Cleaning

Wash hands before and during cooking (especially after touching raw meat and poultry). The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends at least 20 seconds to sing “Happy Birthday.”

After Kneading Sticky Dough:

1. Standing over the sink, “wash” your hands with a handful of flour or cornmeal instead of soap and water.
2. Rinse your hands with cold water (hot water causes the dough starches to gelatinize; more scrubbing!

Working with strong-smelling ingredients like onions, garlic, or fish has many cooks reaching for the standard lemon juice to wash away any lingering odors from their hands. But sometimes the smell’s more potent than the lemon. Try handwashing with a couple of tablespoons of mouthwash (any brand) instead.

For chemical-free and safer kitchen countertop cleaning, use a spray bottle filled with equal parts white vinegar and water.

Save those plastic shopping produce bags and use them to clean up kitchen scraps. You can spread a bag on the counter next to your cutting board or in one half of the sink and sweep the scraps onto as you prep. When you’re done just gather up the bag and throw it away. These plastic bags can also be used to throw away garbage in general.

You don’t need to rinse raw meat and poultry (it’s more likely to spread contaminants around the sink and possibly on any nearby food).

Ever try to open a new bag of flour without the cloud of white dust that pops up and goes down on the counter? To remedy this, try slapping the top of the bag a few times before opening it to settle the flour so that it stays inside.

To prevent splashes when pouring tomato sauce, soup, or stew from a pot or pan into a storage container, place the backside of a large wooden or metal spoon under the pouring streams to deflect the liquid into the container.

Forgot to cover a dish while microwaving? To clean out the splatters, just place a microwaveable bowl full of water in the oven and heat it on high for 10 minutes. The steam loosens dried food particles.

Organizing

An empty facial tissue box can store many bags and one at a time can be easily removed.

To loosen cakes or muffins from nonstick pans, use a plastic “takeout” knife (instead of a metal one that can scratch the nonstick surface).

Food Prep

To separate those packaged bacon strips:

1. Roll the package lengthwise into a cylinder, then flatten it out again.
2. Open the package and remove the desired number of strips, which are now less tightly packed.

Don’t have a vertical roaster? A 16-oz. beer can is a good substitute, but prefer a non-alcoholic one? Get your Bundt pan instead. Once the chicken’s been seasoned, slide it onto the center post of the pan, legs facing down, so the chicken stands upright.

The Basics

Stubborn jar lid? Get an old computer mouse pad. The rubber bottom creates a good grip.

A thin metal spoon is also a good option. Use the spoon as a lever and slide its tip between the lid and the jar-avoid the lid’s notches. Gently press down on the handle until the seal releases, or “burps.”

mise en place-Preparing and measuring the ingredients for a dish before you begin to cook. In other words, “food prep!”

Here’s a shortcut for cutting even slices of homemade bread for sandwiches: Let the loaf cool on its side on an oven rack. The rack’s bars will leave subtle vertical indentations that act as a template for evenly spaced slices.

When making the cross-hatch (is that what they call it?) on the tops of peanut butter cookies, most folks use a fork, which involves a two-step process. To cut the time in half, mark the cookies in one swipe with a perforated potato masher.

Mini muffin tins are usually fitted with a rim that is too tiny to hold with bulky oven mitts. Avoid this struggle by leaving one corner cup empty when you fill the tin. Now you have a place to insert your thumb, allowing you to remove the tin without getting burned or squishing any of the muffins.

Hold on to that jar of pickle juice after finishing the last pickle. You can add thin-sliced onions, bell pepper strips, diced or sliced tomatoes, or a combo to the juice, then marinate in the fridge for a few days. The new mixture can be used as a topping for hot dogs, burgers, or salads. Pickle juice can also be used for drinking “as is.”

The best way to keep a pound cake moist is to cut slices from the middle of the cake, not the end. The cake can then be sandwiched back together and wrapped in plastic wrap. With the cut sides insulated this way, the cake stays moist longer.

To add bacon flavor to anything without having to fry a slice of bacon every time you need it, save some leftover bacon drippings. You can pour the drippings into a bowl or container and refrigerate. Or once solid, the drippings can be scooped into teaspoon portions, and frozen (stored in a zipper-lock bag or something similar).

Source: “Cook’s Illustrated Kitchen Hacks: How Clever Cooks Get Things Done” by the editors of America’s Test Kitchen, 2015