After years of struggling to perfectly poach an egg, I discovered I could get much of what I liked about them from soft-boiled eggs, with a zero percent failure rate to boot. My technique is just like that of my hard-boiled eggs, except I drop the boiling time down to 6 minutes. This assures a solid white and soft yolk, and the pinnacle of deliciousness spread over buttered toast and topped with a pinch of salt.
There are about as many techniques for hard-boiling eggs as there are eggs out there, but I use the method my mother showed me: submerge a large egg in enough cold water to cover it and bring the water to a boil over medium-high heat. Once it begins to boil, set the timer for 10 minutes. Plunge the egg into cold water to get it to stop cooking; plus, cold eggs are much easier to peel.
As someone who manages to drop an average of one to two egg shell pieces in each baked good batter, I’ve discovered a trick: The easiest way to fish them out is not with a cooking utensil or, heaven forbid, your finger but with another egg shell. I don’t know how or why it works better, so I just chalk it up to magic.
I hope you’re sitting down for this. Depending on how you measure a cup of flour, you might end up with as little as 4 ounces and as much as 7 ounces in it, a terrifying thought when using a recipe that demands accuracy. The generally accepted measuring method–and the one you should use for the funny reason that it is the one that the person who wrote your recipe used–is to lightly fluff a canister of flour with a spoon, then scoop the flour into your cup until it is over the top and level it with something flat, trying your very best not to compress it in any way. The most accurate way to measure flour, however, is to weigh it, so if you have a recipe that includes a weight, consider it a plus.
May I implore you, nay, beg you to forgo store-bought breadcrumbs and make your own? It is too simple not to. Take any bread at all — I mean your favorite kind, rolls the pizza place sent you with your salad, the crusts off your kid’s sandwich — leave it out overnight and pulse it in the food processor the next morning: instant breadcrumbs that will put that sawdust in a can to shame! In a rush? Fresh bread grinds up well, too, whether or not you toast it first. Planning ahead? Make a lot and keep it in the freezer. Breadcrumbs, at the ready!
Do your carrots get soft and bendy in the fridge? Mine always have, and it drove me bonkers until I realized (yesterday, actually) that they were drying out. To store them so they’ll last longer, remove their green tops, rinse and drain them before storing in a plastic bag in the coldest and most humid part of the fridge. Firm up limp carrots by cutting off one end and sticking them in ice water, cut side down.
To prolong their lifespan, most citrus fruits are coated in a light wax. And while this is no big deal if you just want to use the juice in a recipe, for a zest- or peel-centric recipe, you’re best off lightly scrubbing it first under warm water.
You know when recipes indicate a specific size of egg? They’re not just trying to mess with you. In fact, 1 cup of eggs can be made with 4 jumbo, 4 to 5 extra-large, 5 large, 5 to 6 medium or 7 small eggs, so it is good not to use the sizes interchangeably. The good news is that large eggs are fairly standard in U.S. recipes, thus they’re your best bet to keep around if you don’t wish to buy multiple sizes.
Who besides me is crazy enough to keep self-rising flour in the pantry? Honestly, there’s no need to since you can make your own at home. For each cup of flour, add 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder and a 1/2 teaspoon salt; mix extra and store it in an airtight container for months. Now go forth and bake some 1-2-3-4 cake!
Is there any difference between parchment and waxed paper? Briefly, yes: Parchment has been coated with silicon so it can be used at high temperatures and virtually eliminates the need for greasing a pan. Waxed paper will smoke at high temperatures — and the wax will come off in your food — and is therefore less versatile. I do not recommend swapping the two when lining a cake or roasting pan.
