat from the surface of stock, pour the stock into a pitcher and add a few ice cubes. When the fat has set around the ice, lift it off and discard.

TRUFFLES To shape chocolate truffle mixture into balls, use a melon baller dipped in hot water. Alternatively, coat your hands lightly with vegetable oil and roll the mixture between your palms.

BONUS AUTHOR HACKS Sheasby has also generously given us some exclusive cooking tips that aren’t included in the book. Below, find some ways to make sure cooking and baking are both simple and delicious.

CHOCOLATE To prevent chocolate from melting in your hands, break a bar of chocolate into pieces while it’s still within its wrapper, then unwrap and tip it out into a bowl, pan or mixture. CUPCAKES A simple way to give frosted cupcakes a decorative finish is to lightly coat the edges with sugar sprinkles, grated chocolate or finely chopped, toasted nuts. Spread your chosen coating on a flat plate, then hold a cupcake by its base and gently roll the raised frosted edge in the coating, and shake off any excess. LEFTOVER BAKED GOODS Use leftover baked cinnamon buns, brioche or croissants, broken or sliced into pieces or chunks, to make a luxury bread and butter pudding. PARMESAN Finely grate a chunk of fresh Parmesan cheese and store in a sealed plastic bag in the fridge or freezer (it will stay crumbly and won’t clog or stick together), then spoon it out as required straight from the bag (no need to defrost it first, if frozen). PESTO Combine a spoonful or two of pesto with a splash of olive oil, a little finely grated lemon or lime zest and a handful or so of fresh breadcrumbs, then spread this mixture over the top of white fish fillets before baking them to add a lovely, tasty crust to the fish. PIZZA CRUST Buy ready-made or make your own individual pizza bases, then freeze until required, for handy pizza bases whenever you need them. SHORTBREAD Add a little finely grated lemon or orange zest, or a little freshly grated nutmeg and ground cinnamon to a basic shortbread mixture before shaping and baking to spice up the flavor a little.

EDITORS’ PICKS

Some tricks in the book that stood out to us are useful for adding exciting flavor, keeping vegetables fresh, and preparing produce as efficiently as possible. BAKING POWDER To test the freshness of baking powder, mix 2 teaspoons with 1 cup hot tap water. If there is an immediate fizzing and foaming reaction, the baking powder can be used. If there is little or no reaction or a delayed reaction, discard the baking powder. MUSHROOMS An easy and effective way to clean mushrooms is to brush over them with a clean, soft toothbrush. PASTA Do not rinse cooked pasta after draining unless it is being used in a cold dish, as rinsing will wash away the natural sticky starches that help the sauce cling to the pasta. If you are having hot pasta, drain it and serve immediately with the sauce. If serving pasta cold (such as in a salad), rinse it under cold running water to stop the cooking process and drain it well, then toss with olive oil or salad dressing to keep the pieces separate. PICKLING If you are preparing small onions for pickling, put them in a bowl of boiling water and let sit for several minutes.

RIPENING To ripen an avocado or fruit such as a hard nectarine or peach, put it in a brown paper bag with a banana and keep at room temperature—ethylene released from the banana will hasten the ripening process. SOUP Add a few teaspoons of pesto into hot vegetable soup before serving to add a lovely fresh flavor. VEGAN HACK Jackfruit provides a versatile “meaty” alternative (similar to a pulled-pork texture) for vegans and vegetarians. Easy to use, ready-prepped jackfruit is widely available in cans or packs (frozen and ready-prepped fresh are sometimes available, too). VEGETABLE FRESHNESS Keep celery and scallions (spring onions) fresh by standing them upright with the root ends in a pitcher or glass of cold water.

EDITOR’S PICKS EXCERPTED FROM “HOW TO DICE AN ONION” BY ANNE SHEASBY ©2020 REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF DOG ‘N’ BONE BOOKS, AN IMPRINT OF RYLAND PETERS & SMALL.