Right, wrapping in foil is the same thing. I have a smoker, so it really isn’t usually an issue. It’s a good technique if I want ribs at the beach, or something.
I do this. My favorite is Better Than Boullion brand. It also works great to boost flavors in sauces and gravies.
I never knew we were supposed to be ashamed of pre-minced garlic, or buying chicken stock, but had I known, my shame would have been duly removed. I love fresh garlic (even buy some super fresh from the farmers market), but mincing it is a royal pain in my ass.
My new dirty secret --and you must swear to never tell my mother!-- is canned beans. I have never, until maybe three weeks ago, bought canned beans. Ma always made them the good old fashioned way, and so did my old man/personal chef. I’ve never really made a habit of cooking my own food until fairly recently, and discovered a lot of food I like is a pain in the ass to make. I hated getting to work and remembering, “Crap! I didn’t let the beans soak.” So one day I was at the supermarket, passed a $.70 can of black beans and thought, “Well how bad can it be?” It was indeed bland, but when I add my own magic to the mix, it’s edible, and takes a tiny fraction of the time. My slow-cooked beans are still far preferable, of course, but canned beans, I have discovered, are not the end of the world.
I tried to use the pre diced and mixed veggies shortcut, but I can’t ever find them with the veggies I like. If I could find any leafy green (turnip greens, spinach, whatever), cucumbers, red onions, green onions, bell peppers, minced jalapenos and cilantro pre mixed in a bag, I’d probably buy that.
I don’t use canned stock, but I sure as hell use the kind in the box.
I use Better than Bullion not as stock but as a flavor enhancer, like in my sherried tomato soup or with butter beans when I don’t want to bother with a ham hock. We just finished off a fantastic batch of butter beans with ham and andouille sausage that uses a bit of ham base for flavor. (Also savory and green peppercorns.)
I read it as “parbroil” and thought he meant to pre-cook in the oven. It makes sense for a large chunk of meat. I never nuke meats (or much of anything, really), as it generally turns to rubber.
Garlic Salt. Shut up!
Also TrueLime and TrueLemon. Citrus Drink Mixes and Salt-Free Seasonings | True Citrus A thousand times better-tasting than the pasteurized stuff, and I just don’t use them often enough to keep real ones on hand and in good condition.
I “saute” chopped garlic or onions in the microwave sometimes. A bit of olive oil in a little bowl, the onions, and 30 seconds in micro. Comes out fine.
I use canned refried beans because I can’t make them homemade worth a damn.
I start steaks on a cold pan when I’m too impatient to wait for it to heat up. Contrary to the claims of chefs, it still sears perfectly well, so nyah.
I buy Jimmy Dean or other cheapo breakfast sausage, and then add more seasoning to it so that it actually has robust flavor. I could make my own from scratch, but you try finding fatty ground pork - it’s all lean nowadays. And I’m not grinding five pounds of pork shoulder, either.
I’m going to have to find the tomato paste in a tube, I’ve been freezing the leftovers in a baggie with the air squeezed out.
I always use fresh garlic, because I really love garlic. I will sit there a long time with a toothpick cleaning out the garlic press too. And I use Swanson’s chicken broth.
My shortcut: I love making scrambled eggs and omelets. I throw some Hormel real bacon bits into the eggs before I cook them. It gives them a nice bacon-y flavor and I don’t have grease to clean up or too many fat calories.
I also like dried onions mixed in the eggs when I make cheese omelets, it gives them a nice flavor. (not 8 year old onions though)
I like to bake and make most things from scratch, but I still regularly use boxed cake mix, especially for cupcakes. Super fast, and ends up being much moister than most recipes… NEVER EVER EVER use canned frosting, though 
I am an inveterate “jarlic” user as well. At first it served as an emergency backup… And then, the occasional cheat to speed up dinner by 10 minutes or so… And now, SOP.
Same with the ginger. I not only use jarred minced ginger, but even… ginger powder. :o
Another reinforcing factor here is that my kids complain if they see chunks of ginger and garlic and refuse to eat the food on the grounds that it’s “too spicy”, but if I use the powder or finely minced form they never notice.
Another shortcut: egg whites from a carton, instead of separating out egg whites from whole eggs. Though the “real” egg whites taste much better, it always bugs me to throw out so much of the egg.
I draw the line at cilantro though - I can’t stand dried cilantro, they smell and taste mostly like green tea leaves to me. It’s gotta be fresh.
And as for pie crusts and tomato sauce - does anybody make those from scratch? Any more than, say, dumpling skins or pasta? (I know people do, but they’re surely the exception and not the rule – it’s not that we’re cheaters, it’s that they’re artisans!)
Not sure if that was a joke, but is there a difference?
I like the “jarlic” term! And I can’t believe how many other people are secret (or not so secret) jarlic uses. We need to form a support group. Maybe get Oprah to take up our cause!
Amazon to the rescue. Just add it to your next book order to save shipping.
For those who use soup base as we do, try Penzeys. Superior flavor all the way.
Then make custard at the same time!
I do to both - I rarely make a pie, and I find shop bought pie crusts too “American” for my tastes. I do admit to buying premade puff pastry and filo pastry, though, simply because I don’t know how to make those or really have space in my kitchen to roll something out that thin.
As for tomato sauce, I don’t eat it a lot, and it is so simple to make that I do it myself. I do keep a jar in the closet for when the zombie apocalypse comes and I can’t get fresh produce, though. That and to feed my son if he arrives late and I don’t have a chance to get to the store.
Cool, thanks! (I won’t order the sun dried flavor). I’ve seen the Penzey’s catalog here on the board before too.
Parbroiling is certainly better than parboiling, although I know people who parboil ribs and cuts of meat like that, so I assumed he meant parboiling, although you might be right.
I’ve actually never seen anyone use the parbroil in the oven, finish on the grill technique. I’ve seen braise-in-oven, finish on grill very occasionally, but pretty much all the backyard cookouts I’ve been to start with raw meat on the grill, and finish on the grill.
I use bottled lemon juice too.
I totally agree. Unless there will be a noticeable difference in the batter if I use separate bowls, everything gets dumped in the same one. I just whip the wet ingredients together first, then dump in all the dry.
Oh, my other kitchen shortcuts:
-I rarely every use chopped tomatoes when I’m cooking, even though I have pretty decently-producing tomato plants in my back yard. I usually use canned.
-I usually use frozen corn instead of fresh-from-the-cob for any recipe unless it’s corn on the cob.
I’m sure there are more, but I can’t think of them off the top of my head.
ETA: just thought of one. If I’m making a casserole with chicken (which is very rare), I always buy a rotisserie chicken and shred it. I almost never cook my own for a casserole.
For me? It’s always ready made pie crusts and pizza dough. I do so hate making dough of any kind.
Absolutely - the stuff in the aseptic packaging (the box) isn’t heated nearly as much in the process as the canned stuff is. It’s much, much better. Cook’s Illustrated stands behind it.
I buy prechopped celery when a recipe calls for it. If I buy a whole head of celery, it inevitably goes to waste after I’ve used the one or two stalks I need. Also, Trader Joes offers a prechopped mirepoix in their veggie section which I often grab.
I won’t used jarred minced garlic, because I’ve found some of it to be horribly bitter, but TJs does have pre-peeled cloves in little air-tight packets with a few cloves each, and it’s better quality than what I can buy fresh around here right now. I just get the cloves and crush them with a garlic press.
I use Swanson Chicken Broth all the time, and find it to taste quite good. And for tomatoes, I find Muir Glen canned to be totally palatable.