TQ73: What's a cooking hack that everyone should know?

What Was That Like

Hosts Scott and Meredith discuss a variety of culinary 'hacks' ranging from organizational techniques to specific kitchen tool uses. The epi

Key takeaways

• Scott utilizes 'mise en place' by pre-measuring spices in a bowl to ensure timing accuracy during cooking.
• Meredith uses a KitchenAid attachment to efficiently shred chicken or jackfruit.

Main topics

• Cooking hacks
• Kitchen tool accessories

Notable quotes

If a problem could problem, it was probleming.

Conclusion

The episode offers practical, actionable advice for the kitchen alongs

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:02) Hey, this is Scott, and you're listening to What Was That Like? New episodes with guests telling their amazing stories are every other Friday. But today we have the Every Other Tuesday, Tuesday Question. In the podcast Facebook group, we have a new thought-provoking question every Tuesday, and it generates some really interesting and sometimes deep discussions. We'd love to have you join us. Just go to whatwasthatlike.com slash Facebook. But if you're not in that group, we bring it to you here in a short episode every other Tuesday. We dig into the group archives and find one of the past Tuesday questions that we've discussed. Then Meredith and I answer that question and we talk about some of the answers that came from other listeners. And after that, she and I will each tell you about some cool gadget or website or tool that we use or that we've recently discovered. That segment is called Stuff You Might Like. And later this week... Friday, to be exact, we'll have a brand new What Was That Like episode. Let's do it! Did you just get out of the shower? Speaker 2 (1:07) Yeah, today's hair wash day, obviously. Speaker 3 (1:10) Well, Meredith, you have been some places. Speaker 2 (1:13) Yep. Speaker 3 (1:14) I'd like to hear about it. Speaker 2 (1:15) Are you talking about my North Carolina slash South Carolina slash Georgia trip? I Speaker 3 (1:20) guess. I don't know where this thing was located. Speaker 2 (1:23) Oh, the side games. Yeah. The side games was in North Carolina. Speaker 3 (1:27) Okay. Speaker 2 (1:28) Charlotte. And it was like sort of kind of a press trip where in exchange for... you know, some social media content and some podcasting content. My husband and I got to get free tickets to this side games, which is, we talked about it in another episode. It was, you know, quote unquote, the psychic Olympics or whatever. Speaker 3 (1:47) And Speaker 2 (1:48) there was going to be some researchers there and different speakers, workshops. And I hadn't been to a conference in a long time, as you know. And so I was like, okay, ready? I Speaker 3 (1:58) do know that. I miss you. Speaker 2 (1:59) Yeah, I was ready to dust off the, you know, the dust. And I'm so bummed it did not go as planned. They had just a ton of logistical problems, technical issues, weather problems. Like if a problem could problem, it was probleming. Speaker 3 (2:16) And Speaker 2 (2:17) by lunchtime on the second day, they were three hours behind, which made it really difficult to know when to show up where. And then the big thing is I had these interviews lined up, sit down interviews. They had a media room. which I thought was great. Speaker 3 (2:33) I Speaker 2 (2:34) was thinking I would be relegated to the hallway to do these interviews, but they had like a set media room that was locked so you could put all your equipment in there. I was so pumped about it. And the interviews that they said were set up, when I got there, they were not set up. And one of the people was not even in the country. So yeah, so I got bupkis, as they say. Speaker 3 (2:56) That had to, I mean, you had high hopes for this thing. Speaker 2 (2:59) Yeah, because I was really wanting for my show, my next thing that I want to do is try to do field interviews, right? Speaker 3 (3:08) And Speaker 2 (3:08) so I had been procrastinating buying a second camera. So I went ahead and I did that. You know, Garrett took time off work. And, you know, we were making a trip out of it, as we always do anyways, hence the multi-state destination there. Yeah, it was a bummer. So the only good thing that really came out of it is that I did get to meet one of the researchers in the hallway. Meat. I chased him down. Garrett was like, go get him. Speaker 3 (3:38) Oh, so you recognized him? Speaker 2 (3:40) No. Well, yes and no. I had done lots of research on all the speakers and listened to podcast interviews they had all done because just because someone has interesting credentials, like they're a neuroscientist, for example. it does not mean that they interview well. And physicists and neuroscientists and the people that I really enjoy speaking with, they don't always interview well. And so being cognizant of that, I kind of sifted through the list and found who I wanted to talk to. And this researcher named Jeff Tarrant was there and he spoke and he did so good. Luckily, I... found his talk because you couldn't follow the itinerary because it wasn't updated based on the time delays. Speaker 3 (4:22) So Speaker 2 (4:22) you literally just didn't even know where to show up and when. But I saw him and I chased after him and we had a nice chat in the hall and he will be coming on the show in a couple of months. So I would say late fall 2026, you can look for his episode. But I was really hoping to do some on-site interviews. Speaker 3 (4:42) Yeah. Well, at least you got that one thing out of it. Speaker 2 (4:45) Yeah. Is Speaker 3 (4:46) this the first time they've put this on? Speaker 2 (4:49) It's the second time. Yeah, definitely some growing pains there. I think it has the potential to be good. But yeah, it was for me and for a lot of people, it was good. It was what they wanted. But I really, you know, I'm not that interested in the person that's like, hey, I'm a psychic medium and I move stuff with my mind. I mean, that's cool. Like, I'd want to see it. I'd show up to see what you have to say. Speaker 3 (5:13) That'd be the only reason I would go. Speaker 2 (5:14) Yeah. Well, I mean, it is interesting, right? I mean, the workshops especially I was interested in because I think they were going to talk about the mechanism behind, you know, the thing. But I couldn't figure out where to show up and when. And the researchers are the people that I'm Speaker 3 (5:32) a Speaker 2 (5:32) little bit more interested in. And they were a little bit. light on the researchers. And then also I couldn't figure out where to show up at what time to listen to the researchers. So, Speaker 3 (5:42) yeah, Speaker 2 (5:43) it was, it was a bust. What Speaker 3 (5:45) do they expect you to be a mind reader? Speaker 2 (5:48) Good one. I will say, and also I'm not a city, I'm not a city mouse. And so Charlotte, Charleston and Savannah were our destinations on this trip. And This was the first trip I think we've ever taken that was a city after a city after a city. We're very nature-oriented usually. Speaker 3 (6:07) And Speaker 2 (6:08) that just kind of confirmed the energy of cities, like city after city. That's just not my personal vibe. But I did enjoy the food scene. Oh my gosh, was it amazing. In all the cities, the food was like, I can't eat normal food now because this is so amazing. So I will say that was a big positive. Speaker 3 (6:29) What a wonderful segue. Speaker 2 (6:32) Oh, yeah. That was not even on purpose. Speaker 3 (6:35) You did it. Yeah, because that's our question today is about food. All right. The question is, what's a cooking hack that everyone should know? First of all, I have to ask you, are you into cooking a lot? Yeah. Okay. I'm not. Yeah. Speaker 2 (6:49) No? Speaker 3 (6:50) No. No. Speaker 2 (6:51) How do you eat then? Well, Speaker 3 (6:52) I mean, well, I have the same thing for breakfast every single day. I don't get bored with food. And I will make something sometimes, but... Speaker 2 (7:01) Okay, yeah, but how do you eat? Like, this is what I don't understand about people that are like, I don't cook. I'm like, well, then do you just eat out all the time? Speaker 3 (7:08) No, I... Well, typically, I don't eat after, like, midday anyway. I've done that for a long time. But for lunch, there are things... Like, if I go to Publix, I can go to the frozen foods, and there are lots of vegan things there. So I get those sometimes. I have an instant pot, which I make pasta and I make chili. And if I make a batch of chili, that's lunch for two weeks for me. So I don't go hungry, really. I Speaker 2 (7:40) have so many follow-up questions. Okay, this is getting a little scientifical, but how do you meet your macros if you're eating like that? How do you get enough protein, fat? It sounds mostly like... carbs and veggies. How are you? Do you supplement? I Speaker 3