7 Kitchen Hacks Used By Pro Chefs That You Should Be Using At Home

Pro Hack # 1:

Use deli containers, a sharpie marker, and light blue painters tape to keep things organized.

Deli containers are superior to standard food-storage containers for a lot of reasons:

• They’re cheap – you can reuse them, but when they wear out, you can just toss them in the recycling and not feel bad about it.
• They’re uniform in size, so they’re easy to store and they stack nicely in the fridge, freezer, or pantry.
• They’re perfect for mis-en-place
• They have uniform sized lids (did you know that every time you lose a sock in the dryer it reincarnates as a food storage container without a lid?)

Additionally, using blue painters’ tape in the kitchen is ideal, because it doesn’t leave any sticky residue on anything, but somehow miraculously sticks to everything.

Pro Hack # 2:

Use an empty red wine bottle with a slow-pour on top to store your oils.

Empty red wine bottles are ideal for storing oils, because they are designed to block light, which can have a negative impact on both wine and oil. You can get an oil-specific pour-spout, or just use the standard bar-ones – either way works.

This way, you can store your oil out on the countertop within arm’s reach, rather than in a dark pantry, and still extend it’s shelf life and prevent it from becoming rancid. Additionally, this allows you to buy oil in bulk, which is significantly cheaper than buying a few ounces at a time.

Pro Hack # 3:

Use a silicone baking mat, instead of paper towels, underneath your cutting board to keep it from sliding around.

You’ve probably heard of the trick where you put a couple of damp paper towels underneath your cutting board to keep it from sliding around. This does work… but the disadvantages are that (1) it wastes paper towels and (2) the moisture from those paper towels can damage a wood cutting board over time.

The solution? A silicone baking mat. You can wash this thing and reuse it an infinite number of times, and because it doesn’t contain moisture, it won’t damage your cutting board.

Pro Hack # 4:

This is a good one – Master the Art of the Pinch, and keep Pinch Bowls next to your stove

Keeping a few pinch bowls of commonly used ingredients is a great way to remind you to season your food as you cook. And they’re called “pinch bowls” for a reason.

If you cook a lot, you’ll want to master the “the art of the pinch” so you won’t have to break out the measuring spoons every time you want to season something. For most ingredients, a “three finger pinch” – that’s your thumb plus your index, middle, and ring fingers – is approximately ½ teaspoon, and a “two finger pinch” – your thumb, index, and middle finger – is about a ¼ teaspoon.

To dial this in, get a food scale, set it to grams, and measure out a ½ teaspoon of kosher salt – that’s going to be about 2 grams. Then, grab a three finger pinch of the same, and see how close you land to 2 grams. This won’t take long to learn, and will save you a lot of time in the long run.

Pro Hack # 5:

Use Side Towels – not paper towels

I feel so strongly about this that I wrote a rather… uh.. dry post on the subject (nuk nuk), but suffice it to say this: using side towels is cheaper, better for the environment, and way more versatile. Don’t think, just do it – make the switch and I guarantee you won’t be sorry.

Pro Hack #6:

Toast Dry Spices before using them

You’ll be surprised at just how much you can revive old, dried spices by just giving them a quick toast of, say, 30 seconds to a minute in a hot skillet. Additionally, if you’re going to make your own spice mix, toast whole spices together before grinding them.

Pro Hack # 7:

Designate – and Label – countertop space during a large cooking project (like Thanksgiving Dinner, for example).

Inevitably, just as I’ve taken something hot out of the oven, I turn around and someone has decided to use the intended countertop space for something else. In pro kitchens, precious counterspace is labeled, especially during big projects. Use your blue painters tape to do this.

Bonus round – painters tape sticks to side towels, so put stuff that’s hot out of the oven directly on the towel; not only will this protect your countertop, it makes it easy to move things as needed… just grab the towel rather than than the hot pan if you need to do a little rearranging.

So there you have it – 7 kitchen hacks used by pro-chefs that you can start using right away. What are some tricks that you use in your own kitchen? Leave them in the comments below!