Kitchen Hacks: How Clever Cooks Get Things Done

by Cook's Illustrated (Editor)

Innovative solutions to everyday cooking challenges—from maximizing minimal counter space to preparing delicious meals without special appliances—from the Cook’s Illustrated team of test kitchen MacGyvers The test cooks of Cook's Illustrated have hacked their way through the kitchen—and beyond—to find innovative solutions to everyday cooking challenges. A kitchen hack is an unusual, easier, and/or better way of performing a task that often saves money and time or improves the quality of the outcome. Kitchen Hacks features over 1,000 of Cook’s Illustrated’s test kitchen-approved tips and tricks to help you face down kitchen conundrums, such • Need extra counter space? Place a baking sheet on top of a pulled-out kitchen drawer. • No rolling pin to be found? Pull out a bottle of wine to flatten your pie dough. • Can’t get that sticky jar open? Fit a rubber band around the lid for a helpful grip. Throughout, you'll find fun and helpful illustrations that guide you every step of the way. Additionally, you’ll find 22 “How Did They Do That?” recipes, which include hacks like how to make the perfect vanilla ice cream without a machine, how to whip up a DIY eggless mayonnaise in no time—and much more. Become a more efficient and inventive cook and take your skills to the next level with our kitchen hacks—and have fun while doing it.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Nonfiction, Food, Reference, Foodie, Self Help

330 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 10, 2015

Reviews

[Cyndi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book with tips on how to make cooking easier and more efficient. Instead of clawing through mountains of cook book magazines to find that one tip you read six years ago on how to _____
(fill in the blank) You can just access it in this clever compilation. This book would be a perfect gift for a new cook.

[Lorraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This handy little book gives all kinds of ways to approach a task in the kitchen. If someone does not have a specific tool to complete a task in a certain recipe, Kitchen Hacks by Ameria's Test Kitchen most probable will have another way to approach the problem with what is on hand. This book is quite clever. All of us who cook have attempted to complete a task with only what we have in the kitchen when the tool we truly need, we do not have. I agree with the second part of the title - How Clever Cooks Get Things Done. These shortcuts are sure to help those in the kitchen!

[Jed Sorokin-Altmann · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great ideas within, but badly organized. It feels like someone compiled a long list of buzzfeed or Tumblr posts into a book with no transitions between anything.

[Laurla2]

-when something in the cupboard is just up out of your reach, use your tongs to extend your reach and grab it.
-a pineapple is ripe when you can pull a leaf out with a little effort. it the leaf wont pull out, its not ripe. if it pulls out too easy, it may be overripe.
-when you get a tiny piece of eggshell in your bowl with the egg, use the remaining shell to scoop it out. the shell acts as a magnet attracting the little piece instead of chasing it around and around like your fingers do.
-when whatever you're grating is down to a little nub, stick a fork in it and use the fork to keep grating the nub, saving your fingertips from being grated.
-when needing to slice meat thin, put the meat in the freezer for 20 minutes. it firms the meat up enough to slice it easier.
-as a reminder when you need to reserve some of the pasta or potato water, place your measuring cup inside the colander. then when you go to dump the pasta, you see the measuring cup and remember to save that liquid.
-when peeling small potatoes, stick your wine corkscrew into them and use that as a handle to get a better grip.
-when slicing, use a corn cob holder to poke vertically into the end of the vegetable to be able to slice right up to the end without worrying about fingertips.
-to speed dough rising, heat a microwavable neck wrap for 1-2 minutes, then wrap around the dough bowl.
-watermelon ice cubes, freeze diced watermelon to put in glasses of lemonade in summer instead of ice cubes.
-to get enough crispy tops to your stuffing for everyone, bake individual portions in muffin tins.

[Heydi Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, Cook's Illustrated does it again. What fantastic advice on just about everything to do with the kitchen, cooking and food storage. Loved the info.

My criticism would be the font size - it is very small. Also, the book is bound in such a way that it is hard to fully open. I would have suggested a slightly wider book which would have accommodated a larger font and made it so the pictures aren't falling into the crack of the pages.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mostly obvious things, but I did get a genuine laugh from the note on grinding large amounts of pepper - attach a drill to the grinder stem!

[Rachel C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very uneven. Some tips are moronically obvious while others involve fairly specialized pieces of equipment. It's also quite repetitive - there must be forty separate tips on no-slip solutions.

The most useful section for me was the last, Substitutions.

Not a book you need to own - just flick through a library copy.

[Libraryassistant · Rating 2 out of 5]

Useful bits mixed with trying too hard.

[Laramort · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book I wish I could memorize although some hacks are more time consuming than doing it the normal way.

[Miss Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I especially found the sections on recovering leftovers and substituting ingredients particularly helpful.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love to cook and have been doing it for 55 years. I wish i would have had this was back. So fun and great hacks, with tables of substitutions and easier ways of doing things.

[Núria · Rating 1 out of 5]

I usually enjoy reading America's Test Kitchen and often find very specific and helpful information. This book, however, was very much like scrolling thorough Pinterest. Just a bunch of stupid "hacks" that, if you've been using the internet for more than 5 minutes, you probably have come across countless times. To make things worse, each section has a cute (read idiotic) saying. One example is the part about panini press hacks is returned "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Panini" (groan). I'm afraid it just gets worse. This book is terrible.

[Nicki Hinkle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun read! There was some obvious humor (running over oreos to crush them) and some seriously awesome tips (using a wet paper towel to chill champagne super quickly) in this quick read.
It's not life changing, but it's a really great guide to "adulting" LOL!
Thanks, Mom, for this helpful reading material!! =)

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ingenious tips but too many to remember.

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Borrowed this from the library. Must buy.

[Faranae · Rating 1 out of 5]

I mostly wanted to read this because I'm always looking for introductory cooking texts to direct friends to, since I'm generally not in the same state/region/country/continent as them to help them learn in the kitchen. I expected better of Cook's than this trash. The food substitutions are in many cases entirely unsuitable (if you sub white wine and sugar in place of mirin in a recipe, I will cut you). They also advise using non-food grade tools in the kitchen (don't ever do this, I beg you, as someone who actually works with materials in the food industry at an industrial scale and needs to know exactly why non-food-grade is a terrible idea; there are many lies in the food industry, but food-grade's importance is not one of them). I could understand some of their tips on "easy" ways to do things which were mostly just... not good kitchen practice as a rule, but easier to teach from a book and in some cases, great for folks with varying disabilities. I was frustrated that much of their okay tips amounted to "contribute to plastic waste!".

[Sarah Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a lot of great tips, some I already know from reading random things on the internet but also a lot of good ones that I haven't heard yet. There's also a few that I'm like, nope that's never going to happen, but hey if you can flip through and even take a few of these tips away you will be well ahead while in the kitchen! This book will not teach you how to cook or clean your kitchen but rather gives lots of valuable tips to save time, money or energy based on the tip. If you like to cook or you just have to clean (really do people like to clean?) check this book out!

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the ideas shared here were just wonderful. Others? Seemed more trouble than doing things the way I'd usually try. Still, this book will be a good addition to my food/cooking shelf here at home,and the next time I'm faced with a tricky situation, I might remember to check here before hitting up Google.

[Kristal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is so helpful. There are so many tips I can use or will use in my everyday life. I was surprised to see a few that I already do. Plus there are a few really simple recipes. Like making a caramel sauce in the microwave, much better than the using the stove. I definitely recommend that people who cook at least flip through the book.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book that is a compilation of the tips that have been in Cook's Illustrated magazine, and more! There are also a few recipes, but the tips which are categorized are great. Very enjoyable read!

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the kind of book that would make an excellent house-warming gift for a first-time homeowner, or maybe a noob college (or high school) graduate, or newlyweds. It's a great reference, giving the hows and whys for the "hacks" listed, without being pedantic or overinformative.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many good ideas here, but I was disappointed that so many of them involved expenditure: buying items to do things better - but my hope was to learn to spend less. Some of it was too obvious (e.g., use bleach to clean your sink).

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most are good ideas that any cook could use.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good hints but some that are really more work than time savers. I read it on Kindle but think a hard copy would be a better choice.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read with highlighter in hand.

This book will save you time, money, and frustration and make you look like a kitchen wizard in the process.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tips and tricks to make cooking and baking easier.

Most were interesting and I came away with some things tucked away for future reference.

[Hom Sack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great tips! I highly recommend it.

[Judi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so full of good ideas that I'll have to buy it.

[Cuongnguyencat]

good one

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good tips that I will promptly forget as soon as the occasion arises