Player Level: Intermediate

Hack Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ 1/5

If you ever want to add a unique feature to your mine or underground base, consider this hack to create a floating platform in the void. If you’re playing on survival, you’ll need to follow along with realeliteg’s video tutorial on breaking bedrock.

This one is for the most patient of players. I spent twenty minutes trying to get all the boats to float before accepting that I would have only two boats to stand on. It’s relatively easy to set up, but the trickiest part of it all is breaking the slabs. I’d recommend turning on hit boxes with F3 + B. Also, make sure not to fall into the void, set your spawn point in panic, and end up in a death loop.

Player Level: Beginner

Hack Rating: ★★★★☆ 4/5

While many already know that a beacon’s color can be changed, some may not know how creative you can get! H3yimrobby’s TikTok shows how to make a rainbow beacon light (and keep this one in your back pocket for Pride Month)!

This was super quick, easy, and a great inspiration to make your beacon’s light look cool. Try it with gradient coloring too! You’ll thank us later.

Player Level: Intermediate

Hack Rating: ★★★★☆ 4/5

Firstly, I say this is for intermediates because it will cost you enchantment points. Otherwise, this is an easy Minecraft hack to get an organized chest room and I already plan to use this in my survival multiplayer server in the future. Another TikTok by h3yimrobby shows you a new way to organize without pesky signs or item frames.

It’s clean. It’s simple. Marie Kondo would be proud!

Player Level: Intermediate

Hack Rating: ★★☆☆☆ 2/5

Some hacks require more work than others. The main reason I added joey_mebes’ TikTok to my list was to see if it actually worked. I had little hope, but was pleasantly surprised that it managed to duplicate the carpet!

Practicality wise I don’t think this is very efficient since it’s easier to find sheep than slime. I also tested to see if trapdoors or pressure plates worked, however, there was no success. It’s a very specific hack for a specific need.

Player Level: Beginner

Hack Rating: ★★★☆☆ 3/5

Have you ever looked at a Pillager and thought, “I need one in my house” or watched them stand around aimlessly while you lurk behind a tree and wondered, “I want to be their friend”? Do you have at least 10 minutes to AFK in Minecraft?

Then give taming a Pillager a try. Chickenatormc’s TikTok says it takes 10 minutes to break a Pillager’s crossbow, but it took just over 15 minutes for me. Make sure you stay no more or less than 1 block away to avoid getting hit with arrows. There’s little they can do besides walk around making noise, so if you ever want to make a Pillager museum, this hack’s for you!

Player Level: Intermediate

Hack Rating: ★★★☆☆ 3/5

I’m the type of Minecraft builder who likes furniture to have some functionality and not just for decoration. Which is why I was excited to test out justtides’ TikTok on a working bathtub in Minecraft.

I can confidently say I managed to build a working bathtub! Not in the sense of giving a boost or health regeneration, but you pull the lever and water fills up the tub. The best part? If you hit the lever again, the water goes away, ready for use the next time you need a bath!

Player Level: Beginner

Hack Rating: ★★★★☆ 4/5

This Minecraft hack is one that I’m not fully convinced on how practical it is. Does it work? Absolutely! However, it’s hard to justify having a bunch of chests with water on and around them inside your base. I do think this would be a good trick if you need to protect a chest while playing on a competitive multiplayer server like KingdomCraft!

This TikTok features hacks originally created by Skip the Tutorial on YouTube.

Player Level: Beginner

Hack Rating: ★★★★☆ 4/5

One of the most common builds everyone starts off attempting in Minecraft are castles. Even to this day, I always end up making a castle in a new world. Perhaps it’s my dream home, or perhaps it’s simply because I like having the height advantage over my enemies. I must have watched Slazeyt16’s TikTok over 50 times because I was stunned at how simple this was.

This TikTok hack is a super-efficient way to build a castle or other large build if you don’t have any mods installed or just don’t know how to use Minecraft commands. It’s also a safer way to quickly build while high up if you’re playing in survival mode!

Codsworth is a domestic model (a robot butler prior to the fallout) Mister Handy who made its first appearance in Fallout 4. Fallout is an amazing game with killer graphics, fun gameplay, and thoughtful writers. Everything from creating the protagonist (Sole Survivor), to collecting resources, to killing enemies is nothing short of epic. When I first started playing, I played because of Codsworth. Yes, he is literally the reason I started playing. I wanted to play the game with the cute robot companion and retro soundtrack. Big mistake. Huge. While he starts out useful at the beginning of the game, Codsworth is one of the most annoying companions I’ve ever had the displeasure of playing alongside.

Why Codsworth is an annoyance

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There are many reasons why Fallout fans find Codsworth annoying. Here is just a few of them:

1. He is a smug robot butler. Can robots be smug? He has a know-it-all attitude that is intolerable. He knows everything, and you, Sole Survivor, know nothing.
2. His jokes are like robot-dad jokes and they are never very funny.
3. Like many characters on this list, his voice is annoying.

Minecraft is oddly satisfying. The sounds. The digging and chopping and searching for resources. The different terrains and the way everything changes at night. I spent days building the biggest treehouse with the longest spiral staircase of all time one winter; it was a blast. There is a reason Minecraft is such a fun game for all ages and backgrounds. It’s so creatively driven and the pigs are basically the cutest thing on the planet. However, this is one Minecraft mob that is annoying and always comes out of nowhere to ruin your peace: skeleton mobs. While there are a few creatures on Minecraft that can be sources of frustration and annoyance (spiders make the most annoying noises in Minecraft), skeleton mobs seem to be the most universally hated among the bunch.

Why skeleton mobs are an annoyance

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So, skeletons tend to be useful, because they drop resources that can be used in-game, but that doesn’t make them any less annoying when they decide to show up in a mob with all their dead skeleton friends. When they travel in mobs, they tend to all be shooting arrows at once and it seems impossible to dodge them and fight them off or run away at the same time. It’s always arrows from every foreseeable direction possible and it’s, you guessed it, annoying!

Sarah Palmer, a Spartan commander, had to make this list because she is maybe one of the most talked-about characters in the Haloverse simply for being annoying and even hated. Halo is one of the most played and most loved video games of all time, by far. People either love it, or they respect it for being a great game that just isn’t their style (for the most part). I’ve never heard of anyone hating Halo. Do you hate Halo? I’d actually love to test this theory out! Regardless, even those who love Halo, who play the game religiously, hate Sarah Palmer. I didn’t find her as annoying as most did, but I get it. She has some personality traits that can be annoying in-game.

Why Sarah Palmer is an annoyance

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Sarah Palmer is kind of awesome. She’s a female Spartan commander who has climbed her way to the top. At first glance, she’s amazing, or I thought so at least. However, there are a few key aspects to her characterization that make her annoying. The main reasoning behind her annoyance is that she doesn’t have much of a personality. She’s bland and a bit boring as a character, especially considering she is this woman and a commander who really had the potential to be an awesome character. I think the unreached potential behind the character is what makes her a real annoyance for me.

As a big, huge, totally giant fan of CRPGs, I had to add Noober from Baldur’s Gate, in 1998, to the list. Baldur’s Gate was a fantasy lover’s dream, set in the Forgotten Realms and using Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules in gameplay. Most people don’t remember his name, but they remember him in all his annoying glory: Noober. Noober was widely considered one of the most annoying NPCs in the game and is still considered one of the most annoying characters in the gaming sphere. Even if most gamers can’t remember who he was, if they played Baldur’s Gate they remember a few choice things about him they wish they didn’t have to remember in the first place.

Why Noober was an annoyance

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Did Noober ever stop talking? Did he ever stop saying redundant, meaningless, stupid things that seemed to play on an endless loop? Did he bother you endlessly like he did me? While he was only a brief part of the game, I have to say: I remember very few things about Baldur’s Gate, but I remember Noober. He is still annoying me by taking up space in my brain. Tell me I’m not alone!

If you are a lover of strategy games with cute champions, you have probably played, or want to play, League of Legends There are some ridiculously cute enemies and champions and the game itself is chock-full of great battles and challenging gameplay. There are a few characters throughout the game that, though completely and utterly adorable in every sense of the word, are beyond annoying. If you’ve played League of Legends, you know Teemo, the fuzzy yordle, is one of them.

Why Teemo is an annoyance

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He’s fuzzy. His outfit is cute. His face is cute. Even his deadly mushroom is cute. Everything about him, head to toe, it completely adorable, and yet I had the responsibility of adding him to this list. Teemo is annoying. He is a trickster, who can go invisible, blind you, and poison you. If you try to chase him or escape his deadly clutches, you end up stepping on his mushroom and die. His skills are impressive and deadly behind that cute exterior. To top it off, his laugh is annoying. If he wasn’t so cute, I might dislike him even more than I already do.

The Witcher was first a popular and well-written book series, then a great game, and now a TV series on Netflix. The Witcherverse is expansive and every little detail is beloved by its fans. The Witcher game series doesn’t stay completely true to the books, taking some creative liberties, but still stays true to Geralt and The Witcherverse. Having read the books after playing the games, I think I saved myself from any complaints on accuracy. Either way, I loved The Witcher and The Witcherverse. There was, however, one character that really bothered me during gameplay and that was Phillippa Eilhart.

Why Phillippa Eilhart is an annoyance

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Phillippa has been through some serious stuff. She had her eyes gouged out, and I cannot imagine that it gets any worse than that. I feel for her and admire her determination and strength, but the way she treats Geralt, Yennifer, and Fringilla is annoying and frustrating. Here are the reasons why many The Witcher fans find her one of the most annoying characters of all time:

1. She treats Geralt and the other characters badly, especially Geralt.
2. She is untrustworthy and dangerous. She is not dependable.
3. She is extremely conceited, which I find an annoying trait in anyone, characters included.

I love a good story-based adventure game. It’s part movie, part game, like those decision-making storybooks I used to get at the library as a kid. I downloaded Life is Strange on mobile, because I am a huge fan of being able to move from room to room to room while gaming (just my style). Here’s the thing, the game has some great writers behind it. There are some clichés regarding the characters and the main villain in the series, but there are also many beautiful moments throughout the series and the gameplay is enjoyable and creative.

I loved Life is Strange. I loved being able to rethink my decisions and quickly rewind. However, I am not a fan of Maxine Caulfield. She took me out of the story several times throughout the series and I didn’t enjoy her as a protagonist.

Why Maxine Caulfield was an annoyance

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Maxine Caulfield is annoying for many, many reasons. Here are my top three reasons for her annoyance level:

1. She is clueless. Maxine Caulfield has a very low level of personal awareness. She needs a serious wake-up call on how to be a good friend and how to pay attention to her surroundings.
2. Though she is generally a kind person who wants to help others, she tends to be fairly selfish and makes a lot of selfish decisions while also saying she wants to help. Maybe, Max needs some help on how to help.
3. She’s has a very low-energy, distant, disconnected personality. She’s pretty bland.

The Elder Scrolls series is my favorite gaming series of all time. It’s open-world. The story and back story are amazing. The gameplay is unbeatable. I don’t know that there are many games that can rival it, but that’s just one girl’s opinion. The point is, it’s an amazing series. Many Elder Scrolls fans believe that The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is the best of the series. It isn’t my favorite of the series, but I can understand why Morrowind is a fan favorite. However, if you played the game, you know that in The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind there was one particular Elder Scrolls beast that made its first appearance in Morrowind at Stonefalls that was very difficult to beat: cliff racers.

Why cliff racers are an annoyance

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Cliff racers are evil, borderline possessed beasts that made their appearance in Morrowind and have been part of The Elder Scrolls series ever since. They are aggressive, persistent, and hard to beat. Their enthusiastic aggression is annoying. The difficulty of beating them is annoying. I may or may not be guilty of yelling at my computer monitor on several occasions because of these guys. The Elder Scrolls fans know what I mean.

Mortal Kombat was the game to play in the ’90s and early ’00s and is still one of the most popular video games of all time because of its playable characters and incredible gameplay. Beating my brother as Kitana will never slip my memory (He was so good at the game that I never beat him again). Hsu Hao made his first appearance in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance in 2002, quickly became one of the most hated video game characters of all time, and is still known by most as one of the worst, if not the worst, Mortal Kombat character in the series.

Why Hsu Hao was an annoyance

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There’s no mystery here. Hsu Hao was bad. It’s rumored that even the creators of Mortal Kombat disliked Hsu Hao. The overall design, in comparison with the other characters, is bad. His outfit is bad, he has a chest laser, and he’s a boring character. While he has a lot of decent skills they don’t make for great gameplay. He’s been considered the blandest character in Mortal Kombat and it’s pretty clear why.

Borderlands is one of my favorite first-person shooters. Though first-person shooters aren’t my favorite, I gave Borderlands a chance and never looked back. Claptrap, a CL4P-TP robot, makes his first appearance in Borderlands in 2009. Borderlands fans either loved or hated him pretty instantaneously. At first glance, I thought he was cute. Animated robots are generally cute, aren’t they? While Claptrap is a little beat up, he’s still cute, but he is still annoying. The personality he is programmed with really cramped my style while playing Borderlands.

Why Claptrap was an annoyance

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The definition of claptrap, according to Oxford Languages, is, “absurd or nonsensical talk or ideas.” This definition sums up the annoyance that is Claptrap. Unlike Codsworth from Fallout 4, Claptrap is known for his overenthusiastic, attention-seeking, and lonely. While he talks and brags a lot, he’s not quite as smug as Codsworth (though he’s only slightly less annoying). I really felt bad for the lonely robot, programmed with this annoying personality, but not enough so that he didn’t drive me nuts.

If you haven’t played Genshin Impact, you should. Beautiful art, elemental magic, a massive open-world, and diverse characters make it one of the best RPGs I’ve played. If you like anime or RPGs and enjoy a variety of side-quests, Genshin Impact is for you. I started playing this game on mobile and loved the world Teyvat. I’ve lost hours and hours of my life playing this game, and regret nothing. However, the companion in Genshin Impact, Paimon, is annoying.

Paimon acts as a guide and a companion in Genshin Impact, while the protagonist (that’s you!) adjusts to the world of Teyvat. At first, I found her super cute, but eventually, she became annoying. Many Genshin Impact fans and active players also consider her an annoyance even refer to her as “emergency food,” and there are also many interactions within gameplay where you can refer to her as “emergency food.”

Why Paimon is an annoyance

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Paimon always refers to herself in the third person, never stops talking, and has a very grating, high-pitched voice. She always seems to be right there next to you, telling you what to do when you have other things in mind. She just never stops and it’s annoying. As cute as she is, she’s still emergency food to me.

Navi, who made her first appearance in Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time in 1998, is simultaneously one of the most iconic and one of the most annoying characters of all time. I hesitated to add Navi to this list, because, if I am being honest, I loved Navi. I know every other Zelda fan in the nation, continent, and the world seems to have found her annoying, but I thought she was an adorable addition to Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask. I always considered her the Tinkerbell of Zelda.

Who doesn’t want a sweet, little sidekick helping out, while they run around saving the world? Even in The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, the cut-scene at the opening of the game insinuates that Navi is Link’s “beloved and invaluable friend.” Navi, maybe nobody else appreciated your good intentions, but Link and I sure did.

Why Navi was an annoyance

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So, there are a few reasons why Navi was annoying, but there were a few core reasons most Zelda fans found her annoying. Check them out:

1. Her voice. Her very, very high-pitched voice. This was the main reasoning behind Zelda fan’s clear hatred of the cute, fairy side-kick.
2. She was constantly talking. She was a bossy, talkative little fairy. The chatter was very consistent during gameplay.
3. Her dialogue. The dialogue in conjunction with the high-pitched voice and constant talking is what deemed her annoying. “Hey!” “Hello!” “Watch out!” “Listen!” were exclaimed a little too frequently throughout gameplay.

The Sims is very nostalgic for us millennials. We played The Sims in our pajamas, on the family computer (before the time when everyone had laptops), and lost days of our lives giving our sim the life we dreamed of. We learned the rosebud cheat code that gave us money and decked out our houses with the best that The Sims had to offer.

As The Sims evolved and fans started buying expansions, the addictiveness of the nostalgic game only grew and grew. However, I have a big, but tiny and annoying caveat when it comes to The Sims 4: Cats & Dogs. The cats are annoying.

Why the cats are an annoyance

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As a Sims and cat fan, I was excited when this expansion came out. I have cats, two beautiful but naughty three-year-old cats that I love to death, but the cats in The Sims 4: Cats & Dogs are the most annoying video game animals of all time. The meowing is constant. It never seems to stop. If you are anything like me and have way too many cats in your decked-out sim house, you regretted it after experiencing the continuous meowing. It is worse when you fast forward because the meowing is high and accelerated.

Slippy Toad is a toad and mechanic that made his appearance in Star Fox in 1993. Like many characters on this list, Slippy Toad is nearly universally hated, though there are some that bear the unpopular opinion that he wasn’t so bad after all. The Star Fox series was a ridiculously fun third-person spaceship shooter during a time when spaceship shooters were the highlight of the gaming sphere. Slippy Toad was a huge part of the series, and my theory is that part of why players found him so annoying was that he was so integral to the series as a good friend of Fox’s. Had he been a smaller part of the series, Star Fox fans might have gone easier on him.

Why Slippy Toad was an annoyance

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Slippy Toad was an annoyance for a few distinct reasons, even though I kind of have a soft spot for the helpless toad. Here they are:

1. He needed a lot of help. He really was helpless. He always needed help with something, and players tend to find him inadequate as a character.
2. His voice is a bit annoying (voice acting done by Lyssa Browne). It’s not quite as annoying as some character’s voices, but it’s up there.

Baby Mario made his first appearance in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island and remind an integral part of the Yoshi’s Island series. I miss Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island. I played Yoshi’s Island on our big, heavy box TV in the living room and loved every second of it. The graphics were fun and lively, Yoshi finally got his due as a protagonist, and there was so much exploring to be done.

Baby Mario and Yoshi searched for Mario’s brother, Luigi in hopes of rescuing him (kidnapped by Kamek). Yoshi’s island is one of the best games of all time with iconic characters and legendary bosses. However, Baby Mario made this game unbearable to play at times. While he was notoriously cute, he came with a big, unavoidable annoyance.

Why Baby Mario was an annoyance

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Baby Mario had a serious annoyance factor that is undeniable. There is not a human alive who played Yoshi’s Island and doesn’t know where I’m going with this. Crying and more crying.

I know babies cry. We all know this small bit of human knowledge. It’s universal, but this game took it to a whole new level. Baby Mario’s crying was jarring, loud, and repetitive. Everytime Baby Mario was kidnapped, the tears came and it was enough to turn the volume down (or off all together).

Sharp knives are crucial for any cook. Dull or blunt knives can be extremely dangerous. The amount of physical strength you need to cut with a dull knife is not just tiring, it’s also what makes cutting with dull knives dangerous. There are many reasons to consider keeping a set of sharper knives in your kitchen.

Why you should own sharp knives

• Fine cuts: Using sharp knives means being able to get fine, accurate cuts. Mincing is much easier and more accurate with a sharp knife.
• Cooking and cutting: When your knives are sharp, you will get more accurate cut vegetables and proteins, which means more evenly cooked food. The more evenly cooked your food, the better the textures and flavors of your dish.
• Longevity- Sharper knives that are maintained and sharpened can last years and years. That means no wasting money on a new pair of knives every few years.

Sharp knives don’t have to be expensive. They can be affordable staples in your home. However, if you want to invest in an expensive set of chef’s knives that you can keep and sharpen for most of your lifetime, go for it!

Knife skills are a real asset in the kitchen. Knowing how to cut things properly and being able to do it quickly and efficiently makes cooking big meals less intimidating, but it’s also an enjoyable part of the process. I love prep work. There’s something soothing and methodical about peeling and cutting potatoes for a stew. Cutting and chopping properly is a bigger part of the finished dish than most people realize. Hone your knife skills to work faster, more efficiently, and end up with dishes that are cooked evenly.

Essential knife skills

• Fingertips- Curl your fingertips under while holding the item you’re cutting to avoid cutting yourself.
• Knives- Make sure you are using the right knife for the right task. For example, a chef’s knife is best for vegetables and proteins. A serrated knife should be used to cut bread. A paring knife also works for most vegetables, though it isn’t ideal for tomatoes or bigger vegetables.
• Rock- Rock your knife in a back and forth motion like a boat might rock instead of an up and down motion.
• Paper towel- Put a damp paper towel under your cutting board if it is moving around. The paper towel will keep it stable.
• Onion- Cutting an onion properly for stews, soups, and other dishes, will cut down on the tears and help you avoid unevenly cut onions. Gordon Ramsay’s onion cutting tutorial is my favorite!

I’m a huge multitasker, so there have been many times that I’ve been cooking pasta, took a break to do some laundry, and came back into the kitchen to overflowing pasta water. While this trick isn’t the most impressive, it has been one of the most used cooking tricks in my kitchen. To avoid a volcano of overflowing pasta water on your stovetop try the wooden spoon hack.

How to use the wooden spoon hack

• Fill your pot with water and bring it to a boil.
• Add your pasta.
• Lay a wooden spoon across the top of your pot.

There are some arguments about whether this hack works, but keep in mind it isn’t intended to prevent boiling over if your pot is on the highest heat possible. Remember, if you bring your water to boil on the highest heat, that you need to turn down the heat to medium or medium-high after adding the pasta.

I used to hate cooking bacon, though I loved eating it. It was such a messy process, no matter what I did, my cooktop was splattered in grease every time. Even using a splatter screen was never full-proof. Baking bacon is an easier, hands-off option for cooking bacon and the result is always the same: crisp, evenly cooked bacon and clean cooktops.

How to bake bacon

• Preheat your oven to 400°F (204°C).
• Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper.
• Bake for 15 minutes.
• Flip the bacon and bake for another 5 minutes.

Deglazing sounds fancy, but it’s just a fancy word for adding broth (or stock), water, or wine to a hot pan to dissolve or release the stuck bits of food at the bottom of a pan. When sauteing vegetables and proteins, the carmelized food particles that are left behind in the pan are extremely flavorful. If you have ever watched The Worst Cooks in America then you’ve heard Anne Burrell say, “Brown food is good!” Brown food is definitely good. Deglazing embraces brown food to add a depth of flavor in sauces and soups.

How to Deglaze

• After cooking your vegetables or proteins, put them aside.
• Add your broth (or stock), water, or wine to the pan.
• Stir and lightly scrape away the browned bits at the bottom of the pan as the liquid softens them.
• Cook on medium or medium-high heat until everything is incorporated.
• If you are making a sauce, and not a soup, add your thickening agents or slurry.
• Add the vegetables and/or proteins back to the pan.
• Finish your dish.

“En papillote” is a French cooking technique that dates back to the 17th century meaning cooked in paper or foil. By cooking meat, vegetables, and adding oil and acid, you’re able to steam your dish and keep all the flavor and aroma within the packet. It’s also extremely easy and mess-free with minimal dishes or cleanup. Fish en papillote is the most commonly known use of this French method, but there are many other ways to use the en papillote method. You can bake chicken en papillote, tofu en papillote, or even pork en papillote.

Salmon en papillote recipe

• Preheat your oven to 425°F (218°C).
• Lay down a piece of parchment big enough to hold your salmon and asparagus.
• Snap the tough ends of your asparagus off.
• At the bottom of your parchment, lay down a few spears of fresh asparagus.
• Add a salmon fillet on top.
• Season with salt and fresh cracked pepper.
• Finely slice a lemon and lay two to three slices over the salmon.
• Drizzle with oil or tabs of butter (about a tablespoon).
• Fold over the parchment paper and bake for 10-15 minutes.

If you’ve never wrapped en papillote, try using the method below!

One of the most common mistakes at-home cooks make is overcrowding the pan. When you overcrowd a pan, the food inside it isn’t able to cook evenly, the food won’t brown (brown food is good, remember?), the pan cannot regulate the heat as well, and your vegetables and meat will tend to be soggier than they are crunchy. If your pan is overcrowded, you won’t get a good, golden sear on your proteins.

How to avoid overcrowding

• Make sure there is enough room in the pan. For example, if you are cooking chicken breast, make sure there is space between each breast.
• If you have to, cook your proteins in batches. It’s better to cook it in batches, and end up with delicious food, then try to rush through and end up with soggy, bland food.
• Use a pan or skillet big enough to accommodate your food. If you have a bigger skillet, use it.

Are you cooking your rice correctly? Rinsing and properly cooking rice is crucial to getting restaurant-quality rice at home. While there are many ways to cook rice, not all of them will give you that restaurant-quality rice that makes the rice taste so much better than yours does at home.

How to make restaurant-quality rice

• Rinse your rice! Gently rinse rice before cooking.
• Add the rice to your rice cooker. Using a rice cooker will get you perfectly cooked rice and consistent results every time.
• Add two parts water to your one parts rice. If you have one cup of rice, add about 2 cups of water.
• Turn on your rice cooker depending on its settings and cook times.
• Do not interrupt the cooking process. Let your rice cooker do the work.

Have you ever had a serious craving for buttermilk pancakes or waffles, but you didn’t have any buttermilk on hand? You can make a creamy buttermilk substitute by added a bit of vinegar to your milk. This trick sounds a bit odd, but the vinegar and milk together create a bit of simple chemistry with amazing results. You can even do this trick with vegan milk substitutes like almond milk.

How to make a buttermilk substitute

Make sure to use white distilled vinegar. If you don’t have white vinegar you can try lemon juice!

• Measure out the amount of buttermilk needed for your recipe and put it into a cup or saucer.
• Add 1 tsp. per cup of milk. If you have 3 cups of milk, add 1 1/2 tsp. of vinegar.

Knowing the correct flavor pairings and how to make them work for you could be the difference between edible food and a food experience. Have you ever ate a meal that felt balanced? All the flavors were just right. The perfect amount of salty and sweet or sweet and spicy? That balance is what makes the perfect entree or dessert.

The universal flavor profiles are: sweet, salty, spicy, bitter, and umami. Certain flavor combinations enhance or balance each other. Here’s how you can use them to your advantage:

Common flavor combinations

• Sweet and salty- Think french fries and chocolate milkshakes or chocolate-covered pretzels. Sweet and salty can work great in big dishes too. Try apple slices with brie or in a grilled cheese, pair apples with pork chops or bacon, or eat the classic Italian appetizer, melon and prosciutto.
• Sweet and sour- Sweet and sour chicken is a good example of sweet and sour, but that example barely skims the surface. My favorite sweet and sour combo is strawberry and balsamic chicken.
• Sweet and bitter- Adding sugar to your coffee is a small, everyday example of how sweetness balances bitterness. The same practice is used when sugar is sprinkled over grapefruit. Endives, a leafy vegetable known for their bitterness, are commonly cooked in butter and a dash of sugar to balance their bitterness.
• Sour and salty- While it doesn’t sound like a common match, sour and salty flavors are in salad dressings, sauces, and marinades. Even sour cream with salty tortilla chips is an example of sour and salty. Italian dressings that use parmesan cheese or anchovies in Ceaser dressing are typical, everyday examples of how well sour and salty work together to enhance and achieve balance.
• Sweet and umami- An orange and soy glaze for chicken or tofu is the perfect example of sweet and umami. The sweetness of the orange and the umami of the soy create a perfectly balanced sauce for chicken and rice. Another example of sweet and umami is when cooks put sugar in their tomato-based sauces. Tomatoes are typically considered umami, and the sugar balances and enhances their flavor.
• Sweet and spicy- Sweet chili sauces in stir fry, honey and jalapeno cornbread, and spicy pepper jelly are delicious ways to combine sweet and spicy. The sweetness balances the spicy.

The easiest hack of the bunch, deciding against draining your beans when putting them into stews, soups, and chillis, is worth real consideration. While the liquid that comes with beans tends to include a lot of sodium, it also contains a lot of flavors from the beans. When adding the liquid along with your beans, consider the salt content and adjust your seasoning to prevent an oversalted dish, or buy sodium-free beans.

Why you should consider adding the entire can

• Have you ever made a soup or dish that is better the next day, after the flavors had a real chance to marry? The liquid the beans are preserved in also contains tons of flavor.
• Adding the liquid can help marry the flavors of the beans into the sauce or soup you are cooking them in.
• The liquid can also help with the consistency of stews and chillis by thickening them.

Adding salt to your garlic while mincing is one of my favorite, simple hacks for a few reasons. First, by adding a sprinkle of salt to the garlic, you break down the garlic making it much easier to mince finely. If you are trying to achieve minced garlic that borders on a paste (the finer the mince the more flavorful the dish), adding garlic helps in the breakdown process so that you have less work to do. However, adding salt also stops the garlic from sticking so much to your knife.

Mincing garlic with salt

• Carefully crush the cloves with the flat of your knife.
• Peel the cloves.
• Cut off the root ends of the garlic.
• Cut the garlic into slices.
• Add a dash of salt.
• Mince the garlic in a rocking motion.

If you want to take it one step further and make garlic paste, try the tutorial below!

One of the biggest mistakes at-home cooks make is not seasoning as they go. Many cooks season in the beginning, taste their food at the end, and add whatever seasoning they feel is lacking before garnishing. This method isn’t necessarily bad, but if you get to the end of your cook time and find your dish is lacking in a particular seasoning, it may be too late for the seasoning to get truly incorporated. If you forgot a seasoning, and you wait to taste until the end of your cook time, it will be too late.

While salt and pepper can be added at the end of cook time, even salt and pepper should be added as you go so they have a chance to incorporate into your dish.

How to season as you go

• Follow your recipe by adding the necessary seasonings needed at the beginning of cooking
• About halfway through the needed cook-time, check your dish to make sure it has enough salt, pepper, or other seasonings. If you need more dried basil or oregano, you know in plenty of time to fix the issue. Adding dried herbs or other seasonings too late in the cooking process will not give them enough time to flavor the dish.
• When you have about 5-minutes of cook time left, check your dish again. If a little salt, pepper, acid (squeeze of lemon or lime) is needed, you can add it during the last five minutes. Doing this while the heat is still being applied means the seasonings can dissolve and get incorporated properly.

Garbage bowls are used by the likes of Gordon Ramsay and Rachel Ray. Rachel Ray even sells a replication of her own garbage bowl that you can add to your kitchen. However, any spare bowl big enough for your use is perfect to use as a garbage bowl. It doesn’t have to be pretty or new, as long as it can hold your garbage, it can be made a garbage bowl.

Using a garbage bowl is easy. Put out your garbage bowl while you do your prep work, and as you go add any items you need to throw away to the bowl.

Why use a garbage bowl

• Save yourself many trips to the garbage can. Once you are done, dump your garbage bowl in the trash and wash it.
• Be better about composting. If you compost, garbage bowls are a helpful way to make sure you don’t throw away anything you intend to compost.

Many at-home cooks that are still learning tend to either burn things or are afraid of turning the heat up on their stovetop. Don’t be afraid of heat. While there are times you absolutely don’t want to cook on high heat (when caramelizing onions for one), there are many times that food should be cooked on medium-high to high heat. Cooking on low heat in instances when high heat is necessary can result in soggy or bland food.

When you should crank up the heat

• For crispy, salty fish skin, cook skin side down first on medium-high to high heat. Three-fourths of the cooking time should be on the skin side down. Just before flipping, turn the heat down to medium. Feel free to check the edges of the fish skin to avoid burning, and trust your knowledge of the temperature of your stove.
• For perfectly seared steak, sear on medium-high to high heat depending on your range and preferred doneness. For a medium-rare steak, try four minutes per side.
• Using medium-high to high heat is ideal for stirfrying. It allows you to avoid soft, soggy vegetables in your stirfry.

Remember, not every stove’s temperature range is the same. I tend to sear my fish on medium-high, because my stovetop runs hot, while my oven has average heat. Figure out your stovetop’s heat first.

Asparagus is by far my favorite vegetable, but the fibrous ends are completely inedible. Knowing where the fibrous part of the stalk ends, and where to cut, can be tricky since each stalk is different. The best way to test your asparagus stalk is to let the asparagus tell you where the soft, tasty part ends and the woody, inedible part begins. By bending the asparagus, the asparagus will naturally break and you can toss the ends or use them for other purposes.

How to break asparagus

• Hold the stalk of asparagus at both ends.
• Slide the hand that is holding the top, buttery part of the asparagus closer to the woody part.
• Gently bend until the asparagus breaks.

Keep in mind that asparagus can break anywhere, so making sure you guide your hands closer to where the fibrous part and soft part of the asparagus meet. This helps you to avoid waste.

Trusted your taste and judgment as a cook is important. Have you ever read a recipe and an ingredient or suggestion within the recipe had you itching your head in confusion? Something about it felt off? Too much sugar or water or an odd ingredient that you have an inkling is off? Trust your instincts. While you don’t want to avoid every unique combination you see, often many unique or odd combinations are balancing or enhancing combinations, you should still go with your gut!

How to better trust your judgment in the kitchen

• Taste your food. A recipe might not call for a splash of lemon, but if it’s too greasy or needs a dash of acid, give it a go. Trust your tastebuds when they are happy or tell you there is something missing.
• Use your nose. Does something smell off? Does it smell so good you can hardly wait another minute? Trust that instinct.
• If an element of a recipe feels off but you aren’t sure, do some research. Cinnamon doesn’t sound like a good pairing with chili, but it’s often used in chili recipes as the ingredient that takes the chili to another level. If you doubt it, google it. If you google cinnamon in chili, you will find many recipes that boast of adding it. However, if a recipe calls for an ingredient and you do some research and find the addition won’t add to your dish like you thought, strike it out.

Most restaurants warm their plates. Warm plates help to keep your food warm and prevent it from getting cold too quickly. With warm plates, you can take your time enjoying each bite without worrying that it will get cold before you can finish. Warm food is also more aromatic. So, why don’t most people warm their plates at home? Maybe the problem is they don’t know which method is best?

How to warm your plates

• Run your plates under hot water on both sides until they are warm.
• Gently dry them with a towel.
• Use them as soon as you can to make use of their heat.

Monter au beurre, also known as mounting, is French for “mount with butter.” While this french technique sounds fancy, and has equally fancy, decedent results, mounting is one of the easiest tricks in the book. To mount a sauce, you finish a sauce with butter to impart it with buttery flavor, make the sauce creamy in texture, and add some shine to the sauce as well.

How to mount with butter

• Once your sauce is done, turn off the heat.
• Keep the sauce in the hot pan you’ve cooked it in and on the same, still-hot burner.
• Add a couple of tabs of cold butter.
• Stir the cold butter into the cause until it is incorporated and the sauce is glossy.

The goal is to emulsify the butter in quickly. The sauce will be hot enough to heat it, so don’t be tempted to cook the sauce after adding the butter.

If you worry about having dry proteins, specifically pork chops or chicken, give them a nice brine. If you’ve never heard of brining before, brining meat is the process of putting meat into a brine usually made of water, salt, herbs, and often lemon. Brining meat is an easy process that does most of the work on its own while sitting in the fridge. Many cooks chose to let their meat brine overnight so that it’s ready for lunch or dinner the next day.

Don’t be intimidating by brining. I like to think of brining like marinating, but instead of imparting a lot of flavor into the meat, I’m adding mostly moisture.

How to make a basic brine

• Add about 6 cups of water to a pot, glass bowl, baking dish, or metal bowl.
• Add about a tablespoon of peppercorns.
• Add 1/2 cup of salt.
• Add desired herbs (fresh herbs are preferable).
• Place your meat of choice in the brine, pop it in the fridge, and let it sit for at least one hour (I would recommend several hours or overnight depending on the weight of the meat).

For bigger meats like whole chickens, double or triple the recipe to your needs.

Broth and stock is a great addition to most recipes. Broth is a staple I always keep on hand. For making stews, adding flavor to grains, deglazing pans, or making soups, broth is my go-to. It’s affordable and effective. Broth has so much flavor. If you are vegan or vegetarian, you can use vegetable broths. If you eat meat there is bone broth, beef broth, chicken broth, or even fish broth.

How to use broth in your recipes

• If a recipe calls for water, but you can use broth or stock, do it. The flavor payoff will be worth it.
• Make your own broth or stock.
• Use broth or stock to cook beans in.
• Add a splash of broth or stock to your greens as you cook them down. I add broth to spinach and kale when cooking.

Vanilla extract is so commonly used that other extracts and essences are often overlooked. Vanilla extract is a great addition to cakes, icecreams, and cream-filled pastries, but almond extract is a much better pairing with chocolate-based recipes, and it takes no more effort than adding vanilla extract. You might even choose to split the recipe with half almond extract and half vanilla extract.

Recipes to use almond essence

• Chocolate mug cake– I always use almond extract in chocolate cake, and mug cakes are no different. Almond essence will add a pleasant aroma and enhance the chocolaty flavor of your cake.
• Recipes that include raspberries. Almond essence also pairs well with raspberries.
• Recipes that include cherries.
• Almond meltaway cookies. If you have never had almond meltaway cookies, you are missing out.

Wine is another ingredient that is often overlooked or avoided in the kitchen. I avoided cooking with wine for too long, before I decided to conquer it and found it to be much easier than I anticipated. Adding wine to dishes is just another step in the cooking process. It takes a very small amount of wine and only a few more minutes of cooking for a big flavor pay off.

The biggest rule when adding wine, is to add it before other liquids (preferably during the deglazing process) and let it cook long enough to cook out the alcohol. You’ll know the alcohol has cooked out of the wine when it begins to thicken (reduce) and the smell becomes more aromatic. Once the alcohol has cooked out of the wine, you can add your other liquids and ingredients.

Common dishes to use wine in

• Stew
• Roasts
• Soup
• Sauces

If you are still feeling a bit unsure, watch this tutorial and see it in action.

Some of the foods we love most have been browned: seared vegetables, seared steak, grilled chicken, braised beef, roasted potatoes, and caramelized onions, to name a few. Not only is the golden crust of skin on a salmon fillet beautiful and appetizing, but the crispy skin is the best part of a salmon fillet. The skin is just the right amount of salty and bitter and umami. The flavors and beauty of properly seared, caramelized, or charred foods are appetizing to the eye and the palette.

Ways to brown your food

• Sear steak, scallops, fish, and other proteins.
• Char vegetables and remove their skins. Use them in salsas and soups to enhance the flavor.
• Cook on medium-high to high heat to avoid soggy proteins.
• When making caramelized onions, cook low and slow.

There’s nothing like trying to cut and dice and chop while cooking at the same time. Mise en place is French for “putting in place” or “everything in its place.” Mise en place is about getting organized, preparing, and having everything in its place, so that when you go to cook the process has been simplified for you and you are properly prepared.

How to practice mise en place

• Grab everything you need for your dish.
• Clean all your vegetables.
• Cut all your vegetables and put them in bowls or on a cutting board.
• Measure out the spices you need and put them into a bowl.
• Have any liquids you need out and measured or ready to be quickly added to your dish.

That’s the practice of mise en place!

Butter burns easily, and there is no worse flavor than burnt butter or burnt garlic. So, searing meat, cooking proteins, or cooking vegetables on high heat in butter is a no-go. However, there are ways to include the flavor of butter in all your dishes without risking burnt butter or the burnt flavor due to butter’s high smoking point. My favorite way is to include butter and oil in the same pan. This method allows you to enjoy the flavor of butter while raising your butter’s smoking point.

How to add oil to butter

• Bring your pan to heat.
• Add one part oil.
• Add one part butter.

While this trick still shouldn’t be used for meat, it’s ideal for sauces or stirfry.

Adding a bit of pasta water to sauce has been a trick passed down from generation to generation. While it’s a fairly well-known trick, it’s also one that gets overlooked because people don’t understand its purpose. I didn’t use the pasta water trick for a long time for that same reason, but I don’t make sauce without pasta water now.

Why use the pasta water in sauce

• Pasta water can help thicken sauce.
• Pasta water adds salt and starch to the sauce giving it more flavor.
• Pasta water helps the pasta and sauce marry better.

When I learned how to roast garlic, I went a little roasted garlic crazy. Roasted garlic is incredibly versatile and it takes the flavor and aroma of garlic to an entirely new level. It can be spread on toast, added to mashed potatoes, added to potato soup, used in sauces or gravies, and added to hummus. If you’ve never roasted garlic, I highly recommend you do so as soon as possible.

How to roast garlic

• Preheat the oven to 350°F (176°C).
• Cut the top of the garlic bulb so that you can see the tops of each clove of garlic.
• Set the bulb on a piece of foil.
• Drizzle the garlic with olive oil.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Wrap the garlic up and bake for 50 minutes to an hour.

Greens like spinach and kale go bad so quickly, I often don’t get to use them all up. Taking the time to blanch your greens before freezing them can be intimidating, but it isn’t always necessary. You can freeze greens without blanching and it’s a huge time saver and food saver.

How to use frozen greens

• Warm them in sauces for pasta.
• Cook them in a pan with lemon juice and olive oil as a side with your choice of protein.
• Add them to soup or stew.
• Toss them into smoothies.

If you want to know the easiest way to freeze kale, watch the tutorial below!

Lemons aren’t just tasty additions to water or tea. Lemons add flavor to almost any dish, can help cut the fattiness of fried or greasy foods, can be used to make salad dressings, can be the basis of a sauce for pasta or chicken, and can even be added to soups.

Ways to use lemons

• If your dish is a bit bland, add a squeeze of lemon and give it a stir. Lemon can be just as effective as finishing with salt.
• Add the juice of half a lemon to lentil, black bean, or orzo soup.
• Use lemon to tenderize meat.
• Squeeze a bit of lemon over fruit like pears, plums, or berries.
• Squeeze lemon over fried foods like fried fish or mushrooms.