Instructions: Tad Graham-Handley of the Connecticut Culinary Institute posed a simple question to his instructors: What are some unusual ways they use plastic wrap?

When prepping any product containing beets or another ingredient that stains, the cutting board can be wrapped in plastic to keep it from staining.

A strip of plastic wrap can be twisted into a twist tie of virtually any length and knotted. This is particularly useful when transporting food.

Pastry chefs wrap five-kilogram blocks of chocolate, still in their paper wrapping, in several layers of plastic wrap and slam them on the floor to break them up. It saves arduous cutting.

Culinary students wrap their textbooks in plastic to keep them clean while cooking.

A damp towel wrapped in plastic wrap and placed on top of a stack of phyllo dough keeps the leaves supple without causing them to become sodden.

Wrapping a sushi mat in plastic prevents sticky rice from getting mashed into it.

Because aluminum foil reacts with acids, a sheet of plastic wrap placed between the foil and acid foods such as lasagna prevents tainting of the food.

In large hotels and banquet houses, entire Queen Mary carts (rolling sheet-pan racks) of appetizers, salads or desserts are wrapped in plastic wrap, marked with the name of the party, and rolled into the cooler. This ensures the wrong cart doesnt get rolled to a party far from the kitchen and that whole sheet pans of plates dont slide out during delivery.

When baking cheesecake in a pan without a removable bottom, chefs turn them out onto a cake circle upside down, and then reverse them onto another cake circle to show the proper side for presentation. Wrapping the first cake circle in plastic and dusting it with a bit of powdered sugar prevents the top of the cheesecake from peeling off.

When using a meat grinder, there is always some waste left in the mechanism at the end. Pushing through a wad of plastic wrap cleans all the food out of the worm gear, without going through the grinder plate and into the food.

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