‘The 5 Genius Hacks I Learned From Being in the Kitchen With the Cook-Up’s Adam Liaw’

It’s not every day you can say you cooked with the Adam Liaw, but today, I can absolutely say that I did (yup, that’s me in the pic above).

If you’re not overly familiar with Liaw, he’s a MasterChef Australia champion, author of five cookbooks, host of SBS’s Destination Flavour and now the host of SBS’ biggest commissioned TV show at 200 episodes, The Cook-Up With Adam Liaw.

Premiering on April 19 at 7.00 pm, Liaw’s new series is aimed at people like me. It will be full of easy to follow recipes and tips for viewers to follow at home in time for dinner while serving up a dose of #foodspo for foodies and non-foodies alike.

Naturally, being a cook whose best masterpiece came out of hospitality in Year 12, getting some tips and tricks from the master was not only very much wanted, but also very much needed.

As for the recipes on the series and in his cookbooks, Liaw ensures that he includes dishes he thinks “people like to actually make”.

“I always try and make them meet in the middle so that people will like the look of it and think it’s quite impressive and then they also are able to make it,” Liaw told POPSUGAR Australia during an interview for his new series. “Every recipe has to be practical. They have the be cooked in less than 10 minutes.”

Speaking my language with “practical”, “impressive” and “less than 10 minutes”, Liaw had me hooked. But it was when he actually started giving me hacks in the kitchen to make it even easier that I was sold.

While keeping these morsels of information to myself could put me in line to be the next MasterChef, I thought I’d share them with you, so you too could be the next cooking superstar:

How to Keep The Shape of Kebabs — When Making Kebabs!

Once you have seasoned your meat, pack the raw mince back into the plastic container from where it came to help mould the shape of the kebabs. Genius.

Warm Up That Sourdough ON Your Soup or Stew

Making a yummy stew or soup? While it’s cooking, put your bread on top of aluminium foil and heat it up. Simple.

Check the Temperature of Oil With Just a Wooden Spoon

If you’re boiling oil and don’t have a thermometer, Liaw has the most incredible hack.

“If you see small bubbles, it’s at 140 degrees Celsius,” he said. “Medium-sized bubbles means it’s at 160 degrees Celcius and large bubbles means it’s 200 degrees Celcius.”

Stop Your Eyes Watering When Chopping Onions

“Chop quickly,” Liaw joked, before adding: “Make sure you use a sharp knife.”

How to Correctly Cook Mushrooms For Breakfast

“When you’re frying mushrooms, the mushrooms can soak up a lot of oil and fry unevenly. So, what I do is I put the mushrooms in the microwave and cook them for a few minutes. That breaks down the air spaces in the mushrooms and so it doesn’t suck up the oil.” Voila!