In our culture, food is the great communicator, the universal love language of our people. Not just food, but specifically home cooking, como siempre hay comida en la casa, according to our parents whenever we asked to stop at a McDonald’s on the way home from school.
Many of us grew up in the kitchen with our mothers and grandmothers, graduating from taste testers to sous chefs, learning when to add a pinch of this or that.
But what exactly makes our family’s cooking taste so good? Ask any matriarch and she’ll tell you that love is the secret ingredient. We may have bought it as kids, but we know better now.
Here are nine cooking tips that will level up your kitchen game and make you the talk of the town. Take that, abela.
Do not wash the meat.
This is something you may need to correct your family on, as many people still choose to wash their meat. According to the USDA, washing meat has been phased out, as we’ve learned in recent years that it can lead to cross-contamination and the spread of bacteria. Also, some cleaning products people use to wash their chicken or beef parts can contain dangerous chemicals that are dangerous to eat. When it comes to chicken, you should also avoid using a wooden cutting board, as bacteria can grow on the wood particles. Basically, it could lead to hella salmonella, which you don’t want, even though it sounds like a great name for a punk rock band.
Place half an onion inside the rice cooker.
Blanco rice doesn’t have to be boring. For extra flavor, chop an onion in half and dip it into the uncooked rice in the rice cooker. As it cooks, the onion will release its sweet and savory aroma, permeating each grain of rice. You can also try this with garlic cloves, which will not only be delicious for rice, but will also ward off vampires. We love a dish that doubles as a despojo.
Pour a beer into your chicken rice.
The French love to add wine to their food; we like to add beer. As it turns out, alcohol equals taste. When you make arroz con pollo, arroz con camarones, or any other rice stew dish, add some beer to the pot at the end just as the rice is cooking. The rice will absorb the flavors of the beer, so choose carefully. A Corona or a Dos Equis will add sparkle and a slight charm, cutting through the richness of the dish. Cook responsibly, my friends.
Use sofrito as the main base for everything.
Of course, there are many different versions of sofrito – recaito, refogado, sazón – but most of the ingredients stay the same and usually consist of garlic, onions, peppers, herbs, tomatoes and/or some type of acid. Some mothers swear by lemon, while others prefer vinegar. Whatever assortment you choose, dice the ingredients and fry them in hot oil as a base for almost any dish. This smell was my weekend alarm clock growing up and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Stir half of the beans into the pot, then add back.
This will give you a thicker, creamier consistency to your frijole fritos to combat the natural wateriness of the frijole. This also works for soups and other stews that you might want to thicken without compromising flavor, given that some thickening agents like flour and cornstarch can dilute flavor and lead to clumping. We want your kitchen to be a tasteful, clutter-free area.
Mash your vegetables to make salsa.
A kiss of fire will add smoke and depth to your peppers, tomatoes and tomatillos, and ultimately, the salsa you make with them. If you don’t have access to an open flame, try roasting the vegetables in the oven until the skin is blackened and tender. Next, remove the charred skin and add it to your food processor, along with all of your other ingredients. Finally, you have to decide if you want to be the thick or the smooth team.
Try the LTS method to check if an avocado is ready.
Great for guacamole, ensalada de aguacate or as a topping on toast, among countless other applications, the simple avocado has never gone out of style. However, there are few worse than cutting into a raw avocado that you thought was ready. To avoid that, here’s a method I’m calling LTS, which stands for “look, touch, shake.” Look at the avocado: the darker the color, the more likely it is ripe. Touch the avocado: if it gives, it’s likely ripe. Shake the avocado: if the seed wobbles inside, cut that baby up ASAP. As we all know, the time between perfectly ripe and ripe is about an hour. The same for bananas.
Soak the eggplants in water overnight.
Although eggplant is a fairly elusive ingredient in Latin American cooking when compared to rice or beans, there are still many recipes that call for it. I grew up eating a pork and eggplant dish that I loved and now I make it myself. When I asked my mom about the recipe, the first thing she said was, “You have to soak the eggplant overnight.” This removes the bitterness, making eggplant a perfect, neutral vehicle for spicy, tangy, and porky goodness.
Add a splash of soy sauce to your bean soup.
I’m done saving this. I add porcelain salsa to every single pot of beans I make, as my late mother and grandmother instructed me to. The rich umami flavor of the soy sauce blends so well with the deep, earthy notes of the frijole, leading to a surprising yet subtly nuanced flavor that’s hard to put your finger on. If someone tries your beans and asks what special ingredient you used, just say, “Amor,” as our parents would tell us.
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