The holidays are coming up, which means your kitchen is going to be crowded and busy. So, here’s a few kitchen hacks to make cooking for a crowd a bit easier.
Organization
When cooking a major meal, you might lack counter space. To reduce the number of bags on the counter, you can put ingredients like flour and sugar into mason jars. This trick limits spillage and makes ingredients easier to pour. If you don’t have spare mason jars, try this alternative: when baking or cooking, measure out each ingredient and put them in parchment baking cups. This way, you’ll reduce clutter and you won’t have to rinse a measuring utensil to measure something else. Pantry space is also limited during the holidays. In a cinch, magazine racks make handy can holders, so you can save space by having all your canned goods in one place.
Preparation
When prepping for a meal, small tasks can be tedious. For example, peeling garlic can be a bit time-consuming, but if you smash the clove with a knife, the skin will come off more easily. When cooking, eggs are another tricky ingredient. You can make this process easier in a couple of different ways. Separating egg yolks from the egg whites can be hard, but wetting your hands, placing the egg in between your fingers and using your hands as a sifter makes separating the whites quicker and easier. After, you can grab the egg yolk with a plastic bottle. Another egg hack is checking if your egg is good or bad by placing it in a cup of water. Good eggs will sink, and the bad eggs will float.
You might also struggle with pitting avocados. However, just sticking a knife in the pit and tugging upwards removes the pit easily. In a similar vein, you can remove the stem of a strawberry by striking a straw through the middle. If you’d like to making homemade fries next holiday but don’t have a potato slicer, you can use an apple slicer for the same results.
Of course, preparing a turkey is elemental to any holiday party. If you’re running behind schedule, you might not have time to tie it up, but don’t panic. All you have to do is slit the excess skin on either side and pull the drumsticks through the slits.
Cooking
Bacon is one of the best things to happen to America, but it can be stressful to cook due to oil splattering. To keep the oil in the pan, just add a little water. Frying isn’t the only messy way to cook: when boiling anything, it can be hard to keep the water from boiling over the pot. Simply place a wooden spoon over the middle of your pot, and the water won’t boil over. Another tough kitchen task is removing fat. It can take a lot of time, but some sauces like gravy can be fattening enough to warrant the effort. One way to speedily skim the fat is to drag an ice cube over the surface. This will cool the fats, so they will solidify. The solid fat will rise to the surface and can easily be removed.
All in all, cooking can be stressful and time-consuming. Using these hacks will help ease the process.
