There’s a reason we love watching cooking shows. They provide us with insider knowledge and top recipe inspiration, especially useful now we have more time to spend in the kitchen. It was a hard job selecting the best but here are our favorite TV chefs’ cooking tips, from Ina Garten to Guy Fieri.
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Martha Stewart: let cheesecake cool in the oven
Domestic superstar Martha Stewart provides us with endless wisdom on The Martha Stewart Show. One particularly top tip is about how to make the perfect baked cheesecake. To keep the consistency creamy and prevent cracks forming, Stewart slow cooks it in a bain marie (a water bath) then lets it cool in the oven with the door ajar.
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Martha Stewart: roll citrus fruit before juicing
When it comes to cooking with citrus fruits like lemon, lime, grapefruit and oranges, Martha has a nifty trick for getting the most juice out of them. She suggests rolling the fruit on a work surface to break down the cells on the inside before cutting in half and juicing.
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Martha Stewart: add spice to mac ‘n’ cheese
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Bobby Flay: only flip burgers once
To make perfectly charred burgers, do as Bobby Flay of Boy Meets Grill, Throwdown with Bobby Flay and Beat Bobby Flay does. Use a meat mixture that’s 80% beef, 20% fat, then give patties a generous coating of salt and pepper, create a small dent in the middle and fry in a cast iron pan. But the most important thing of all: only flip the burger once.
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Bobby Flay: check steak with a meat thermometer
The Iron Chef has a nifty trick to nail perfectly-done steak – remove the guesswork by checking the temperature with a meat thermometer. He says medium-rare is 125°F (51°C) and medium is 140°F (60°C). Take the steak out from under the grill or pan before it reaches this as the meat continues to cook. Bobby also allows the steak to rest before serving.
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Bobby Flay: use a burger lid to melt cheese
When it comes to melting cheese onto burgers, Bobby has a clever method. While the patty is still in the pan he adds two slices of American cheese on top and a dash of water to the pan, then covers it with a metal burger lid. The trapped steam melts the cheese onto the burger perfectly.
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Giada De Laurentiis: squeeze excess water out of frozen spinach
Everyone’s favorite Food Network chef Giada De Laurentiis is an expert at Italian cooking. When the Giada at Home star makes classic lasagna, she takes it to the next level by adding a layer of chopped frozen spinach and ricotta. But she squeezes all the excess moisture out the spinach first so it doesn’t dilute the flavor.
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Giada De Laurentiis: substitute heavy cream for flour, butter and broth in savory dishes
When making chicken tetrazzini, a delicious pasta dish of diced chicken and peas in a creamy white wine sauce, Giada says it’s fine to substitute heavy cream for flour, butter and broth, or milk. This is a good trick to know next time you’re halfway through preparing a savory dish like chicken pie or pasta and realize you’ve run out of cream.
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Ree Drummond: remove cookies from the oven early
Known as The Pioneer Woman on Food Network, Ree Drummond didn’t turn her passion for blogging and baking into a successful career knowing nothing. And if soft and gooey chocolate cookies make you melt, listen up. Drummond removes them from the oven just short of them being done so they don’t overbake.
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Ree Drummond: chill cinnamon roll dough
When it comes to making picture-perfect cinnamon rolls, Ree says that if you can wait for the dough to chill, you will be rewarded. Chilling makes the dough firmer and easier to roll into tight coils.
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Ree Drummond: add glaze to ribs later
For ribs that fall off the bone in a sticky sweet sauce, Drummond warns against a common mistake. Slow cook them first, then smother them in glaze. Not the other way around. This way your sauce will stick to the meat and not be diluted by the cooking juices.
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Guy Fieri: fry steak in oil and butter
He’s eaten a lot of good meat on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives so it’s safe to say Guy Fieri knows how to cook steak. When frying filet of beef, he suggests using olive oil and butter. You get the lovely, rich flavor from butter, but the oil stops it from burning.
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Guy Fieri: give meat space to brown
The Food Network chef is known for his love of Tex-Mex and has some great advice for slow-cooked chili. Before piling all the ingredients into the pot, brown off the meat in batches. This method gives it space in the pan to get a char. When the pan is overcrowded, meat steams instead.
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Guy Fieri: slow roast onion and garlic
The mayor of Flavortown has a tip for mellowing out the strong flavor of raw shallots and garlic. Slow roast them in the oven so they caramelize and become sweet. He then chops them and stirs into a roux for mac ‘n’ cheese.
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Guy Fieri: use bacon fat as the base for a roux
Fieri has another tactic for layering flavor into mac ‘n’ cheese. Fry bacon then use the fat as the base for a roux. After assembling all the ingredients in a dish, use that crunchy bacon you cooked earlier as a topping – genius.
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Rachael Ray: freeze cubes of roasted garlic and onion
Having racked up a total of 28 seasons of 30 Minute Meals on Food Network, Rachael Ray knows what she’s doing. Her trick for using up garlic and onions is to roast the garlic and caramelize the onion, then pack into ice cube trays and freeze. Whenever you have a sauce or soup that needs a little something extra, add one of these flavor bombs.
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Rachael Ray: make cannelloni with lasagna sheets
When Rachael Ray fancies cannelloni but hasn’t got any tubes, she makes her own out of lasagna sheets. Cook the flat pasta until flexible, spoon the filling on one end, roll them up and place in a baking dish seam-side-down. Cover in sauce and cheese, then bake until golden.
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Rachael Ray: increase potatoes’ surface area to make them crispy
The trick to crispy potatoes is to increase spuds’ surface area. When you make the surface area larger, more of it is exposed to the heat. To do this, Rachael squashes potatoes lightly with a fork. This technique works whether you are frying them or baking them.
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Mary Berry: the best meals have different textures and colors
Best known as a former judge on Great British Baking Show and a national treasure in the UK, Mary Berry has a bank of knowledge when it comes to baking, cooking and hosting. When cooking for guests she suggests impressing with a menu full of different textures and colors. She also warns against repetition, for example using cream in every course.
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Mary Berry: use seasonal produce
A fan of seasonal cooking, Mary Berry considers what produce is at its best and readily available when planning what to cook. In some instances recipes can be adapted. For example, use asparagus in chicken pot pie in spring and switch to kale or leeks in winter.
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Mary Berry: use full-fat cream cheese to ice cakes
On some occasions it’s best to stick to the recipe. Mary Berry insists full-fat cream cheese can’t be substituted for low-fat cream cheese when making cream cheese frosting. The reason is it will slide off – not to mention it isn’t as tasty.
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Julia Child: clear juices mean chicken is cooked
We couldn’t leave out the late, great Julia Child’s cooking advice. The star of The French Chef, Cooking with Master Chefs and more hated the idea of overcooked chicken and had a fool-proof test for telling when it was cooked. If cooked chicken is pierced with a fork or sharp knife, the juices run clear yellow, not pink.
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Julia Child: don’t worry about mistakes
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Ina Garten: add a cup of coffee to chocolate cake batter
The Barefoot Contessa swears by adding a cup of hot brewed coffee to dishes that involve chocolate such as brownies and cake. Declaring it her secret ingredient, she says it makes chocolate taste extra chocolatey.
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Ina Garten: coat add-ins with flour so they distribute evenly
When making chocolate and pecan scones, Ina Garten coats the chopped chocolate and pecans in flour before adding to the dough to ensure they distribute evenly. This tip also applies to fillings such as nuts and dried fruit when baking bread and cakes.
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Ina Garten: cook scrambled eggs on a low heat
According to Ina, there’s one key thing you need to know when making scrambled eggs: cook over a low heat. The reason is that protein gets tough on a high heat, so keeping the temperature low will make sure they stay tender. Also remove the scrambled egg from the heat just before it’s done as it will keep cooking in the pan.
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