Ripen an avocado in under 10 minutes
Everyone has been that person in the fruit shop, squeezing avo after avo in search of one with a little give. Nobody likes that person. Don’t be that person. If you wrap an unripe avocado in aluminium foil and pop it in a hot oven, it will soften in around 10 minutes. Then, cool it off before serving/smashing/mashing.
Source: Getty Images
Bring limp greens back to life
Forgot you bought a lovely bunch of celery at the start of the week? Good news: you can resurrect those limp stalks! Cut off the roots and stand the celery in a jug of ice-cold water and watch them magically crisp up. This trick works for many other greens, like asparagus, spinach and broccoli.
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Chase eggshells out of the bowl
This is the bane of baking, or omelette making. But what most folks don’t know is that water acts like a magnet for eggshells. So the next time you have some floating about, wet your finger slightly and chase those shells.
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Stop brown sugar from clumping together
Marshmallows! Yes, a few fluffy ones in your sugar canister will keep the granules from forming tight little conspiring armies.
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Crisp up bacon like a pro
Soggy rashers are the devil's work. Skip the mess and spitting oil of frying bacon by lining a baking tray with two layers of alumunium foil that you’ve pre-crimped at two-centimetre intervals to form a baking rack, of sorts. When you roast the bacon elevated in this way, it lets the hot air circulate evenly and helps it crisp up perfectly.
Source: Flickr / cookbookman17
Recycle pickling brine
Whether it’s homemade or store-bought from your favourite picklery, you can reuse all that wonderful, punchy brine with a fresh batch of whatever is in your fridge. Drop in green beans, carrots, radishes, zucchini, or cucumber. Par-boil them first, where possible, for best results. Or, use the liquid as a salad dressing.
Source: James Vlahogiannis
Are those burger patties cooked through?
The temptation to massacre a patty is very real. After all, few (kids, especially) appreciate a rare burger patty. Use a toothpick to poke a hole in the patty - this lets heat travel to the middle faster, without any unsightly gashes.
Cooking beefburgers on barbecue Source: Getty Images
Stop water from boiling over
Who has time to wait for water to boil without a lid? But then, how easy it is to forget about said water until it’s too late. If you want to stop your pasta water from cascading over the edge, balance a wooden spoon over the pot. Strangely, it acts as a bubble barrier and keeps the water from overflowing.
Source: Getty Images
Ripen up green bananas in a hurry
It happens all too often; you arrive at the grocer and all that’s left are bright green bananas. If that’s the case, and banana bread is on the menu in a few days time, place them in a paper bag with ripe tomatoes. The tomatoes apparently have a hormone that is used by some companies to ripen fruit commercially.
Qld authorities testing for banana disease Source: AAP
