You’ve Been Doing Your English Muffins All This Time Wrong
The hardest aspect of this job is knowing what “most people” already know. Constantly thinking about food and cooking means that I have lost my understanding of what is “common knowledge” and what would be useful to share with the public. In these moments of uncertainty, I reach out to my fellow Lifehacker who (thankfully) don’t write about food.
For example, English muffins are a common bread product and cannot be cut with a knife. It’s written right on the Thomas English Muffin packaging, and yet some of my fellow life hackers had no idea that a fork was actually the right tool for the job.
According to the instructions on the box, you need to “gently split the English muffin in half” “with a fork or with your hands.” My fingers are too short for such delicate work, but the fork works like a dream.
By gently inserting the prongs around the circumference of the muffin, you break the delicate web of gluten and flour, and the muffin falls apart easily. This retains the bubbly, uneven texture that makes up the muffin’s well-known nooks and crannies, optimizing the surface area that can be browned, imparting the muffin’s texture . Using a knife blows away the nooks and crannies and smoothes out cracks, primarily negating the entire purpose of that particular bread product.
Once your muffin has cracked with a fork, simply place it in the toaster or pan with the leftover bacon fat (here’s a helpful guide on how to harvest, store, and cook with the bacon fat ), then add the egg, bacon, or fresh food. … on top of it are tomato slices. I’ve been doing a lot of grilling grease lately and I highly recommend it without hesitation or reservations.