Kitchen Tricks We're Loving

We love learning new ways of doing things that make life in the kitchen a little easier. And when we learn them we like to share. Here are a few of our new favorite techniques and some recipes to go along with them!
 

Grating Frozen Butter for Flaky Dough – cutting in butter can be tricky. You want to make sure your butter pieces are just the right size – too big and you’re left with large pockets in your dough but too small and you don’t get those coveted flaky layers. That’s where this technique comes in. Freeze the butter for your recipe or pull from your frozen butter stash. Grate the frozen butter using a cheese grater, then just toss with your flour and continue with the recipe like normal! Grating the butter creates the perfect, uniform size pieces and flaky pastry every time.



We like using this technique for pie crust and biscuits.  Our Perfect Buttermilk Biscuits is a good recipe to use for practicing this technique before committing to an entire pie.


Grilling on the Cold Side for Juicy Meat – This cooking trick was a strange concept at first but consider us all converts! Set up your grill for indirect heat (heat source on one side, nothing on the other). Place your meat on the cooler side of the grill and close the lid. Cook for 15-20 minutes until the meat comes within 10-15 degrees of the desired doneness temperature. Then move the patties over the direct heat and sear the meat! The results are a perfect, caramelized outside with a juicy inside without being overcooked, or in the case of burgers, looking more like meatballs.





Sirloin and Chuck Cheeseburgers on the grill use this technique in the recipe. Try it once and you’ll never go back!


Blanching Peaches for Easy Pealing – Just in time for peach pie season, this trick will save you time and mess! Rather than peeling peaches like you would an apple, blanch them. Dip the peach into boiling water for about 1 minute. Then plunge the peach into ice water to stop the effect of the heat. The peel will easily slip off when you use a paring knife. That’s it!




Use this technique whenever you’re making a recipe that calls for peeled fresh peaches. One of our favorites is the Ginger Peach Upside Down Cake.
 
What are some of your favorite kitchen tricks? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below!