Replacements To Use When You Do Not Have Parchment Paper

It sure doesn't come easier than parchment paper. It's an essential tool for nonstick cooking whether you're making a fresh batch of cookies for the week, preparing your favourite grilled chicken or even just making fries for a quick meal. But when it runs out, there are a few other items in your kitchen that can take its place.

1. Grease (Oil and Butter) And Flour

Going back to the basics, oil, butter, and flour are good alternatives to parchment paper. The hack to properly coating your pan is by generously distributing the grease on two layerings for the absolute non-stick effect.

• Oil: The most traditional substitute, especially while baking, is the cooking spray. When using the cooking spray, ensure that the oil is spread evenly across the pan, making it non-stick, and failproof.
• Butter: if you choose to use butter, choosing your agent is paramount; a slight saltiness in your butter can give your baking an exterior, but if you're not one to fancy salt in your butter, shortening is the flavorless (not unsalted butter) alternative.

Furthermore, sprinkling a little bit of flour on the surface of the pan that has been greased gives it good adhesion to the grease — it will be drawn to the greasing agent.

While using grease and flour is very easy to do, it's essential to know when to apply it. Remember that it can't always take the place of parchment paper.

2. Aluminum Foil

Aluminum foil is a thin-layered aluminum that is flexible (easy to lift and remove food with little or no mess) and very affordable. It performs as much better as it has good heat resistance; hence its wide use for baking, grilling, roasting, and cooking — cooking or baking time should be reduced, so your dish doesn't go brown or burn and stick to the bottom of the pot,

However, unlike the parchment paper, the aluminum foil doesn't have a non-stick surface, so there's a probability that your food will stick to its surface if it is not adequately covered with oil or butter.

In addition to its infinite possibilities of using to prepare, cook and store your various kinds of food, it can also be used to; present food by aesthetically spreading a platter and giving it a pleasant finishing, steaming meats and vegetables, and avoiding spillage and drips by wrapping food or trays.

3. Wax Paper

Wax paper has a coating of wax on both of its sides, avoiding stickiness. It is moisture-resistant and way cheaper than parchment paper; this makes it perfect for preparing, wrapping, and storing food in various ways; for storing cheese — keeps it from drying out by placing the wax paper on the ice cream before putting the lid and taking it back to the freezer, it prevents ice crystals from forming at the surface of the ice cream, rolling out dough keeps it from sticking to your kitchen table top — saves flour.

Although the wax paper has so many intriguing uses, it is not heat resistant which means it cannot be used to cook or bake because of its low melting point, making a big difference between it and the parchment paper.

Among the listed, there are other alternatives to parchment paper, but the most essential thing to keep at the back of your mind when choosing an alternative is to know your particular needs so you know the one that applies to it.