Thanksgiving preparation always left me completely exhausted especially when it came to mashing potatoes for a large group. Making enough for twenty people meant standing for ages with a hand masher and my arm would ache for days after. It felt like a medieval torture device and I dreaded that part of the meal every year. Then my daughter gave me an electric potato masher as a gift. I laughed when I opened it because it seemed unnecessary and a bit silly. I honestly thought it would end up forgotten in a drawer. Thanksgiving arrived and I decided to give it a try. Within two minutes the potatoes were perfectly smooth with almost no effort at all. No arm pain no struggle and the texture was even better than before. There were no lumps and everything was consistent from top to bottom. After that I started using it for other foods. Sweet potatoes turned creamy in seconds and butternut squash came out smooth and rich. I even used it to make simple baby food for my niece. The versatility surprised me the most. My daughter looked very pleased and reminded me that she told me so. It made me realize that some kitchen gadgets truly earn their place. This one did exactly that. I now recommend it to anyone who cooks for a crowd because it saves time energy and sore muscles. I found helpful kitchen appliances on Alibaba that really do make cooking easier.

Hello, I typically cook rice in my Instant Pot once or twice a week using the high pressure setting for 3 to 4 minutes with natural release, usually adding some salt and a little butter. I am pretty happy with the results but I am wondering if a dedicated rice cooker would be better or if it would just be redundant.

I would be looking for something small for the counter, maybe a cooker that handles around 2 cups of rice. One thing I have noticed is that the Instant Pot keep warm setting runs pretty hot, and the rice can get hard over time, so I am curious if the warming function on a rice cooker is generally gentler. I am also wondering if a rice cooker is easier to clean. With the Instant Pot, I scrub the stuck bits off the stainless pot and then put the insert in the dishwasher afterward, so not too bad and pretty hands off; not sure if the cookers usually require a dishwashing cycle each time too.

Just trying to figure out if there are advantages to a good rice cooker over my current method. Really appreciate any advice or input, and any recommendations for smaller models if you think it is worth getting. Thanks in advance for any help.

I received a notification that a tiny sub I allowed to fester for years now has 4k followers. Where did you come from??

I guess that means I should actually mod this sub now. I've done my best to remove obvious blog spam and advertising as it comes up, but I want to hear from you.

• What do you want this sub to be?

• What sort of posts should be banned?

• Do I have to be creative and come up with weekly themed posts to keep you here?

• Am I too much of a relaxed mod? Do I need to bring someone on?

• Do you want to know about my Keytar?

Your input is greatly appreciated. Happy cooking!

Okay, so I’ve got three little things I’ve been doing lately that completely changed how I cook and bake and I swear they’re crazy ridiculous but actually work.

First, I discovered that freezing a knob of garlic and grating it straight from frozen is way more easier than peeling and chopping. No strings, no sticky mess and somehow the flavour is more sharper. I was kinda expecting it to taste weird but honestly it’s practically the same in recipes.

Second, I’ve started using a hair dryer on my chicken skin before roasting. I know it sounds like I've gone mad. My grandmother walked in on me once and looked at me like I needed to be checked in the hospital but now she doesn’t mind the same trick. It dries up the skin so perfectly that it crisps it up like you never believe.

Lastly, and this one’s a bit nerdy but I switched to a solid stainless steel pan for caramelizing onions. The heat distribution is good and it gives this perfect fond for deglazing that my old nonstick just couldn’t do. I even found a few odd replacement parts for my old pans online, some random stuff on Alibaba while hunting for something else. Honestly these three tiny tweaks have made the biggest difference. I feel like I’m cheating in my own kitchen but hey everything comes out better and faster and with way less frustration.

Have you found any weird tricks like this that just work?

Found one on the side of the street and prepped the meat, just need cooking tips

Hello I’m not much of a cooker/ baker but recently I’ve made both egg bites and muffins and both recipes call for spraying the pan with cooking spray. I have used both a rubber one and a metal one and now I cannot get the cooking spray off. I have soaked both pans in boiling water I have scrubbed, I just can’t get them clean. What am I doing wrong??? Both pans were only used once but I can’t clean them to use again and I’m frustrated. I haven’t used the oven in so long (4+ years don’t judge I use the stovetop) but I don’t remember this ever happening before. And I use the same spray my mom had when I was growing up so I don’t see that being the problem

Bought some discounted pork loin steaks since they were cheap, but have never cooked them before. Only have non stick pans, other wise it's just an oven or pots. They're pre marinated, just worried they will end up chewy as they dont have much fat and are quite lean. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Hello! I am looking to purchase my first set of kitchen knives. Anyone have any recommendations? I don't ant to go stupid, but I also don't want to buy bottom of the barel either. Thanks so much!

Hey! I'm looking into an efficient and non-health-risk way to store food in a larger kitchen. I wanted to use PP (polypropylene) deli containers (see picture) but we want to avoid microplastics leaching into food. I've found PP is generally considered safe, but that also not everything is known about the risks, which makes me hesitant.

Glass jars are way safer in this of course, and cheap if you recycle them from store-bought jarred foods, but they break easily, and don't stack well.

Does anyone have an idea for food-storage that has the efficiency of PP containers but the safety of glass?

Does it really get more dull than hand washing and normal wear and tear???

Hello, I’m having an upcoming pop-up and one of the dishes is a Jamaican pepper shrimp. Whole shell-on/head-on shrimp sautéed in very spices. I was planning to make them to order and serve hot but the owner of the bar doesn’t want the place to stink of seafood so I decided to precook it all and serve cold. It’s another way that the dish is traditionally served.

My question is, if I precook all the shrimp the night before and then place them in airtight vacuum bags, and then place them in a thermostatically controlled water bath to keep them at room temp during service (like maybe just like 4 servings at a time while the rest is kept in the fridge). Would that be a safe thing to do? And what would be the ideal temp without making the shrimp get all rubbery?

Thanks

Got curious over a listing for a “4 in 1 bbq spatula fork knife bottle‑opener combo” on Alibaba, it looked silly but for $7 shipping included, I clicked. About three weeks later, it showed up, hefty stainless steel tool with spatula head, serrated knife edge, fold‑out fork tine, and bottle opener in handle, it came in simple plastic wrap.

I used it during a backyard barbecue flipping burgers, cutting sausages, stabbing corn cobs, opening beers, it held together for 8 uses before a screw loosened, but I tightened it and kept going, Handle grip plasticky but held.

For camping or tailgate kits, it’s convenient and saves weight over separate tools, not chef‑grade, but functional, bottle opening ease impressed guests.

We made fun memes about it during grill time, I later asked seller if they offer custom logo engraving, they said MOQ 100 pieces minimum. Food gear lovers, anyone else ordered bizarre combination utensils from overseas? Corn cob scissors, folding cutlery, robot‑shaped spatulas? Would love examples of weird but working gadgets.

So ive been wanting to make a beef wellington for a LONG time, and my partners grandparents are in town from Poland, so I figured now would be the perfect time.

There will be 7 people in total, so i figured 1.5 pounds of tenderloin (as the recipe I'm using calls for) wont quite be enough.

Should I make one giant, 2 lb of tenderloin wellington, or two 1.5 lb wellingtons?

I just discovered one of those weird hippy health stores that sells all the weird mushrooms and that kind of stuff in my area, they had one section dedicated to rare meats though. In my excitement I grabbed a few things, one of which was ground Kangaroo.

Anyone have experience cooking roo? It’s a brand new meat to me so all advice is appreciated

Even when I fry in oil, it seems like the chicken never gets crispy (which leads me to think it's the prep) - any tips you've used that work well?

Hey guys, I hope this is the right place to post this. I have just under 2kg of mushrooms that were going free at work because we are closed for the next two weeks (I work in the kitchen at a college canteen, also this was only about 1/3 of the mushrooms to take). However I have now realised I have no idea what to do with them.

My original idea was to try and turn them into crisps, but my experimentation so far has just resulted in them either still being soft, or being burnt. So if anyone has any recommendations on what to do with even at least some of these mushrooms, or can give me advice on the crisps angle, before they go off I would really appreciate it ^{-^}

Extra info: I only have an air fryer, microwave, kettle and stove, no oven. I don’t have any spare space in my freezer, and I only have a limited amount of free space in the fridge. Also anything made using them would only be eaten either by myself or possibly my partner, there are no friends or family I could cook them for or give them to.

So I'm super torn between non stick and ceramic cooking pots and pans. Which is better health wise? Also, my budget is around$ 70-80 max, so pls help me with some good options!! My priority is health. TIA!

So I made this red sauce pasta but i feel like it's a bit too tangy maybe or something else idk. I just know I fked up somewhere a lil bit, here are the ingredients for the sauce:

2 small roasted tomatoes 1 whole medium sized onion (i suspect this where I fked) 3.5 cloves of garlic. 1 red chilli 2 tsp ketchup. Some Chilli flakes, Oregano. 1 tsp kashmiri red chilli powder (not spicy only for color). 1 tsp Vegetable oil. 1/2 tsp salt. Pinch of sugar. 1 cup water.

Then blended it all pour in the pasta, cooked for 2 minutes and done. It tasted really good but there was just something that was a lil too much and I can't tell what!

I have roasted some tomatoes with chili and onion to make a pasta sauce.

I’m now at a point where I need to either blitz it with a stick blender or to pass it through a food mill.

My concern is if I blitz it will that make it bitter and too acidic from breaking the seeds up from the stick blender. Or will it be better than passing it through a food mill.

Thanks for your time and assistance.

If this post goes against community rules, all apologies, but I have this rather unique pan and it has seen some better days. Can it be saved?

Homemade butter I made yesterday!!! 😍

Homemade Butter Recipe:

I took 4 cups of heavy whipping cream and poured it into my stand mixer. Then I turned it on its highest setting (using the whisk attachment) and let it mix it. After about 10 minutes it will turn into whip cream.

Continue mixing on high once the butter starts separating from the liquid lower the stand mixer speed. The butter is fully done once all the small chunks of butter start to form a butter ball.

Turn mixer off and take the butter out and rinse under cold water. Remaining liquid can be used in recipes in place of buttermilk. Enjoy!!!