Thanksgiving is a time for gathering friends and family together and have a good time with a delicious meal. It is supposed to be upbeat, heartwarming and fun, but if you are cooking it can be stressful. If you don’t cook on a regular basis, suddenly making a feast for 6, 10, or 18 can be overwhelming. Â Luckily, we have some cooking hacks to make life easier this Thanksgiving.
Before you start, figure out what you like to make and what you can farm out to others. Make a list, figure out some timing and recognize not everything is going to Instagram worthy.
Baking Powder In Your Mashed Potatoes
Adding a pinch of baking powder while mashing your potatoes will make them way fluffier and better looking than normal, without disrupting the taste.
Write Out Recipes And Tape Them On Your Cabinets
This simple hack will allow you to narrow your focus on cooking and cooking only, saving you a lot of time while avoiding messy cookbooks or phones.
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Potatoes Can Be Microwaved
Boiling potatoes takes a really long time and, in the end, you’re still gonna mash them so it’s fine to save some minutes by sticking them in the microwave. Heat each potato for about 3 or 4 minutes.
Slow-Roast The Turkey Overnight
Slow cooking is the best way to cook, leaving the meat soft, delicious and ready to peel off the bone. It’s also great to get the turkey out of the way and have it done early, avoiding Thanksgiving catastrophe.
Add Soy Sauce For A More Delicious gravy
Soy sauce is a great condiment for a lot of things, especially when it comes to meat. If your gravy is a little simple and needs that extra kick, soy sauce will highlight the flavors in it and add some much needed saltiness.
Prep Veggies Ahead Of Time And Keep Them In The Fridge
Chopping up vegetables takes a lot of time and patience. Be sure to do this ahead of time and to store them in separate containers in the fridge, maintaining their crispiness, flavor and saving you a lot of time.
Don’t Peel Your Potatoes
Mashed potatoes with the skin on them are delicious so why would you even do that? If you’re very neat and really don’t like the skin then you can boil the potatoes and peel them afterwards, with the skin tearing off much more easily.
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Clean Your Potatoes In The Dishwasher
Instead of scrubbing each potato individually, stick them all in the dishwasher for a couple of minutes and have them ready for cooking.
Use A Wine Glass To Make Biscuits
If you don’t have a metal cutter, make do with whatever’s around your house. Wine glasses are the perfect shape for biscuits, so take advantage of them, dipping them in flour to keep the dough from sticking.
Freeze Pie Crust For Prettier Pies
By freezing the rolled out pie crust for 20 minutes, you’ll allow the gluten in the dough to relax and to avoid shrinking when you put it in the oven.