Do you have a kitchen task you despise?
For me, it’s juicing citrus. During the week, I cook a lot of Italian and Asian dishes, so squeezing lemons and limes has become a daily occurrence for me.
And I absolutely hate it.
Last month, I hosted a small dinner party for my bubble friends. We’re all avid travellers and love to eat, so I decided the menu would be inspired by my trip to Mexico City last year.
In an effort to save time while entertaining, I decided to juice all the limes for the margaritas beforehand. I painstakingly juiced at least 20 limes, which translated to a sad amount of juice — there was no “looking at the glass half full” situation here. I shifted my gaze from the pathetically portioned pitcher to my newly-acquired handheld juice press with anger and was surprised it wasn’t as helpful as I thought it would be.
A quick Google search later let me know I was an idiot. Titles of online articles spewed condescending commentary about my lemon juicing: “You’re doing it wrong,” “You’ve been using a lemon juicer all wrong,” “You’ve probably been doing this wrong,” echoed through my head the whole dinner party.
This online article altercation led me down a rabbit hole of utensil usage which made me question everything I know about cooking.
Did you know you don’t need to peel your garlic before putting it in the garlic press? That the hole in your spaghetti spoon is the correct portion size of noodles? Hey, dummy, a carrot peeler can be used for potatoes too. Oh, and by the way, you can use that to slice parmesan and chocolate too.
And the worst part? All of these articles were framed in a way that says: "you’re a bad cook." In a time of extreme stress, it can be downright discouraging to know your kitchen prowess isn’t what you thought it was. Instead of scolding burgeoning home cooks, shouldn’t we be championing them?
Has the last year of quarantine kitchens and COVID-crazed food trends taught us nothing? The media should be framing these articles in a way that says, “you could be doing this better.”
For the record, this is what I was doing wrong with the handheld juicer. I always sliced the lemon or lime in half and placed it face down in the juicer, but instead of placing it with the butt-side down aligning with the contour of the juicer, one should cut a small piece off the other side as well, then put it in the juicer butt-side up.
This way, a quick press makes the juice come out easily, without the mess. Apparently, you get more juice this way, too.
Granted, if the other way works for you, it works for you, but in a world of “couldn’t it always be a little better,” there’s no shame in figuring out how to use the garlic press in a way that makes weeknight meal preparation that much easier.
My love for fresh lemons runs deep, so when a neighbour left a bag of lemons at my door yesterday because they had over-ordered on their online grocery delivery, I was delighted. And now I knew exactly how to juice them in the most efficient, and frankly the most satisfying, way possible.
So, the next time a neighbour drops off a bag of lemons, you know what to do. Don’t forget, there’s no wrong way to do anything, just less efficient ones. Drink that fresh-squeezed lemonade guilt-free.
Gabby Peyton is a freelance food writer based in St. John’s. You can reach her by email at [email protected] or via Twitter and Instagram