6 Kitchen Tips Every Cook Can Use

Regardless of how experienced or inexperienced a cook you may be, there are certain kitchen tips that just make life a little easier. How to make jars easy to open and keep metal baking pans from rusting are common kitchen nuisances that everyone needs the answer too. Here are those two answered, plus four more kitchen tips that will help keep a smile on your face and something in the oven.

Easy Open Jars

Stop struggling with the lids on glass jars with this tip – After opening a jar of jelly, pickles or some other food item that may not be used again for awhile, before putting the lid back on the jar apply a thin layer of cooking oil around the jar threads. The cooking oil will provide enough lubrication to prevent the lid from sticking to the jar and it will be easy to open next time.

Prevent Pans from Rusting

Bundt pans, muffins tins and tart pans have a tendency to rust, but you can keep the rust away with this kitchen trick- After washing and drying, place the metal pan in a warm oven for a few minutes. This will cause all the moisture from the pan’s intricate designs and seams to evaporate so the metal can’t rust.

Cream Cold Butter and Sugar Instantly

We know the butter is supposed to be at room temperature so it will cream perfectly when mixed with sugar, but sometimes we forget to take the butter out of the refrigerator ahead of time. Don’t place the butter in the microwave to correct your oversight, place the sugar in the microwave and heat for one minute. The warm sugar granules will soften the butter and allow the two to cream together perfectly.

Perfect Cooked Rice

Prevent your rice from over-cooking or burning with a piece of aluminum foil. Create a ring of aluminum foil the same size of the metal ring around your stove burner. Make the ring thick enough to prevent the bottom of the rice pot from coming into direct contact with the stove burner. Make the aluminum foil ring the same thickness all the way around and let the rice pot rest on it during the entire cooking time.

Potato Gratin Tip

Homemade potato gratin recipes call for the potato slices to be soaked in water before cooking to prevent them from browning. But that makes the recipe turn out watery and lacking flavor. Soak the potato slices in the broth you will use in the gratin recipe instead of water. The potatoes won’t turn brown and starch from the potatoes will help thicken the gratin sauce.

Skim Milk Béchamel

Don’t buy whole milk just to make a béchamel sauce, skim milk works fine. Just add one extra teaspoon of flour per for each cup of skim milk used in the recipe to ensure the béchamel thickens. This trick works for any sauce that includes milk and flour.