When (and how) to take shortcuts in a recipe

Don't be afraid to experiment and trust your instincts to cut down on cooking time.

Source: PxHere

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In my early twenties, my best friend Lowana and I planned to host our first dinner party. Armed with all the vegetables and lasagne sheets Aldi could muster, we headed home, flush with the heady fantasy of serving a cheesy vegetable lasagne to the impressed sighs of hungry friends. How innocently we assumed we could finish this task long before 11:30pm – and how wrong we turned out to be. The hours of chopping, roasting, brow-mopping and terror of the clock ticking away in the kitchen burned the panic-induced question into my brain, "how the hell can we get dinner on the table faster?"

Source: Savannah van der Niet

There are a multitude of reasons why home cooks may search for recipe shortcuts: lack of time to prepare, cook and clean down, challenging access to specific ingredients or equipment, no space to prepare on, and so on. Over my years as a professional chef and recipe developer, I've developed a few favourite short-cuts that have helped me enormously reduce stress and improve on efficiency when preparing meals for loved ones. 

Approach the kitchen with a reduction mindset

Consider the following to shave time off your cook:

• Can you toss vegetables on a roasting tray with salt and seasoning, rather than using a separate bowl? 
• A good Korean cook will teach you that utilising kitchen scissors for tasks like cutting cabbage, meat, herbs and spring onions is often faster than whipping out a board and knife. 
• Rather than making salad dressings in a jug, jar or bowl, prepare them directly in the salad serving bowl before adding the salad ingredients to toss before serving. 
• Steamed side vegetables can be cooked in a heat-proof colander over a simmering pot of stew, pasta or sauces. 
• Utilise convenience products like frozen vegetables, chopped baby spinach and shredded carrots to stir through stir fries, curries, soups, stews and rice dishes. 
• Save time when adding flavour to your dishes by experimenting with speedy, rather than overnight, marinades. 
• Experiment with whether you can really taste the difference between browning meat off or not for stews or braises for a faster one-pot affair. 

This oven-baked ratatouille for wrinkly summer vegetables is a great way to use up tomatoes, zucchinis, and capsicums that have seen better days. Source: Cath Muscat

Choose the right vessel

Pressure cookers, air fryers and food processors are powerful tools that can significantly expedite the home cooking experience. Get the best value out of your tools by being strategic. 

• When using a food processor, select recipes that require a lot of chopping (for example, chopped salads or stir-fries), or pre-chop ingredients for separate meals for the week. The julienne slicer attachment is particularly valuable for these tasks. 
• Pressure cookers are magic for hands-off simmering of braises, stews and one pot sauces while you prepare side dishes. 
• Air fryers are particularly brilliant as a kitchen shortcut since they require very little heating-up time or hands-on intervention to speedily cook your main or side dishes, unlike a frying pan that requires constant attention, or a full oven that takes up to 15-20 minutes to heat up. 

Always remember

While shortcuts can never replace important traditional or cultural important methods of cookery, they can be an important tool that give home cooks far more power to cook more delicious and nutritious meals for themselves and their loved ones. Don't be afraid to experiment and trust your instincts; write down your findings and share them. With practice, you'll be surprised at what you can learn and achieve in the kitchen.