Cooking can take a long time, and it can be such a pain after a long day. That is probably why so many of us rely on takeaways and ready meals, even though we know they’re not that great for us.
Being able to speed up cooking times can seem like a pipe dream. After all, if there was something you could be doing faster, you would be doing it, right? Well, it turns out that there are a lot of things you can do to speed up your cooking, from chopping like a pro to peeling an egg in two seconds. Read on to find out more.
1. Learn how to chop.
Learning how to chop things properly will take a little getting used to, but once you’re comfortable with it, you can chop as quickly as chefs on television. This is really all about how you grip the food you are chopping and how sharp your knife blade is.
First, sharpen your knife. It will be safer to use if it is as sharp as possible, as it will work with you to cut through the veg.
Now, look at how you grip the food you chop. You should make a claw with your non-chopping hand, so that the middle finger sticks out. The first knuckle of the middle finger should be the knife blade’s guide, and if it is always placed on the side of the blade, you won’t be able to cut yourself. Your index finger should be placed on one side of the food, and the ring and pinkie fingers should be on the other side. These fingers will stabilise the food, so it doesn’t go slipping all over the place. Finally, your thumb will push the food forward from the back.
Leave the tip of the knife on the cutting board when you chop. Hold the food with the claw grip, and slide it forward a bit. Lift the knife high enough for the food to sit underneath it, but low enough that your knuckle can still guide it. Bring the knife down like a paper cutter, rocking it on the tip. Move the food forward a bit, and repeat.
When you practice this enough, you’ll be able to speed up your chopping significantly.
2. Keep the right veg out of the fridge.
Not all vegetables need to be kept in the fridge, and often keeping them cold can make them go bad faster. From a cooking perspective, however, keeping your veg at a warmer temperature means it won’t cool down the pan, boiling water or whatever else you’re cooking the veg in as much, and it won’t take the veg as long to get up to the proper temperature. This can save some valuable minutes.
Generally, root vegetables and squashes can be left in cool, dry places, and fruit that aren’t berries can be stored on the countertop. Just about everything else can be – but don’t necessarily have to be – stored in the fridge. Do a little bit of research if you want to be really sure.
3. Peel potatoes and tomatoes faster.
Peeling tomatoes and potatoes can be a real hassle if you only use a peeler, but there is a faster way. To peel a tomato, boil it whole for a few seconds, then dip it into a bowl filled with ice water. The skin should just slip straight off.
You can do the same to a potato, but you will have to boil it for longer as it will need to be cooked through. Still, if you were going to boil it anyway, this is a great method for peeling.
4. Cover up your pots and pans to keep heat in.
This tip acts like putting a little hat on your pot or pan. This will speed up the time it takes for water to boil and the time it takes for your food to get back up to temperature when you add in something cooler.
You won’t want to leave the lid on everything the entire time you cook, though, as it also traps steam, which can ruin crispy textures and lead to overcooking. Just use it to bring things up to temperature, unless otherwise called for in the recipe.
5. Cut boiled eggs in half to peel them quickly.
If you are boiling eggs for egg salad, devilled eggs or other recipes that call for sliced or chopped boiled eggs, you can save a lot of time by boiling the eggs as usual and then cutting them in half before peeling them. Once they’ve been cut in half, you need only scoop them out with a spoon or slide them out with your finger, saving lots of time.
6. Get the seeds out of a pomegranate by whacking it with a spoon.
Pomegranates are delicious, but they are also fiddly. That means we don’t eat them as much as we might like to. Luckily, the internet has discovered a fast, easy way to get all the seeds out.
Start by scoring the skin of the pomegranate with a knife. Go around the entire circumference of the fruit. Gently pull apart the fruit so that you have two halves. Take one half, and stretch the sides of the skin to loosen up the seeds a bit. Turn it over in your hand, so that the seeds are almost touching your palm. Put the pomegranate half over a bowl, and grab a wooden spoon. Whack the bottom of the pomegranate, turning it every so often, and let the seeds fall into your palm and flow over into the bowl. Do the same with the other half.
You will end up with a few inedible bits in there, but you can just run water into the bowl, let those bits float to the top, pick them out and enjoy your pomegranate seeds in less than two minutes.
7. Make your own spice mixes ahead of time.
We all have stock recipes in our cooking repertoire, ones we know our families love. Instead of adding herbs and spices one at a time when you are cooking, assemble little bags of herbs and spices. Each bag should have enough of the mix for one recipe, so all you have to do is dump it all in at one time and keep going.
8. Peel loads of garlic in seconds.
If you need to peel a lot of garlic, simply grab two big bowls. Crush the garlic while it’s still in its skin, just as you normally would. Then pop the garlic into one of the bowls. When all the garlic is in the bowl, top it with the other bowl. Shake it all up for a few seconds, and you should have completely peeled garlic cloves. Just pick them out and use them as you need to.
9. Use chopped frozen vegetables.
You probably have some standard, go-to vegetables that you always add to recipes, and chopping up as much as you need each time you cook can take a lot of time. You can save time by buying chopped frozen veg at the shops, or you can chop your veg beforehand and freeze it yourself. You can also store pre-chopped veg in the fridge for up to 24 hours, if you have time one day but not the next. Just pop the chopped veg into an airtight container with a damp paper towel, and just use it when you need it.
10. Cook in large batches when you do have time.
This doesn’t save time in the long run, but it does shift the bulk of the work to a time when you aren’t so rushed off your feet. At the weekend or on some not-so-busy night, cook large batches of food, and freeze the extra. Let the food cool down, then pack it into airtight containers. Label it with a description of the food and when it was made, so you know what’s in there and when it needs to be eaten. That way, when you are really busy, you can still have a homemade meal in the time it takes to defrost and reheat your food.
You should be able to speed up your cooking using these tips, but what are your best shortcuts to speed up your cooking?
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