Wooden spoons can be used for more than just the cooking basics. Sure that’s what they are made for, but why stop at just cooking? Whether it comes down to the science of controlling water from boiling over, or to just a helpful hack of not over cooking on broil, the wooden spoon has been a helpful kitchen utensil for almost as long as trees have stood. Today, my wooden spoon enthusiast is the day you will find out two more ways a wooden spoon can make your daily kitchen routine easier.

Water boiling over:

Now to the ever-so-famous wooden spoon kitchen hack – stopping water from boiling over the pot. Have you ever put on a pot of noodles for your famous mac & cheese, walked away for two minutes only to return to a pot doing its best impression of a volcano erupting on you stove? Well, here is a hack to stop that from happening. We got into the science of this phenomenon in our last blog The Wooden Spoon Phenomenon Part 1: The Science so I won’t spend too much time on the science part.  To make a long story short; a wooden spoon is a horrible heat conductor and when the boiling bubbles of water come in contact with the much cooler wooden spoon, they pop and create foam while collapsing the bubbles back into the pot keeping the boiling water inside the pot.

Broiling:

Broiling is an alternative to grilling. In the winter, the barbeque may be put away for the season or you might live in an apartment and broiling is your only option. Broiling is an alternative to grilling and can work very well, but if you don’t pay attention or vent the oven you might end up with a hockey puck instead of a burger. That is where a wooden spoon can help, but first a quick joke to lighten your day, when is a door not a door? When it’s ajar!

Now that we’ve enjoyed a good laugh here is how a wooden spoon can keep your oven door ajar and vented during broiling. It’s quite simple; just stick a wooden spoon between the oven door and the oven cavity to keep the door open and the oven ventilated.  This will help to keep the heat directly on top of the food instead of baking the food on all sides and running the risk of overcooking.

These kitchen hacks can save you time as well as even saving your food from being overcooked!, but wait there’s more! Stay tuned for Part 2 of the kitchen hacks blog to find out even more ways to use a wooden spoon around the kitchen.