20 Times People Shared Their Secret Family Cooking Tips

Cooking is a skill that most people learn at their homes from their elders. And every family has some secret tips that make their food unique and appetizing. When a Reddit user asked people, "What are some of your "Secret" family cooking tips?", folks shared useful and amazing advice they received from their parents or grandparents. Scroll below to read some of them. More info: Reddit

#1

Image source: OoopsieWhoopsie, Parnis Azimi "A dollop of sour cream in mashed potatoes."

#2

Image source: bento8621, Polina Tankilevitch "Bacon always comes out better if you cook it in an oven, and it’s important to put the bacon in before turning the oven on; preheating the oven will make the bacon stick to the cookie sheet."

#3

Image source: badgreenapplepie, American Heritage Chocolate "Want to make icing delicious? A pinch of salt. It cuts the pure sugar and makes it dangerously good."

#4

Image source: ShezTheWan, NK Lee "Save all scraps for stocks. Almost anything can be made into soup."

#5

Image source: llcucf80, Brian Snelson "Add a pinch of nutmeg to anything with dairy in it, you can't taste the nutmeg but it makes the dairy richer and taste better."

#6

Image source: spottedsushi, sea_wave "My grandma would save butter wrappers in the fridge and use the leftover butter on them for greasing dishes when she baked. I can’t help but stockpile wrappers, it’s really so handy."

#7

Image source: Roark_Laughed, Hermes Rivera "Mustard powder in your Mac and cheese is a game changer."

#8

Image source: OrganizedxxChaos, Annushka Ahuja "Adding sour cream to scrambled eggs instead of milk will make them insanely fluffy."

#9

Image source: dickle_berry_pie, cottonbro studio "My Uncle Arthur's tip is "clean while you cook!", and he will not let you forget it, either. Not really sure if its a tip but my Papa Searcy used to microwave bacon on old newspapers...it was always delicious! In hindsight it's probably bad for you and you should never do it. I have weird memories of the smell of newspaper and bacon."

#10

Image source: https://www.reddit.com/user/OoopsieWhoopsie/, stephanie monfette "A tablespoon of cocoa powder creates boldens the flavor profile of chili (I know it sounds crazy, but our chili recipe is delicious."

#11

Image source: OoopsieWhoopsie, Lisa Fotios "My family owns a catering business, starting from my grandparents who came to the states from Portugal. One thing I've learned that greatly improve my meals is to add butter to your noodles (for saucy pasta like Spaghetti)."

#12

Image source: OoopsieWhoopsie, Ron Lach "A really good sharp knife and running the onion over water can help prevent the teary eyes. (Also holding a piece of bread in your mouth)."

#13

Image source: gwaydms, jules "Putting a little fish sauce into a stew or sauce that needs umami. It's basically liquid anchovies."

#14

Image source: burning_panda_, Los Muertos Crew "Better Than Bouillon Veggie is a million times better than any other veg stock."

#15

Image source: highpsitsi, Ksenia Chernaya "If a dish feels flat it's often the acidity that's missing. Dash of White Modena vinegar is the secret to my red sauce for example, even though it's inherently acidic."

#16

Image source: Darwin343, Maria Petersson "Sprinkle sea salt on cookies right before or right after baking. The extra salt brings out the flavors more and helps balance out the sweetness."

#17

Image source: aaronappleseed, Cup of Couple "A TBSP of ground coffee in brownies really kick it up a notch. The more quality the beans the better."

#18

Image source: BurntToastBreakfast, Tony Webster "Nutritional yeast in mashed potatoes."

#19

Image source: Brianblaz, Marco Verch Professional Photographer "I put homemade stock into ice cube trays to freeze then store in bags. 1 cube = 1.5 Oz liquid or so."

#20

Image source: batmanandboobs93, Mike Mozart "Keep in mind I’m from a very Midwestern Scandinavian family. Cream of mushroom soup is kind of a universal solution for improving any dish."