Your grandma’s kitchen may not have had fancy appliances, but it was full of wisdom. Some of the old-fashioned cooking tricks have stood the test of time and are still getting more flavor out of your food. Here are 12 forgotten cooking tricks that still deliver impressive results.
12. Use Lard for Flaky Pastry
Before vegetable shortening became a thing, lard was the secret to perfect pastry. This retro fat creates a crust that’s more crisp, flaky, and flavorful than modern alternatives. While it fell out of favor for health reasons, using it for an occasional bake yields a superior result that’s worth the indulgence.
11. Keep Milk Fresh Without a Fridge
Imagine your power is out. With this trick, you don’t have to worry about your milk spoiling. Just stand the milk bottle or jug in a bowl of cold water, then cover the container with a cloth, letting the ends of the cloth dangle into the water. The cloth wicks water up and while it evaporates, it cools the milk, keeping it fresh (until power is back).
10. Stop Unpleasant Cooking Odors with Bread
Cooking vegetables like cabbage, broccoli, or Brussels sprouts can fill your home with a not so pleasant sulfurous smell. The simple, forgotten solution is to place a crust of bread inside the pot before putting the lid on. The bread absorbs odor-causing compounds, preventing them from escaping into your kitchen. And no, this won’t affect the taste of the veggies.
9. Tenderize Tough Meat with a Vinegar Marinade
You don’t need fancy gadgets to make a tough cut of meat tender. An old-fashioned marinade of vinegar and beef broth would work well! Vinegar’s acidity breaks down the tough muscle fibers and connective tissues in the meat, resulting in a melt-in-your-mouth texture. Just marinate the meat overnight in a mixture of a half-cup of vinegar and one cup of beef broth.
8. Get Thicker Cookies by Chilling the Dough
If you’re tired of cookies that spread into thin, crispy wafers, you need this old-school baker’s trick. Chill your cookie dough before baking for a thicker, chewier result. The cold solidifies the butter, which means it melts more slowly in the oven, giving the cookies a chance to set before they spread too much.
7. Add Baking Soda for Eggs That Peel Easily
Peeling a hard-boiled egg can end up in a pockmarked, mangled mess. The secret to a clean peel is adding just a half-teaspoon of baking soda to your pot of boiling water. The baking soda raises the water’s alkaline level, which helps the membrane separate from the egg white. This simple step ensures your deviled eggs or salads look flawless.
6. Save Your Meat Drippings for a Boost of Flavor
Don’t throw out that flavorful fat left over from cooking bacon or roasting a chicken. It’s liquid gold that can be used to add a savory umami flavor to other dishes. Bacon grease can be used to caramelize onions, cook eggs, or replace butter in a pie crust for a savory twist. Don’t limit yourself to bacon; the drippings from any roasted meat can be reused.
5. Revive Hard Brown Sugar with a Slice of Bread
This is a common problem: you reach for your brown sugar only to find it has turned into a solid, unusable rock. The solution? Place a slice of fresh bread in an airtight container with the hardened sugar. The bread releases its moisture, which the sugar absorbs, returning it to its soft state. This trick takes a few hours, but it’s a hands-off way to revive your sugar.
4. Cook Pasta in Stock for a Flavor Upgrade
Why settle for plain, salted water when you can infuse your pasta with flavor? Cooking your pasta in chicken, beef, or vegetable stock is a transformative technique. As the pasta cooks, it absorbs the savory notes of the stock. Even better, the starches released from the pasta thicken the remaining stock, creating a delicious sauce with almost no extra effort.
3. Dust Bacon with Flour for Crispy Strips
Want to achieve that shatteringly crisp bacon every single time? Before you cook your bacon, give each strip a very light dusting of flour. The flour absorbs excess moisture and grease while the bacon cooks, which helps it to cook evenly and achieve crunch. This technique also helps prevent the bacon from curling up.
2. Use Sugar for Roasted Vegetables
Here’s a secret to making roasted vegetables delicious: add a little sugar. A light sprinkle of sugar before roasting enhances the vegetables’ natural sweetness and promotes caramelization. This works well for root vegetables like carrots and sweet potatoes, but you can experiment with different combinations.
1. Start Your Potatoes in Cold Water for the Best Texture
This forgotten trick can change the texture of potatoes in three different preparations. For mashed potatoes, starting them in cold water and bringing them to a boil ensures they cook evenly. This results in a fluffy, cloud-like texture. For baked potatoes, a quick dip in cold, salted water before they go in the oven leads to crispy skin and fluffy interior. For roasted potatoes, a 30-minute soak in a cold saltwater brine gives you a golden, crispy exterior and a soft inside.