The kitchen can be a complicated place for those who skipped out of home-ec classes in high school or who tune out the bandwagon of Martha Stewart-type television shows that tell you the best way to reheat french toast or remove the stink from your fingertips after peeling garlic.

Useful kitchen and cooking tips abound, and they can make life a whole lot easier whether you’re cleaning that greasy skillet after frying a burger or experiencing a full-blown anxiety attack while trying to bang out a meal for multiple dinner guests.

Grating small amounts of cheese: When a hand-held, rasp-style grater isn’t handy, a serrated steak knife works just fine for grating Parmesan or Asiago over single-serving bowls of pasta or risotto. Simply hold the cheese in one hand and scrape the knife over it with the other. Scrape lightly for finer gratings or exert extra pressure for thin, curly shavings.

For roasted potatoes that don’t stick: Dab peeled potatoes with a paper towel and then rub immediately with olive oil. Place alongside a roast or in a baking pan by themselves. The oil significantly prevents the spuds from sticking while adding better crisp and flavor.

Toning down the acidity in spaghetti sauce: Everyone uses regular sugar to quell the acid in spaghetti sauces, but brown sugar works much better, and can also be sprinkled directly on sliced tomatoes that aren’t in season to restore their naturally sweet taste.

Reviving crystallized honey: To bring honey back to its translucent, liquid state after it hardens, place the glass jar in simmering water until the honey loosens, or heat in a microwave if it’s contained in plastic. Then recap. The honey will eventually crystallize again, but not for several more weeks.

Getting the damn ketchup to flow: Remember the old saying, “Shake and shake the ketchup bottle. None’ll come and then a lot’ll”? Well, forget the shaking and instead push a drinking straw to the bottom of a new ketchup container. When you remove the straw, the ketchup will roll out evenly.

Making fast compound butters: Instead of mixing herbs and spices into softened butter and then reshaping it into logs that need to harden in the refrigerator, simply unwrap a whole stick of chilled butter and cut it lengthwise. Roll each piece directly in the seasonings (chopped herbs, citrus zest, red pepper flakes, etc.), and then slice and serve.

Say goodbye to tea stains: Yes, you guessed it. Nothing removes those built-up tannin stains from your ceramic teapots and cups better than Polident. For cleaning either, fill with water and drop in one or two tablets of the denture cleaner and let soak for two to three hours. Heavier stains may need a few more treatments.

Solace for sloppy utensils: If your kitchen lacks a metal or ceramic spoon rest, which requires cleaning anyhow after a cooking storm has occurred, a few slices of white bread is the next best thing for catching bits of food and excess juice from your spoons, spatulas and tongs.

Preventing sticky rice: Despite popular thinking, butter isn’t the solution for keeping your rice from gumming up and sticking to the bottom of the pan. If fact, it makes the problem worse and should be added as a finisher only after the rice has cooked. Instead, several drops of lemon juice added at the start of the simmering process will keep the grains separate and help prevent the rice from burning.

Chopping nuts: There will be no more ducking from those low-flying nut pieces if you put them in a plastic bag and bang them lightly with a meat mallet or hammer.

Easy-to-peel eggs: We’ve all wrestled with the feat of peeling stubborn shells off of hard-boiled eggs. Miraculously, the problem is eliminated when you add two dashes of salt and a tablespoon of vinegar to the pot while the eggs are boiling.