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💡 Tips

Tips acquired throughout my cooking journey. These tips are used in recipes that don't necessarily call for it. For instance, chilling or aging cookie dough overnight to hydrate the dry ingredients.

🍳 Cooking

🧅 Onions

Onions should be sautéed first to caramelize them and bring out the sweetness, about 5 minutes.

🧄 Garlic

Garlic should not be burned and added right before liquid is added, right when the garlic aroma is perceived.

🌽 Cornstarch

When using cornstarch as a thickener, always mix the cornstarch in a small amount of liquid in a container before adding to the dish to avoid lumps.

Bring the dish back up to a boil for about 10 seconds to activate the cornstarch. The dish will thicken as it cools down to room temperature.

🧁 Baking

All ingredients should be at the same temperature, usually room temperature. An exception is when you want the ingredient to bring down the temperature of the mixture, such as adding cold eggs to warm brown butter.

Aging cookie dough that uses egg as the main source of liquid in the refrigerator overnight.

Bake cookie dough while still cold to prevent spread and don't let the later baked cookie dough to come to room temperature while waiting to go into the oven.

🥚 Eggs

Eggs should be separated when cold.

Eggs should be added to batter at room temperature.

🧈 Butter

Butter should be a room temperature when creamed with sugar.

Creaming of butter and sugar should happen for an amount of time to make the butter pale, about 5 minutes.

🍰 Cake

When mixing the batter for cake, cream the sugar and butter first, add the egg and butter, combine wet together, combine dry together, then add a third of the dry ingredients, then half the wet, alternating until you end with dry.

For an oil based cake, whisk the egg and sugar together.

When using zest, massage the zest into the granulated sugar to release the oils.

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