# Funny little kitchen tips & tricks **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 28, 2011, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-little-kitchen-tips-tricks/580051 "2011-04-28T16:37:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-little-kitchen-tips-tricks/580051/81 "2011-05-10T21:23:30Z")
Huh. The first thing our dishwasher does when it starts is turn on the pump to remove the ‘old’ standing water in the bottom, so putting the vinegar down there at the start would be a total waste. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-little-kitchen-tips-tricks/580051/82 "2011-05-10T21:33:10Z")
I use those antiseptic wipes to clean off my hand mixer. So much better than a soapy sponge. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-little-kitchen-tips-tricks/580051/83 "2011-05-10T21:35:23Z")
OK, if your dishwasher pumps water out, either open it up after the pumping is complete, or save up some old laundry detergent cups. Put the vinegar in the cups, and the cups in the top rack of the dishwasher. Usually, but not always, they’ll turn over during the cycle. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-little-kitchen-tips-tricks/580051/84 "2011-05-11T01:06:09Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > \Metal piping tips are the perfect support column! 😃 > Your turn! We warm ours open side down. They tend to rock a bit when handling the cookie sheet but the sides never collapse. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-little-kitchen-tips-tricks/580051/85 "2011-05-11T04:01:13Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > Ha! That reminds me of one I’ve seen somewhere - maybe Heloise. Use an old piece of stale bread as a spoon rest. Then, when the meal is ready, give the sauce-coated bread to the dog. > > When I have a dog, I plan to do this. 😃 So one of the “kitchen tips & tricks” you’re going to try involves _ **buying a dog** _. My “golly, I should pick up a pizza cutter” pales, man. ---
**Author:** ![Girl\_From\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Girl\_From\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_From_Mars)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-little-kitchen-tips-tricks/580051/86 "2011-05-11T10:52:27Z")
[Deseeding a pomegranate](http://www.metacafe.com/watch/448091/chefs_trick_deseeding_a_pomegranate_in_seconds/) made super easy and mess free. (I’ve tried it, it really works). ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-little-kitchen-tips-tricks/580051/87 "2011-05-11T13:15:09Z")
Oh, something I saw the sandwich place do yesterday which struck me as brilliant. They lay bacon on the heel of the bread to warm in the microwave. It soaks up the grease and uses nothing that you wouldn’t already throw out anyway. (Ignore this if you’re one of those crust eating weirdos ;)) ---
**Author:** ![justrob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9adbd/32.png) [@justrob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justrob)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-little-kitchen-tips-tricks/580051/88 "2011-05-11T14:39:15Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > I find that the dishwashing soap bottle quickly develops a crust of gummy soap on the top. When I need to just wash a few single items, I pop the dish washing brush down on top of the dishwashing soap bottle. It picks up a few crumbs of gummy soap, just enough to wash the few items under running hot water. No need to fill a sink! I put dish soap in one of those pump dispensers hand soap comes in. When I want to do just a couple dishes I wet the sponge and put a small squirt from the dispenser on it. Voila, soapy sponge. Plus the top of the bottle doesn’t get crusty. When I need to do a whole sink full of dishes I just use the pump to add a couple squirts of soap to the water. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-little-kitchen-tips-tricks/580051/89 "2011-05-11T17:23:20Z")
> [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > Huh. The first thing our dishwasher does when it starts is turn on the pump to remove the ‘old’ standing water in the bottom, so putting the vinegar down there at the start would be a total waste. Yes, but the point is, even then the vinegar works on the plumbing inside by talking out the calcium build up below. As others have mentioned, you could also pour some in a small lid that would flip over. Ours also pumps out first, but this vinegar trick has worked very well for us even so. ---
**Author:** ![Jennmonkye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/278dde/32.png) [@Jennmonkye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennmonkye)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-little-kitchen-tips-tricks/580051/90 "2011-05-11T23:44:45Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > If you’re really that concerned, throw a bit of color-fast bleach in with the clothes. Nothing’s going to live through that. Yep…I love bleach. It kills everything so I don’t mind wiping down the floor with the kitchen towels at the end of their round of service that day. ---
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2011, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-little-kitchen-tips-tricks/580051/91 "2011-05-29T18:57:21Z")
Ooh, I just thought of another one! I like to buy those little grape tomatoes for salads or to roast in the oven with garlic and kosher salt as a side dish with steak, but it took forever to slice them all in half until I read this trick in _Cook’s Illustrated_ (which is my favorite kitchen magazine). Take two tupperware lids. lay one upright and pile grape tomatoes (or grapes if you’re making tuna salad, etc.) on it in a single layer. Top with another tupperware lid, this one upside down, so the tomatoes are held inside the lip that runs around the lids. Take a long serrated knife and saw horizontally between the lids, and you’ve just halved twenty or more tomatoes in one fell swoop! ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2011, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-little-kitchen-tips-tricks/580051/92 "2011-05-29T20:57:32Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > If you’re really that concerned, throw a bit of color-fast bleach in with the clothes. Nothing’s going to live through that. And put aside a few “good” dishtowels to bring out when you have company over. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2011, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-little-kitchen-tips-tricks/580051/93 "2011-05-29T21:07:49Z")
> [@Chef\_Troy](#): > > Ooh, I just thought of another one! > > I like to buy those little grape tomatoes for salads or to roast in the oven with garlic and kosher salt as a side dish with steak, but it took forever to slice them all in half until I read this trick in _Cook’s Illustrated_ (which is my favorite kitchen magazine). > > Take two tupperware lids. lay one upright and pile grape tomatoes (or grapes if you’re making tuna salad, etc.) on it in a single layer. Top with another tupperware lid, this one upside down, so the tomatoes are held inside the lip that runs around the lids. Take a long serrated knife and saw horizontally between the lids, and you’ve just halved twenty or more tomatoes in one fell swoop! That…that’s BRILLIANT!!!eleventyone :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2011, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-little-kitchen-tips-tricks/580051/94 "2011-05-29T21:12:16Z")
My contribution: a potato peeler works in both directions; this makes peeling carrots very quick, indeed. Downstroke, rotate slightly, upstroke, rotate, repeat. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2011, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-little-kitchen-tips-tricks/580051/95 "2011-05-29T23:44:15Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > And when you’re done with that, toss that lemon or orange wedge into the garbage disposal and grind it up. Your sink will smell citrus-fresh. Then, open up the pipes beneath the sink, capture the citrus mush, dump in a cup of hot tea with a sprig of mint, and yum! ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-little-kitchen-tips-tricks/580051/96 "2011-05-30T01:19:08Z")
Chef Troy, that is a wonderful tip! And I say that as someone who just sliced a zillion grapes for a chicken salad. ---
**Author:** ![nashiitashii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@nashiitashii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nashiitashii)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-little-kitchen-tips-tricks/580051/97 "2011-05-30T01:41:33Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > My parents used to do the same with bacon grease. Pour over while still hot, allow to cool, give to dog. Dog considered it The Best Day Ever. > > Keeps their coats shiny, donchaknow. 😉 We have been known to have a day or two on occasion where we’ve forgotten to pick up dog food for the dogs. On these days, we make a pot of rice, add veggies and either small freeze-dried fish or some meat scraps to the rice with no sauce. Let it cool down for a few minutes, and the dogs have a “special dinner” that is still relatively healthy for them. Occasionally we’ll even put some leftover pan scrapings from a roast chicken or an egg-- either way, they’re both delighted with the change in menu. ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-little-kitchen-tips-tricks/580051/98 "2011-05-30T02:11:09Z")
Here’s another banana tip: when your bananas get a bit past the stage that you like to eat them, put them in a zip bag and freeze them, skin and all. Then, when you want to make banana bread, banana muffins or a smoothie, just peel and squeeze. For baking, they are already liquified, so no having to mush them up. ---
**Author:** ![FallingLeaves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/54ee81/32.png) [@FallingLeaves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FallingLeaves)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-little-kitchen-tips-tricks/580051/99 "2011-05-30T04:11:32Z")
Pizza cutters are great for cutting brownies too. Also, an easy way to line a pan with foil for that brownie batter, turn the pan over first and get a sort of mold of the pan with foil, then turn over and place inside. Leave the edges folding over a bit so you can lift the brownies (or cake or whatever) out. No digging in the pan to get that first piece out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funny-little-kitchen-tips-tricks/580051.md?page=4)