Tips-y Tuesdays: Shortcuts in Cooking

The final Tips-y Tuesday! I decided to reveal some shortcuts I use which many people (yourself included) might turn up their noses at. Do you ever use slightly prepped ingredients? Sometimes I use it for speeding up the steps, but sometimes it is just that I am as happy with what I can buy compared to what I can make.

Garlic: I admit, I use the minced garlic in the jars most of the time. If I want roasted garlic, or really want cloves, then I will buy the bulbs. Otherwise, expect to see the jar.

Onions: Unless the recipe needs sliced onions, I use frozen chopped onions. They work really well for sauteing and the bonus is I don’t have to shed any tears for the chopping.

Chopped Fruit: For sorbet, fresh fruit works fine but I like using frozen so that I don’t have to worry about prepping the fruit (especially for more challenging fruits like the mango) and it starts the chilling process early.

Room-temperature butter/eggs: For butter, if short on time, I use the microwave to heat it up slightly. For eggs, I hold them until warm water and then put them in a bowl of tepid water to speed it up a bit.

Here are some tips from America’s Test Kitchen. My favorite from their list is the salmon deboning one!

Feel free to share shortcuts you use!