7 Kitchen Hacks & Simple Tricks

Rather than dirty your measuring cups, spoons, and whisk every time you want to make your favorite vinaigrette, try this practical solution. Separately measure out the oil and vinegar (we like a 3:1 ratio) and then pour them into a clear plastic bottle, using a permanent-ink pen to mark the level of the mixture after you’ve added each ingredient. As long as you keep the bottle, you’ll never again have to dirty a measuring cup or spoon for these components. Add any solid ingredients (such as garlic, herbs, or mustard), close the bottle, and shake it until the dressing is thoroughly mixed. The bottle can be washed and reused for easier mixing next time.

You can prepare vinaigrettes in a child’s “sippy” cup and use the cup as a tool for dressing salads as well. The dressing is released slowly from the small spout, making it nearly impossible to waste vinaigrette or overdress a salad.
1. Add all the dressing ingredients to the cup and secure the lid.
2. While holding one finger securely over the spout, shake the cup vigorously to incorporate. Remove your finger from the spout and sprinkle the dressing over the salad.

To evenly dispense oil when making a vinaigrette or mayonnaise, measure the oil into a squeeze bottle first. The squeeze bottle is easy to hold and makes adding the oil in a slow, steady stream effortless.

Grilled sausages make a great summer sandwich, but fitting a curved link into a flat bun can be downright frustrating. Here’s a perfect solution.
1. Insert bamboo skewers (that have first been soaked in water) lengthwise into each sausage prior to grilling. The skewers keep the sausages from curling during cooking.
2. When the sausages are done, pull out the skewers before fitting the straight links perfectly into their buns.

When eating hard sausage or salami, it’s a nuisance to peel off the sticky white casing from each individual slice. If the casing won’t peel off the whole sausage easily before slicing, use a vegetable peeler to quickly remove the casing in advance. Alternatively, you can try this trick:
1. Slit the paper casing lengthwise with a paring knife, taking care not to cut into the sausage itself.
2. Run the sausage under warm water for 15 to 20 seconds, then pat it dry.
3. Pull the casing off in one piece.

When measuring messy, malleable ingredients like shortening, line the measuring cup with plastic wrap, scoop in the shortening, and level it off. To retrieve it, simply lift out the plastic liner and the contents come with it.

Use this handy trick to measure shortening by displacement.
1. For shortening amounts less than 1 cup, fill a 2-cup liquid measuring cup with 1 cup of cold water and spoon the shortening into the cold water.
2. Add or remove shortening until the water level equals the desired amount plus 1 cup (i.e., for ¼ cup of shortening, the water level should be at 1¼ cups).