No, I am not Superwoman, but I do cook fast. Ask my spouse, “fast + furious” I am told…and messy. Here are reasonable tips to cooking faster that are not just about raising the heat.
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Careful Steps to Speed in the Kitchen
Fast Cooking Methods
High heat cooks fast. If ever you watch Asian stir-fry being cooked in restaurants or street-food settings you will see the cook with a carbon steel wok, and extremely high flamed-heat. They are the hardiest cooks, flipping the food-filled wok around such amazingly high flames without getting burned or burning the food. (Not that either did not happen while learning the technique.)
The tool here is the source of heat, and the cookware that can best be used with it, be it electricity, gas, coal, wood, or induction skillets. Your skillet must match your cooking style; since I tend to cook on high all the time, I should not be cooking on most types of non-stick skillets, my cast iron and carbon steel wok do fine though.
Here are examples of fast cooking techniques.
- Deep Frying usually takes minutes.
- Stir-frying is fast, and with this way of cooking you absolutely need to have every ingredient ready for cooking, and must use the right cookware. It also requires learning and practice, as well as stamina and muscle to keep the food moving.
- Steaming is very fast for fish, dumplings, and unsalted veggies of all kinds. Steam heat is very hot when using my bamboo steamers.
- Grilling is a fast way to cook tender cuts of meat, flattened poultry, and fish. Of course fruits and veggies do as well. The slow part is preheating the grill, the fast part is actually cooking.
- Or there is char-grilling, or aka griddling according to TheHealthy. This is cooking with a ridged cast-iron pan on high heat, that effectively sears food with markings quickly on the outside. Great for skirt steak, pounded chicken breasts, and thicker sliced veggies, or even peaches or pineapple.
- Pressure cooking is very fast, and if you are my age, very scary given the stories we heard of them blowing up.
- En papillote is also fast, and something I have often done with fish. I layer aluminum foil, then parchment paper, then put in the center of the wrap one serving of veggies and fruit, sauce, and the fish on top. Scrunch it up into a wrap, and put into a preheated oven to steam. Out comes a packet ready to serve.
- While I do not cook in the microwave, it is very fast to melt butter, heat milk, reheat leftovers, defrost frozen meats, etc.
Another method people often forget is to cut the ingredients smaller, and boil. For example, quartered potatoes will cook faster in boiling salted water than halved potatoes in the oven. Additionally, blanching before cooking may not only help to retain color(say broccoli or green beans), but will also soften hard veggies (think carrots) so they cook faster in a skillet.
I should also mention that while I personally do not like buying pre-cut foods, getting frozen food can sometimes speed up dish preparations or cooking.
Choose Menus Wisely
Frankly, some dishes are also faster to cook than others. A stew made in a slow cooker for instance takes some time to integrate its flavors. But some oven heated rustic bread, and a sheet pan dinner of broiled veggies, are minimal ingredient recipes that are quicker to cook. Large salads or many simple pasta dishes are also relatively quick to prepare. Other well rounded meals fast meals are veggie filled stir-fry rice, burrito bowl, almost any veggie laden soup, and basic casseroles.
Some of our cereals cook quicker too, and are very easy to cook for it is just the cereal and liquid.
- Bulgur and couscous ~5min
- Rolled oats ~10-15min
- Buckwheat groats, white rice and quinoa ~15-20min
For protein, tofu and tempeh cook quickly, as does thinnish white fish like halibut. If using chicken, pork chips or ribs, cook the meat boneless as any bone-in cut takes longer. Then you can also pound the chicken or meat thinner and those prepared cuts will cook very fast.
Well Stocked Pantry
Here I include the fridge and freezer with the pantry concept.
Having a well stocked pantry and fridge/freezer can speed up cooking by preventing last minute trips to the grocery. A well stocked pantry will allow you to make substitutions, or pull in ingredients not in the recipe but that adds nutrition or flavor.
So I always have some homemade chicken, turkey, and meat broth for stews and soups. While I like using fresh herbs, I always have some of my basic ones on hand in dried form. I also always have some frozen veggies, such as peas, corn, and spinach.
Grok the Recipe
Read the recipe. Really read it, several times in fact, so you can imagine the steps you will need to take to complete the dish.
Notice when items are used multiple times, or are divided; for example, limes might be zested and juiced, or cinnamon is added to a main dish and side dish too.
Also notice when there are down times, when food is cooking or baking. Identify what can be done then; for example, make icing while the cupcakes bake.
Consider any side recipes, like the gravy for Katsu. If using a cookbook, sometimes the gravies are in a separate area.
Mise en Place
With fast cooking, it is imperative that every ingredient be measured, washed and prepped so as the pan heats all the cook needs to do is add the ingredients to the dish when it is time.
Have your compost bin, or just a large bowl, near where you prep so discards can go immediately into the container without haveing to go back and forth to the garbage or other bins. Likewise, grabbing all the ingredients at one time prevents back and forth as well, just grab a baking sheet and pile everything you need on it for one trip to the fridge, pantry, etc. All of these actions save time.
Also remember to preheat the oven for braising, broiling or baking to speed up cooking time. I preheat baking sheets as well for quicker cooking, and preheat skillets as well as oil.
Make in Advance
When planning for a holiday meal I always try to identify what can be made in advance, and what must be done in advance.
Twice baked sweet potatoes can be nearly all made a day in advance, up to requiring its last bake only. Sauces, dressings, homemade broth, can all be made in advance. Meat, poultry, and some fish marinades must be done in advance; the last time I made Sauerbraten, for instance, the meat needed 7 days of marinating in the fridge.
I do not always prep a garnish, as I may change my mind given how the dish turned out, and what left overs there are on my counter. Instead of diagonally sliced scallions, I may use left over fennel fronds for a Greek salad, for I think that flavor and aroma would enhance the dish I made.
Use Your Tools
I can be fast with my knife, although my spouse thinks I am always trying to kill myself with that tool. But if you are not, or if you have to slice a large volume of an ingredient, use a mandolin. There is no shame in that, even good and well known cooks will use one to help with consistency of slices or cuts. Never think you are less a cook for using appropriate kitchen tools, not all of us can make magic with just a Chefs knife.
One key to using tools well, is to keep them in top shape. Sharpen dull knives, for instance and hone them frequently. Replace your equipment when faulty, for they can ruin a dish, or worse, cause an accident.
One tool that cooks very fast is a pressure cooker. I have one and managed to cook a frozen chicken very fast, as it took ~10 minutes to defrost, then cooked the meat thoroughly.
Like other crafts people, let your tools help where they can. Use a slow cooker, air fryer, or even microwave if it helps your cooking. I use a ricer for mashed potatoes, a spaetzle maker, a blender for sauces sometimes. Go ahead, use the garlic press if you are uncomfortable using your Chefs knife to slam the clove flat.
While cooking, I tend to put lids on pots, this keeps the heat in the pot, and helps cook food faster. I also will heat water in my electronic kettle and then pour into my pot over the stove. The electric kettle heats up water very fast when compared to the stove, so I save energy by using it.
Important too is that you need to know your tools. For instance, regular ovens are hotter on top than their bottom as heat rises. But convection ovens use fans to force the air around the oven keeping its whole space’s temperature more consistent.
Use Appropriate Conveniences
I do not make my own phyllo dough or puff pastry, and although I can make pie crusts, sometimes I buy them frozen. Some people love that cheap little box of cornbread mix. I buy convenient items from the store the way I buy butter or milk or frozen wilted spinach. To be a great cook, or to consider a meal home-made, does not require that every thing used was made from scratch by the cook.
What I do not recommend is to buy pre-cut fruit or veggies, just for cleanliness and environmental sake. Washing, peeling and cutting fruits and vegetables are, IMHO a cooks job. Plus, often those peels can be used to augment drinks, serve as snacks, and flavor broths.
The closest I get to making base ingredients is with herbs, where I grow some of my own, and dry them as well. While I do recommend everyone should consider growing their own favorite herbs, it is not necessary.
Mise en Place
Gather all the ingredients, from spices to veggies or meat. Prepare each ingredient from washing to measuring. The idea here is not to run a marathon looking for and prepping ingredients while cooking. Every ingredient should be ready, in one place to grab when needed and you can keep focused on cooking only.
This also assures you have everything you need. Nothing slows you down as having to run to the store because you do not have an ingredient. Likewise, while setting everything up, if you are missing buttermilk let us say, you can make some in advance.
Avoid Multiple Trips
Observe what you do, and whenever you do something multiple times see if it can be eliminated. For instance, instead of running back and forth to the garbage or compost bin, have a discard bowl near your workstation and dump castoffs here, thereby reducing multiple trips to just a couple. This will also make clean up easier, less spillage.
Words of Wisdom
PattyCooks: Speed is not the point of cooking, preparing nourishing meals that look, smell, and taste great are the points to aim for.
WaPo: Speed and efficiency are often the result of increasing competence. For me, speed is due to practice and learned efficiency.
Escoffier: It may sound counterintuitive, but focusing solely on speed can lead you to become a slower cook. Remember it takes time to redo something when done wrong, so do not go so fast on items that take time, like making a great sauce, for if they turn out bad nothing has been saved.
TheKitchn: Instead of saucepans, try using wide, shallow pans for cooking instead. The wider surface area means there’s more of the pan directly touching the heating element. More surface area also means that liquids reduce faster and you can brown more food at once in a single layer.
Quora: While higher heat can cook food faster, it can also lead to uneven cooking and potential burning on the outside while the inside remains undercooked. It’s important to adjust cooking times and temperatures based on the specific recipe and type of food being prepared to ensure the best results.
TheKitchn: Figure out whether you can save some time by preheating an oven early, and by figuring out what needs to be defrosted, marinated, diced, or otherwise prepped.All of these acts take time, so preplan your steps to save time.
While I tend to cook fast, due in part to my restaurant training, I also love slow cooking and how it is so much a “hands off” technique. Some of the best tasting food is cooked slower, with quality ingredients, the sense-based knowledge of a practiced cook, and the sure hands of a craftsperson.
—Patty
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