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Chefs Break Down The Best Cooking 'Hacks' Everyone Should Know
With this in mind, when people do find themselves forced into the kitchen to prepare a meal, they often look for all the advice they can possibly get.
Advice many professional chefs are more than happy to provide.
Redditor polloastemiou was eager to hear all the cooking advice professional chefs had to offer, leading them to ask:
"Chefs of Reddit, what's a cooking hack everybody should know?"
A Clean Kitchen Is A Happy Kitchen
"Clean as you go."
"Not really about cooking, but it's way easier to clean everything immediately than to let it set in."
"It drives me nuts when I see people just throw sh*t in the sink expecting it to clean itself."- neverbeendead
Like Oil And Vinegar
"Don't f*ck your coworkers."
"Get quality olive oil."- friendly-skelly
Everything Could Use A Little Zest...
"Use lemon juice (or any appropriate acid, such as vinegar) as a seasoning just like salt & pepper."- Hessquire
Lemon Juice 80S GIF Giphy
Plan Ahead...
"Everything takes approximately twice as long as any recipe says it will take."
"Especially if you're making it for the first time."- neverbeendead
Just Watch Your Fingers
"Make sure your knives are sharp."
"It will make EVERYTHING you do easier."- aatkey
Strike That, Reverse It!
"Scrape food with the back of knife not the cutting edge."- Black03Z
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Hygiene People!
" Wash your hands well and frequently."- Human_Melville
Preparation Is Key
"Prep your ingredients before you start active cooking."- Direct-Chef-9428
Ice Ice Baby!
"Freeze your fresh ginger and then grate as needed."- ricobandito
Give Thanks Eating GIF by I Heart Guts Giphy
Non Stick!
"Parchment paper for baking."- walmartbonerpills
Multi-Purpose
"A meat thermometer really makes cooking a lot easier and works for things beyond meat."
"I temp potatoes all the time to make sure they're fully cooked but not over cooked and gummy."
"To reach safe internal temps or target temps on various meats you can generally pull things off 10 degrees f early and let the meat rest."
"A steak will rise from 125f to 135f internal temp while you let it rest."
"The hotter exterior will continue to cook the interior."- IDontStandForCurls
We Learn From Our Mistakes
"Accepting that the only way you get better is trying something you may fail at."
"Don't be a coward."
"F*ck up the sides of your knife on a whetstone learning to sharpen."
"You'll learn how to properly care for a knife so when you get a decent one it will stay nice."
"Burn some sh*t."
"You'll learn how not to burn sh*t."
"Be creative and make some disgusting food."
"You'll learn how flavors interact so you can make something decent."
"So again, don't be a coward."
"You'll learn more from a failure than you think."- mehtorite
Gordon Ramsay Fox GIF by HULU Giphy
The Kitchen Is Not A Place For Surprises
"Not really a hack but if there’s more than one person in the kitchen, announce yourself before going behind anyone so they don’t back into your knife or scalding hot pot."- DriedUpSquid
Splish Splash!
"Don't be afraid to add splashes of water to your cooking food when the pan looks sticky/dry."- jenny_a_jenny_a
It's A Science
"Pro baker here."
"This is for baking, but a lot of the same logic works for cooking, though it's true that you can have a bit more leeway with cooking."
"Baking is science."
"It's formulaic and ratios."
"Cooking is art, but it still requires proper technique."
"Get a scale."
"Weigh everything."
"Filling cups by volume is very different than filling cups by weight."
"You are going to put too much flour in that recipe."
"Cake flour is 4 oz a cup, all purpose is 4.5 oz per cup."
"Please don't use corn starch to lower the protein in your AP flour if you bake regularly; just buy some cake flour."
"When you sub cornstarch, you are not only removing some of the protein in AP flour, you are removing everything that give structure to your baked goods."
"It's okay in a pinch, for one-off if you never bake and will never use the cake flour again, but please, if you're doing it regularly, ESPECIALLY if you are selling baked goods, buy some frigging cake flour and a scale."
"Lemon juice in milk works for buttermilk but it's not ideal."
"The lactic acid in buttermilk softens the proteins in flour, giving you a heavenly crumb to your cake."
"Again, if you are doing one-off, yes."
"Often or selling, no."
"Set a timer."
"You are going to forget those cookies in the oven."
"I saved countless batches of cookies and layers of cakes at my old job because my boss would put stuff in the oven and not set a timer."
"By the time he'd remember, the items were already out and cooled."
"The days I was off, he ended up with a lot of cheesecake crust crumbs because he'd burn the cookies and salvage the product by running them through the Robot Coupe to use as crusts or streusel-ish topping."
"Don't mess with a recipe until you know it, and if you do, don't blame the recipe for your product not turning out properly."
"I got tired of mentoring in groups because I'd post a no-fail-if-followed recipe and someone would change a thing then blame my recipe."
"No. Do it like I posted, I've used it and sold for years off that recipe."
"I know you added the rest of the egg or too much flour."- SnackBottom
baking ann b. davis GIF by HULU Giphy
Maybe after reading these tips, some of us might be a little less afraid of cooking.
Unless, of course, the only thing they like less than cooking is cleaning.
Remote Worker Speaks Out After Job Uses 'Dystopian' Software To Track His Productivity
But no matter what his preferred working style was, TikToker Tim Lee felt pressured by his company to really stay focused, because the remote worker discovered that his company was tracking his work productivity and time management.
This wasn't through a clock-in app or time management sheet, either. The program that he had to log into for work automatically would take a screenshot of everything that was on his screen every 10 minutes.
This allowed the company not only to freely see what an employee had up on their screen at any given time, but it would allow them to monitor how long it was taking an employee to complete a task by comparing one screenshot to the next.
You can watch the video here:
Some were alarmed by the video and demanded that Lee call out the company.
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Others agreed and found this to be an extremely toxic form of micromanaging.
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While clocking in and even using time management apps has been a common feature of many workplaces—and particularly workplaces with remote options—for a long time, taking screenshots of an employee's workspace is new and most certainly feels invasive, if not dystopian as well.
This might just be a very extreme case of micromanaging and toxicity in the workplace, which employees may need to push back on at some point to preserve their sense of privacy and identity within their chosen workspaces.
Texas Mechanic Speaks Out After Noticing How The Price Of Services Skyrocketed Within The Past Year
In a viral video, the mechanic starts off in the back of the shop, offering a sneak peak into some of the spare items stored back there. There's a billboard with prices on it that had been flipped inside-out to reuse. On the underside, the price for an original change just a year ago was $39.95.
The board had then been flipped to the other side so new price of $59.95 could be displayed instead.
Then that billboard was abandoned in the back room and replaced with a new one, because the price had been increased again to $69.95.
Then, just a week after taking those video clips, the TikToker received a mailer which showed the prices at $79.95, nearly $80 for just a basic oil changes. Literally double what they had been less than a year ago. Upgrades were priced at $90 and $120, which he said are "competitive" with other mechanic prices in the area.
What was alarming to TikToker @skylr.m wasn't just the price leap, but the fact that the prices were not reflected in the costs of the items that were being provided to the customers, or in the cost of labor for his employees. More money was being demanded of the customer, but the shop itself and its employees were not seeing pay raises.
You can watch the video here:
Some TikTokers were disgusted by how the prices were going up.
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Others were certain they knew who was to blame for these price increases.
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Some were also grateful to the TikToker for raising awareness.
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It might seem counterintuitive for a mechanic to point out questionable pricing structures in the industry in which he works, but that actually speaks volumes to how terrible it's gotten if a mechanic feels the need to speak up about it and voice concern over it.
There's no telling how much worse it will get before it gets better, but it's important that we keep talking about it and hold accountable those who have the power to make a difference.