Festive cooking hacks for an unforgettable holiday feast
As the festive season approaches, kitchens across South Africa are buzzing with the aromas of traditional treats and scrumptious meals.
Whether preparing a feast for family or hosting a gathering with friends, effective cooking hacks can be the secret ingredient to ensure your culinary success and elevate your holiday celebrations.
Here’s a selection of festive cooking tips that will not only streamline your meal preparation but also impress your guests.
Make-ahead magic
One of the greatest challenges of festive cooking is juggling multiple dishes at once. To avoid last-minute chaos, consider making dishes ahead of time.
Stews, casseroles, and sauces can often be prepared days in advance and frozen, allowing you to focus on other elements of your holiday meal without the stress of last-minute cooking.
Just remember to leave enough time for them to defrost before reheating! Desserts can also be left in the fridge for days. Side dishes like rice can be made a few hours before and left in the rice cooker to stay warm.
Utilise your slow cooker
For those who prefer to savour the festive spirit rather than spend all day in the kitchen, a slow cooker can be your best ally.
Dishes such as braised meats, mulled wine, or even desserts like sticky toffee pudding can be set to cook while you are busy mingling with guests.
This not only saves time but can also enhance the flavours of your dish as it cooks slowly and thoroughly.
Gifting from the kitchen
Homemade gifts add a personal touch to the festive season. Consider crafting jars of spice mixes, infused oils, or festive baked goods to share with loved ones.
These homemade treats are not only thoughtful but also provide an opportunity to showcase your culinary talents.
Presenting them in beautifully decorated jars can transform a simple homemade gift into something truly special.
Use baking soda to tenderise meat
If you are tired of toughness, the answer is baking soda. This tricky technique works for beef, chicken, and pork and is very easy to do. As strange as it may sound, the science behind this hack is simple.
The baking soda alkalises the surface of the meat, making it more difficult for the proteins to bond. This creates a much more tender and therefore delicious, piece of meat.
Simply rub your meat with baking soda, coating it thoroughly, then allow it to rest in the refrigerator for three to five hours. Rinse completely, then cook as you normally would for an exceptionally tender piece of meat.
Print out your recipes and tape them on your fridge or pantry door
By doing so, you can do them in order, know exactly what you need to get out for the next recipe and take them down as you go so you can essentially “check” them off the list of things that still need to be made.
This makes your time much more organised and in turn, more efficient.
Creative leftovers solutions
The festivities are often accompanied by an overload of delicious food. Instead of letting leftovers go to waste, embrace your creativity.
Transform roast vegetables into soups or frittatas, and turkey or chicken into delightful salads or sandwiches. Not only does this save money and reduce waste, but it also ensures that the festive flavours linger long after the celebrations have ended.
Chop and freeze your herbs
One of the most common holiday cooking hacks calls for chopping vegetables in advance. But once that is done, give your fresh herbs a chop too. After cutting to size, portion them in an ice cube tray and cover them with olive oil before freezing.
When needed, simply grab a cube and place it in a hot pan for fresh herbs on demand.
Involve the whole family
Cooking can often become a lonely task, especially during hectic holiday preparations. To create cherished memories and ease the workload, why not involve the whole family?
Kids and adults alike can participate in decorating holiday cookies, stuffing turkeys, or preparing side dishes. This not only makes meal preparation fun but also fosters connection and engagement among loved ones during the special season.
Keep it clean
No matter how carefully you grease and flour your baking pan, you’re still likely to end up scrubbing at a baked-on batter, especially in the hard-to-reach corners.
Make baking (and cleaning up) a breeze by lining your square or rectangular cake pan with a piece of foil long enough to hang over the sides.
When the timer goes off, and it’s time to transfer your cake, brownies or bars to a cooling rack, it’ll be easy to lift them out of the pan.
Culinary shortcuts
When time is of the essence, savvy chefs can rely on store-bought ingredients for a quick fix.
Pre-chopped vegetables, ready-made pastry, and even store-bought gravies can serve as time savers, freeing you up to add personal touches to these items with your favourite spices or aromatics.
Just a sprinkle of creativity can elevate these shortcuts into something gourmet.