Let's be real: We can't scroll through our feeds these days without coming across a "life-changing" cooking tip. Personally, I've fallen for many viral cooking "hacks" that claim to make certain kitchen tasks easier or better. Unfortunately, not all hacks are created equal, and some simply...don't work. Recently, redditor u/Malkadork asked the r/Cooking community to share the cooking hacks they find to be overrated. Here's what home cooks had to say.
1. "Slicing cherry tomatoes between two plates. Cutting horizontally is dangerous, you're dirtying two additional plates, and cutting a few cherry tomatoes takes about 30 seconds. I could understand if people had to cut 500 of them for a restaurant, but then again, they probably have a better technique than this."
2. "That thing about using a can opener sideways just mangles my cans."
3. "Mayo instead of butter for grilled cheese. The internet went wild for this, and there are still some true believers out there. I say 'meh.'"
4. "I'm at odds with many air-frying tactics that claim to speed up the process or cook better than the oven or a pan. While some methods are brilliant (hello, Trader Joe's hash browns), other methods don't quite do it for me (looking at you, french fries)."
5. "Peeling boiled eggs — there is nothing you can add to the water or boiling time to make them peel easier. It comes down to the egg, shattering the shell, and letting the eggs sit in cold water for a few minutes."
6. "That you have to add oil to your pasta water, or that you need to add oil to it before you put your sauce on it. There's a pasta place here that puts oil on all their precooked noodles, and the sauce you add just slides right off of it. It’s an oily mess."
7. "Most kitchen devices are a hassle to clean and can be replaced with a lot of 101-level skills. You’d be surprised how far a sharp chef’s knife can really take you."
8. "Pulling herbs through a hole in your colander to remove the stems. This is so stupid — it doesn’t work, it dirties your colander, and it is in no way quicker than just removing the leaves with your hands. It’s in every 'hack' video, and it pisses me off."
"Hold the bunch of parsley or cilantro tightly, and then run a fork through the leaves multiple times to pull the leaves off. So easy, and actually works."
9. "Every time I see a 'hack' that suggests something was designed in a specific way that it obviously wasn’t. The worst to me is, 'The hole in the handle of your pan is supposed to hold your spoon.' It’s obviously not, and just because it CAN doesn’t make that a 'hack.'
10. "Basically, any hack to get the peel off the garlic never works for me. I just smash the eff outta them. If I need thin slices, then I lightly smash them or twist the cloves a bit."
"Came here to say the 'shaking garlic in a jar to peel it' hack never works."
11. "I feel like there's a lot of fuzz around hacking your way into an onion. Like, yes, you can make horizontal cuts and shit like that, but for most applications, it's unnecessary, and you'll be able to achieve a fine cut simply by running your knife vertically through and then chopping thinly."
12. "I never understood the rice and finger-dip trick. I feel like there are so many factors that came together for it to actually work, like the size of your rice cooker/pot, your finger size, amount of rice, etc. I guess it’s a good tried and true for people who stick to the same pot and rice measurements every time. But for someone who is new to cooking rice or is struggling, it would be kind of frustrating for someone to tell you the right way to cook rice is by a hack and not with ratios and measurements. It leaves a lot of room for error."
13. "Deep-fried turkey. It still tastes just like turkey, but you spent way too much money on peanut oil and had to endanger yourself unnecessarily."
14. "Putting a potato in soup or sauce to remove saltiness — IT DOES NOT WORK! People push this myth so far, it's grating."
15. "A wooden spoon placed over boiling noodles will keep them from boiling over...bullshit!"
16. "Throwing everything into a slow cooker at the same time without browning, leaving it on all day, and expecting good results."
17. "Some folks advocate sous vide as the be-all and end-all for any and all cooking. It’s not. Sous vide works great for some dishes, but it’s far from being universally the best method."
18. "'Don't cook with a wine you wouldn't drink.' That can apply to someone who drinks cheap wine, but no one needs to spend more than $10 for a wine to cook with. A $4 wine can work great."
19. "Ways to peel ginger. The thing is, you don't actually need to peel ginger at all for most dishes."
20. "Adding liquid to a roux slowly to prevent lumps. I have always followed the Chef John adage: hot roux, cold liquid, no lumps. It has never failed me. The only time I add slowly is if I am adding hot liquid to a roux."
21. "Oh, there are many for making coffee that make me laugh. French press coffee: 3 tablespoons of coffee, nearly boiled water, stir a minute, wait four minutes, and you're good to go. All this water, stir a minute, wait, add more water...good lord. Coffee, hot water, stir, wait, plunge, drink."
22. "Any garbage about separating egg yolks and whites. Don't use a plastic bottle, don't rub garlic on your fingers, etc. — just crack it in your hand and let the white run through."
23. "Using a food processor to make piecrust dough. I suppose if I were making a lot, it might be faster, but I’ve never had a problem using a regular old pastry blender as I monitor and adjust the consistency."
24. "Using butter instead of oil. Yeah, I get it, but I don't want everything to be rich and fatty, and I don't want to go through a stick of butter in a week."
Are there any cooking "hacks" out there that you think are overrated? Let us know in the comments, or fill out this anonymous Google form!
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.