14 Priceless Tricks That Can Help You Cook Like a Pro

Do you dream of cooking pizza with a crispy crust and what you actually get is uncooked dough and melted cheese? Do you follow a recipe when making muffins and they still don’t look like they should? Don’t get disappointed, because these things can easily be fixed. All you have to do is use the tips from experienced chefs that will help you to improve your cooking a lot. And you don’t need to spend any money on any special appliances.

Bright Side has found 14 tricks that can really make you the greatest chef in the world.

1. Make pizza quickly.

In order to cook pizza with a crispy crust, you should follow one simple rule: the temperature should be as high as your oven can maintain. Heat the oven for about 30 minutes and bake your pizza for 5-10 minutes depending on the temperature.

2. Fry rice.

The round rice is hard to cook without making it sticky: it ends up looking a lot like porridge after cooking. So, try frying it just a little bit with oil and a little bit of butter. As soon as the rice stops looking transparent, add a little water to cover the rice and boil for 15-20 minutes.

3. Bake chicken correctly.

Chicken breasts cook faster than the legs, so in order for the chicken to be evenly cooked, you can use one of these 2 tips: put some ice on the breasts 30 minutes before cooking or put the chicken in the oven with its back up and 50 minutes later, turn it and continue cooking. Also, don’t forget to soak the skin beforehand with a wet towel: this will make it way tastier.

4. Make tough meat tasty.

Sous-vide technology allows us to cook meat that retains its juiciness, but the equipment costs a lot of money. You can replace this expensive appliance by using regular plastic wrap. You will also need a big pan and a thermometer. Put some oil and any spices you want on the meat, wrap the meat in several layers of plastic wrap and put it in hot water at about 160°F.

It will take about 2 hours for an average piece of meat to be cooked — just make sure that the temperature doesn’t get higher than 160°F. After that, let the meat rest for 15-20 minutes, remove the film and quickly fry in a pan. You can cook any meat this way.

5. Peel carrots before boiling them.

If you want carrots to preserve their color during boiling, you should peel them before cooking them. It sounds counterintuitive, but this way, the color won’t fade.

6. Don’t stop eating mayo.

Everybody knows that mayo is not the best choice for people who want to stay in good shape. However, there is a way to make it lighter: all you need to do is replace the eggs with regular milk. Take your favorite recipe for homemade mayo and add milk instead of eggs — the amount of milk should be 2 times less than the amount of butter. This way, the sauce will be just as tasty and also healthier.

7. Use cold butter for crunchy crust and warm butter for baked goods.

Butter is the secret to tasty baked goods. And in order to improve the taste of your favorite pastries there is one simple rule you should follow: if you want crunchy crust, you need to use frozen butter and if you want softer, fluffier crust, the butter should be warm.

8. The rules of a tasty broth

As you probably know, salt “draws out” the taste of meat. So, in order to make the broth as tasty as possible (no matter what kind of meat you are cooking — chicken, pork, or beef), add the salt only at the beginning of cooking when the water starts to boil. And don’t forget about this simple rule: the broth will be tasty if you put the meat and vegetables in cold water at the beginning.

9. Make mashed potatoes using different kinds of potatoes.

The more starch there is in potatoes, the tastier mashed potatoes are. However, some potatoes lack starch and some lack taste. So, in order to make the taste way better, mix different kinds of potatoes to get the ideal combo.

10. White meat can be juicy.

If you are going to cook white meat, don’t cut it off the bone. It doesn’t matter if you are going to boil, fry, or bake the meat. It will be juicier and the cooking will be more even if you keep the bone. Even if you are not going to eat the skin, just wait and remove it after cooking. It also makes the meat juicier and tastier.

11. Add bread crumbs to meatballs.

Meatballs will keep their shape much better if you add breadcrumbs to the ground meat. And in order to make the taste even better, fry the crumbs with onion mixed with some oil and butter.

12. Add ice to meatballs.

Ice is the best way to make meatballs juicy and light. Take 8-10 cubes of ice from a container, put them in a plastic bag, use a hammer to crush them, and add them to the ground meat. Then make your meatballs and cook them in a frying pan.

13. Use an old ketchup bottle to make cool pancake designs.

Instead of the usual mess when making pancakes, you can just repurpose an old ketchup bottle and draw the shapes you want.

14. Cook perfect rice.

There is a secret weapon that helps cook rice perfectly so that you can see every single individual grain. This is the kind of rice they serve in restaurants. All you have to do is catch the moment when the water dips under the surface of the rice as it’s boiling, put a kitchen towel over the pot (be careful not to set it on fire), and put the lid on the towel. The towel will absorb the condensation, so the water won’t just drop back down on the rice from the lid.

Which of these life hacks do you think you will use?