Learn the secrets to a perfect grilled cheese and super creamy mashed potatoes.
Andrew Richard / BuzzFeed
To prevent melted chocolate from clumping or burning, melt butter first, remove the pan from the heat — and then add chocolate chips.
The residual heat from the saucepan will melt the chocolate in the butter, and you'll have perfect, creamy, non-burnt chocolate to use in your recipes!
—clarabow22
Lenkaprusova / Getty Images
Crack an egg into your mashed potatoes, when they're almost ready, to make them extra creamy.
Forget about cream and butter, the secret to super creamy mashed potatoes is apparently adding an egg to the mix (after all, it works for pasta carbonara so why not here?). And if you're worried about adding a raw egg to your food, fear not: The heat of the mashed potatoes will cook it and make it safe to it.
Get the recipe here.
Karpenkovdenis / Getty Images
For super juicy chicken breasts, quickly brine them before you cook them. All you need is water, salt, and 15 minutes.
It has so much more flavor and it will be so juicy!
—candacerenshaw
Get the recipe here.
Roll cookie dough between two sheets of plastic wrap before you chill it for easy cleanup.
After it’s chilled, you can just cut out your shapes and bake them. It works great. There’s no extra flour so cookies don’t get tough and you don’t have to roll a disk of super cold dough, which is basically impossible.
—catherinea4a17aa808
Mary's Test Kitchen / youtube.com
Make peeling butternut squash less of a headache by microwaving the squash for a few minutes first.
I cut off the top and bottom, stabbed the crap out of the squash with a fork, and microwaved it for 3-5 minutes. Once cooled, I could peel the skin with a peeler instead of a knife (where I felt I was either losing half the squash or leaving part of the skin on).
—cassied49bf08b7a
Nungning20 / Getty Images
Take your dish to the next level by finishing it off with a touch of acid.
I’ve always sort of scoffed at TV chefs who squeeze lemon into and onto everything but now I get it. Acidity, saltiness, and sweetness are the holy trinity of food and if you taste your cooking and find that “something, not sure what” is missing, I bet adding a little lemon, lime, or balsamic vinegar will make all the difference.
—lenaw44605591e
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Use ground coffee to enhance the flavor of chocolate cake.
The bitterness of the coffee will add an amazing depth of flavor to your chocolate. Adding a teaspoon of espresso powder to your batter works too.
Barol16 / Getty Images
Use broth instead of water to add flavor to your savory dishes.
Substituting stock or broth for water when cooking adds so much flavor. I use it for gravies, potatoes, rice, when boiling chicken to shred, soups, etc...
— Stephanie Pentz, Facebook
Bonchan / Getty Images
For the perfect sear, pat your meat dry with paper towel before cooking.
It helps the seasoning stick and it will make the skin nice and crispy. Seriously, it makes a huge difference when cooking steak, chicken, and fish. It takes your food from boring and squishy to restaurant quality.
—hollyj16
Freeze your ginger to make it easier to grate.
This way, it also won't go bad.
—kortneeb
Lecic / Getty Images
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