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Don’t tell me the pandemic hasn’t sparked the inner Gordon Ramsay inside of you. I, someone who’s not particularly renowned for their cooking abilities, have tried making at least two things from scratch, a marble cake and quiche Lorraine. Don’t ask me how it went but the fact that there’s no photographic evidence remaining speaks volumes.

I wonder how different my baby steps in cooking would have been if I'd known some know-how things, like working the oven or chopping those shallots. But thankfully, the dear chefs of Reddit have gathered for one noble purpose—to help us, miserable souls, to feel confident in the kitchen. And not just nibbling on the fresh cuts of a dish in process, but actually being in the middle of the whole cooking action.

So when someone asked “what’s one rule of cooking amateurs need to know?” the answers flooded in with some of the most useful, relatable and ‘where was I before’ tips and tricks. Get your notebooks ready and scroll down to see some really good advice.

#1

Chefs Are Sharing Simple Tips That Can Instantly Make Your Cooking Better (40 Tips) (home cook)

Cooking recipe is a suggestion, baking recipe is an instruction.

pothkan , Sorin Gheorghita Report

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Lord Mysticlaw
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This one is good to remember, especially for beginners... the people I've seen who think they can just leave stuff out when they're baking and then they don't understand why it doesn't work 🤦🏻‍♀️ Baking is science.

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SumoNinja
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This. In baking you are relying on very specific chemical reactions to achieve it. You also can't taste it part way through and decide to add a little more salt or whatever.

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Chris Kane
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not entirely true, home baker here, with experience you can just tell by the way the dough feels.

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Sam Yobado
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I bake, and I agree with knowing dough. I don't even know the measurements of some ingredients anymore because I tinker to get it how my family likes it and now I just know how it feels.

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Rissie
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

But when you get the science, the instructions become suggestions too. As long as you know what binds, rises, keeps moisture locked in and what the effects are of using more or less of an ingredient. It just asks for more experience. Cooking can be forked up pretty badly too.

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Harold Summer
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Right on. If you truly understand what is happening, both baking and cooking become more intuitive.

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Annamagelic
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you know what you are doing you can certainly modify baking recipes. Make it exactly like the recipe the first time, then feel free to experiment and see what happens, best to start small thought. Many "failures" are still reasonably tasty even if they don't look right.

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KatHat
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There's some truth to this, but it's also frustrates me a little, because it's statements like this that make people unwilling or even afraid to bake. For a long while, I was one of those people. Oh, I can't make bread; it's so hard; I'll get it wrong; it uses yeast; everyone says it's a science, I'll be bad at it... when I FINALLY tried I was actually good at it, and found that most bread recipes are far more flexible than people were indicating. Yes, some other baking recipes need to be followed more exactly but we should be encouraging people to try; there's a wide range of acceptable outcomes and more cooking is a GOOD THING. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk :)

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Marika Miettinen
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

But when you know the theory and practise, you can start changing and developing baking recipes too. -ex chef

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Vicky Zar
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Weeeell..... I love baking and I always experiment. With good outcomes I might add. You just have to know what you can and cannot do. For example: exchanging chocolate chunks with nuts should be fine while exchanging baking powder for baking soda might not work if you don't have the right ingredients. Plus, you cannot exchange it 1:1

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Chodz
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As a chef this is one of my biggest pet peeves because it´s plain wrong. It comes from watching too many cooking shows with chefs hammering on consistency in a restaurant. In a professional food environment this is a necessity to ensure consistent results for the customer and between different chefs making a preparation. In home baking you can f**k around with recipes as much as you want and still get great results depending on personal preference. Not even baking is set in stone.

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Nikki Sevven
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't completely agree. It largely depends on the skill and experience of the cook.

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Robert T
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Depends what you are baking, but in general, baking is like chemistry and it is the ratios of ingredients to one another that matter. If you change the ratios too much you will end up with something different entirely - biscuits (cookies for the Americans) instead of cakes. Some ingredients you can change - take a basic sponge mix and add chocolate, coffee or lemon and you have three cakes that taste quite different, but they are all essentially the same recipe.

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Niall Mac Iomera
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Meh, I call bunk on this. People always say baking is about exact quantities, but then the recipe says, "2 eggs" like that's an exact amount.

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Marlowe Fitzpatrik
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I disagree. I'd modify it to: With a baking-recipe, you can just follow the instructions and it will be good if you stay faithful to it. With cooking, more things can go wrong if you don't know what tastes how and how much is too much. Usually, there's "season to taste" in them and for people who have no idea about cooking, that's horrible! They might not take enough, or too much, and then it tastes shitty and they won't ever touch a spoon again. Baking is 'easy' - just read, measure and follow instructions.

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Suzi Gauthier
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is why I cook but don't bake. Not to mention, the temperature & humidity of the house can affect your masterpiece.

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j b milam
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Absolutely you can tinker with a bread recipe after you have it down, but cookies? nope. pecan pie? double nope. baking is a chemical reaction.

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Celtic Pirate Queen
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I usually follow a new recipe exactly, but make notes as to what I would change the next time.

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H.L.Lewis
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is mostly true. I cut out recipes I think sound good only to start substituting ingredients immediately. Can't seem to help myself. But with any baked good recipe, in general they have way to much sugar, so I will cut the added sugar by 25% right off the bat. So much better. I am a long time cook, learned very young. My Mom is diabetic. ( type 2), And I prefer not to follow in her footsteps. So now I bake using whole wheat flour instead of the all purpose white. Changing recipes to make them more nutritious, and less carbs that immediately turn to sugars. But it still has to taste Good!

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Jennifer Norton
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I still see baking instructions as suggestions. I mean sometimes I want more of something and less of something else to change the taste. Plus, not all ovens work the same

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Mithrandir
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I know what you mean byt I disagree. In cooking you have some procedures and rules you must follow. And in baking you have just more of them, but you can improvise as long as you follow the rules. It takes some time to learn them, but you can do it. People just don’t see them in cooking because they have been so well known.

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F. H.
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I always stick to baking recipes up to the point where I'm always missing almost all ingredients and have to improvise.

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Alexia
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Also it would be a good idea to read the entire recipe before staring to cook/bake.

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Leo Domitrix
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Baking involves precise chemistry and physics. Cooking.... eh, you can play a little.

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Grumble O'Pug
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

True, unless you are making things with crusts like pot pies.

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While most of us only experience the joys of cooking in the comfort of our homes, for some, it’s something they do for a living. As you probably have seen on Gordon Ramsay’s TV shows, the restaurant industry is one hell of an industry where drama can fire up any moment. So we reached out to a Redditor IndigoHatter, who is an avid member of the r/Cooking subreddit, and they shared some very interesting insights about cooking, cooks, restaurants and all the misconceptions that we have about them.

#3

Chefs Are Sharing Simple Tips That Can Instantly Make Your Cooking Better (40 Tips) Stop cooking with extra virgin olive oil; it is not some 'better' version of olive oil.

Extra Virgin has an extremely low smoke point, so cooking with it often leads to burnt food and a smoky kitchen. It is intended for dressing and garnishing. Regular olive oil has a much higher smoke point and is meant for cooking. They are not the same.

ajcranst , Roberta Sorge Report

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Eleni Aggeliki
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You can do just about everything with olive oil, be it extra virgin or not. You need to know how to treat it. People from Mediterranean countries can attest to this.

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Whoever has mastered a carrot cake at home and won the hearts of their family members shouldn’t expect to become an award-winning chef. “People think if they are great cooks at home, they'll be great cooks in the kitchen. Similarly, people think that great restaurant cooks are also great home cooks,” IndigoHatter said, adding that it’s not true.

“The skills do have some overlap, but working in a restaurant means making the same thing over and over, so you're more like an assembly worker. Cooks are taught how to cook something, but this doesn't mean they have the skill to make that same thing at home.”

#4

Chefs Are Sharing Simple Tips That Can Instantly Make Your Cooking Better (40 Tips) Clean as you go! Done with the cutting board? Wash it or put it away before you move on to the next step. A clean kitchen makes your life way easier.

heyeve , Aleksei Ieshkin Report

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Mihai Mara
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Me: "I fully agree with this!" My kitchen: "then why do I look like this? Why am I not clean and tidy?"

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#5

Chefs Are Sharing Simple Tips That Can Instantly Make Your Cooking Better (40 Tips) A lot of the time when people add salt to a dish because they think it tastes flat, what it really needs is an acid like lemon juice or vinegar

Vexvertigo , tokyofoodcast Report

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Miss Cris
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Cool! Now, how do you know if it's one thing or the other? 🤔

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#6

Chefs Are Sharing Simple Tips That Can Instantly Make Your Cooking Better (40 Tips) When a dish calls for a certain amount of wine, it is recommended to consume an equal amount of wine whilst cooking said dish

promisedjoy , Oscar Nord Report

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According to them, the real trick for the cooks is to practice making things correctly when they’re not busy, “so that when you are busy, you execute it without thinking.” Moreover, “While you're busy, you may realize some hacks you can do to make things easier (usually through frustration)... and then you go back and forth between busy and slow days and hone your practice,” IndigoHatter explained.

#7

Chefs Are Sharing Simple Tips That Can Instantly Make Your Cooking Better (40 Tips) Not really a cooking tip, but a law of the kitchen: A falling knife has no handle

wooddog , rmkoske Report

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beastmachine.
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Correct me if I am wrong but when I drop some a knife or a tool I just jump backwards to make sure it doesn't land on my feet. Don't know if this is the correct way, never been injured so far.

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#8

Chefs Are Sharing Simple Tips That Can Instantly Make Your Cooking Better (40 Tips) Hot metal looks the same as cold metal.

Scovers , redcharlie Report

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#9

Chefs Are Sharing Simple Tips That Can Instantly Make Your Cooking Better (40 Tips) When you grab a pair of tongs, click them a few times to make sure they are tongs

Kolshdaddy , Joshua Hoehne Report

And when it comes to the food in restaurants, it's not always made from scratch like you do it at home. In fact, most things you order in a restaurant are prepped or par-cooked beforehand, depending on the dish and expected pick-up time. “For example, if you order chicken alfredo, the pasta is pre-cooked, as well as the sauce. When the cooks start your order, they will likely begin cooking your chicken and slowly heating up some sauce (unless they're Olive Garden and sell it by the bucket, in which case it's already hot and held like a soup), and heat your pasta in the hot water (only for a minute), before assembling it together.”

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#10

Chefs Are Sharing Simple Tips That Can Instantly Make Your Cooking Better (40 Tips) The amount of garlic flavor is dependent on WHEN you add the garlic. Add it early for light flavor, add it late for bold flavor.

Orbnotacus , pingnews.com Report

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Mihai Mara
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

or just do like I do: I add the garlic early. Then add it late. Than put some more garlic in the plate, while serving the food. There's no such thing as too much garlic.

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#11

Chefs Are Sharing Simple Tips That Can Instantly Make Your Cooking Better (40 Tips) Tie. Your. Hair.

I've watched so many people cook and half the time they have their hair loose just flying wherever it chooses. God no, just tie it. Please

nellouse1 , Tamara Bellis Report

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Leo Domitrix
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This isn't just so you don't get hair in food. If you have an open flame in your kitchen, untied hair is an invitation to open flames on your *head*.

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#12

Chefs Are Sharing Simple Tips That Can Instantly Make Your Cooking Better (40 Tips) Former executive sous chef for a 3 star restaurant. I have also ran a bunch smaller kitchens during covid.

Get good knifes. I recommend Mercer Renaissance as a starter brand. $40 for the 8in Chefs knives, $23 for the 5in utility knife.

Shallots are used extremely often in restaurant kitchens but rarely at home. Use as a substitute for onions for a more mild taste.

Heat pans for 1min before using, use less heat when cooking. Rarely will you ever need to go higher than 75%.

Taste everything possible. Not just your finished product. Taste the spices, salt, pepper, etc all separately before adding them the first time you use it. A lot of people will buy a new spice then immediately add it to their food ruining it.

Knives should be lightly honed before and after each use. Hand wash and dry immediately.

Never attempt to catch anything that's falling. Not just knifes, if you drop a napkin your instinctive response should be to take a step back and put your hands up and out of the way. This trains your brain so you never attempt to catch something dangerous.

Want to make something more like a restaurant? Odds are you need more salt, sugar, or butter. We don't care if the carrots we serve are worse than eating actual candy, we just want you to come back.

Just because you like cooking doesn't mean you will like working at a restaurant. Pay is usually pretty poor unless you work at Michelin star restaurants and it is a hot, high-pressure environment. We lose a lot of people who couldn't handle the pressure of getting yelled at.

Abigail716 , Conscious Design Report

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Miss Cris
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I like this. Real tips. For example, all cookers say "use good knifes" but here they say whixh and the price, and it's buyable. And honest!!! Thank you!

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The Redditor also said that one of the easiest ways to make food taste great is to make it look great. “The first thing you eat with is your eyes, ears, and nose before it ever gets to your mouth. One of the easiest ways to do this is use contrasting colors... it's why so many dishes are sprinkled with parsley!”

They continued: “As for actual flavor... salt, chicken stock, and butter are your main culprits for deliciousness... and sometimes sugar, depending on what we're talking about.”

#13

Chefs Are Sharing Simple Tips That Can Instantly Make Your Cooking Better (40 Tips) The secret that I was never taught growing up but has made such a huge difference in my cooking is thoroughly drying meat, fish, and veg with paper towel before cooking. My mom’s cooking was always too watery, not crispy or caramelized, because she missed this step, and to be fair, it isn’t mentioned in most recipes.

half_a_sleep , lungstruck Report

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Jo Davies
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A clean kitchen towel. Reusable/washable so better for the environment and the pocket. I have a small box I keep on my food prep counter just for food, never used to clean.

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#14

Chefs Are Sharing Simple Tips That Can Instantly Make Your Cooking Better (40 Tips) You can always add, but you cannot take away.

El_Duende666 , Milada Vigerova Report

#15

Chefs Are Sharing Simple Tips That Can Instantly Make Your Cooking Better (40 Tips) Keep it simple. I see so many young chefs coming into the kitchen fresh out of the classroom going hell for leather to make some strange gels, jellies, dehydrated this and that. Yes it can taste great, but just chill out. Show me if you can make a proper Jus, properly cook a joint of meat, know how to bring the best out of a simple, humble vegetable.

Just keep it simple.

bibBo , Sebastian Coman Photography Report

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And when it comes to the actual term ‘chef’ that so many of us use, Indigohatter said that it’s not true of every cook. They explained: "'Chef' is French for 'chief,' which stems from the brigade de cuisine, created several hundred years ago. It's largely been deviated from these days, but the spirit and structure still holds true. The original brigade structure is something to marvel over, and some restaurants supposedly use structures like this still... but in my local fine-dining restaurant experience, it's usually just a handful of positions, and even some of these may not be present, depending on how the kitchen is structured.”

“Chef, Sous Chef, Chef de Garde-Manger (tends to be salads and desserts), KM (Kitchen Manager), Line Lead, Cooks. These are the only positions I've ever seen in a restaurant,” they said.

#16

Chefs Are Sharing Simple Tips That Can Instantly Make Your Cooking Better (40 Tips) Smell is very similar to taste, and if you're not sure about combining various spices, open the bottles and smell them all together.

SuddenSenseOfSonder , Christina Rumpf Report

#17

Chefs Are Sharing Simple Tips That Can Instantly Make Your Cooking Better (40 Tips) Not a chef, but no sharps left in the sink

waterloograd , Rachel Zack Report

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Troux
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I see a can and four bottles left in that sink. That would upset me more than a knife.

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#18

Chefs Are Sharing Simple Tips That Can Instantly Make Your Cooking Better (40 Tips) Cooking is art, baking is science.

DemonicCarrot , Max Delsid Report

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Sky Render
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

To me, both are science AND art. There's so much more that goes into good cooking than just throwing ingredients together and hoping for the best. Genius concoctions like bechamel and sodium citrate cheese sauce wouldn't exist if there wasn't science that goes into cooking, and brilliant discoveries like chocolate chip cookies wouldn't exist if people hadn't tried to get a bit artistic with their baking.

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If you still wish to become a good chef one day, there are a set of key skills you wish to strengthen. “To become a good cook, you need to be a hard and fast worker, you need to be clean and organized (this is so important), and you need to be capable of splitting your attention all over the place without losing focus on any of it,” Indigohatter said.

They continued: “You need good knife skills, and you need great discipline (always use a towel to hold a pan handle, because when you're cooking that much, that fast, there's a chance one of the pan handles is hot, and you don't want to drop it).”

“Most importantly, though, you need to be able to follow directions, know how to ask the right questions, and know when and what you can put in your own personal creative spin on things, vs when you need to follow directions to the letter,” they concluded.

#19

Chefs Are Sharing Simple Tips That Can Instantly Make Your Cooking Better (40 Tips) This one's kind of common sense, but hotter doesn't mean faster - turning your burners up to 10 for everything will just lead to smoke and half-cooked food with a burned exterior.

blay12 , Kevin McCutcheon Report

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Samantha Lomb
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh how I wish my mom knew this! She loved to cook things on volcanic heat and we would end up with things like French toast that was black on the outside and full of raw egg on the inside. Often my father would look at whatever monstrosity she made and would say "Quick kids, get in the car I got $20, we are going to McDonalds" and we would cheer. Eventually we banned mom from making eggs at all. Dad made the best eggs and really good, golden brown, thoroughly cooked French toast. ( and before anyone asks the reason he didn't cook more is because in the lawn care season - March to Sept- dad often didn't get home till 7 pm and then still had to clean up and get ready for the next day. In the winter he was the main cook.)

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#20

Chefs Are Sharing Simple Tips That Can Instantly Make Your Cooking Better (40 Tips) Not a prof chef- Mashed potatoes… NOT blended potatoes. Don’t ever put potatoes in the blender, it will turn into glue

For anyone wondering the science behind it: potatoes contain a lot of starch. Mashing cooked potatoes gently by hand or with a ricer leaves most of the starch molecules intact. The butter and dairy you add to the mashed potatoes are able to coat each individual particle, making the potatoes creamy.

goodbye401k , Rachel Loughman Report

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Aunt Messy
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Different varieties of potatoes cook differently and are better in different things. This is worth looking up.

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#21

Sharp knives are less dangerous than dull knives.

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#22

Chefs Are Sharing Simple Tips That Can Instantly Make Your Cooking Better (40 Tips) Never fry, saute etc nude.

Phil0sophic , S Migaj Report

#23

Chefs Are Sharing Simple Tips That Can Instantly Make Your Cooking Better (40 Tips) Never ever EVER throw water on a grease fire

Don’t try moving it either. Turn off the heat, place a lid on it or smother it with baking soda, if you don’t have a fire extinguisher.
Also, consider buying a fire extinguisher if you don’t already have one.

chris_the_earthenoid , Valentin B. Kremer Report

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NsG
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And a fire blanket. A fire extinguisher *may* just spread the lit grease if you don't aim in right. A blanket will guarantee to smother it.

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#24

Chefs Are Sharing Simple Tips That Can Instantly Make Your Cooking Better (40 Tips) wash your hands

A_zuma2007 , Clay Banks Report

#25

Chefs Are Sharing Simple Tips That Can Instantly Make Your Cooking Better (40 Tips) Toasting dry spices in a sautee pan can really bring out the flavor of the spices. Don't put bbq sauce on until the end of cooking meat. The sugar in the bbq sauce can cause the meat to burn and char.

truisluv , Victoria Shes Report

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#27

Chefs Are Sharing Simple Tips That Can Instantly Make Your Cooking Better (40 Tips) You don’t need to buy pre-made spice rubs. Look at the ingredients and build a well stocked pantry

Celebrity endorsed cookware isn’t always good, a lot of it sucks

Don’t cheap out on knives, buy forged, not stamped.

Store raw meat accordingly, don’t cross contaminate your fridge

Knife magnet strips are better than knife blocks

This is obvious, but never put a cast iron in the dishwasher

Don’t boil the s**t out of potatoes to make mash

Rinse raw rice before cooking

Mise. En. Place.

guiltycitizen , Gaelle Marcel Report

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Dave P
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

the rinsing rice before cooking is a false tip. It depends on the dish and if you want the starch of not. You rise rice for a risotto, you will fail, you dont wash before egg fried rice you will fail. Depends on the dish

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#28

Chefs Are Sharing Simple Tips That Can Instantly Make Your Cooking Better (40 Tips) Salt, pepper and acid will brighten up almost any dish. If an otherwise wonderful dish is just... missing something, add salt, pepper and lemon juice, then reassess.

LymphomaThr0waway , Edi Libedinsky Report

#29

Chefs Are Sharing Simple Tips That Can Instantly Make Your Cooking Better (40 Tips) Pre heat your pan, its a simple trick but it will improve your cooking

a small amount of oil will go a long long way

when you take steak or pork or lamb off of the heat or out of the oven, always give it time to rest, usually half the amount of time you cooked them, and i tend to loosely cover them in tinfoil

Empty-Refrigerator , Duane Mendes Report

#30

If you're using a steel/hone on a blade, ALWAYS RUN THE BLADE THROUGH A FOLDED UP PAPER TOWEL A FEW TIMES AFTERWARDS! If you don't, there are small steel particles that cling to the blade that can and WILL come off in the next thing you cut.

Themonkeylifter Report

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Tullotoe Underfoot
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Hones/steels don't remove metal. This is if you sharpen it with an actual wet stone or the like. Hones just bend edges that have rounded over back to straight.

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#31

Chefs Are Sharing Simple Tips That Can Instantly Make Your Cooking Better (40 Tips) Not a chef but I'm having a beer with one. I posed this question to him and he said. "You know the knob on the stove that makes the fire come out? There's a whole range of settings between off and all the way on. Temperature control. grabs my shoulder Temperature... control."

hyperkinetic27 , Andrea Davis Report

#32

Chefs Are Sharing Simple Tips That Can Instantly Make Your Cooking Better (40 Tips) you’re just going to enjoy cooking more if you have a SHARP knife. No clue how people can hack away at veggies and meat. No reason to go insane either, a $30 Victorinox and $5 sharpener will get you a very long way

friendbuddyguypal , iBecome Communication Report

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deathrose
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I bought a Victorinox set when I went to culinary school 10 years ago. I still use them, they are my favorite set.

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#33

Chefs Are Sharing Simple Tips That Can Instantly Make Your Cooking Better (40 Tips) Tell people you're behind them when cooking is involved.

BEHIND!!!!

ToddFatherXCII , Jason Briscoe Report

#34

When you take something out of the oven, a pot, pan, skillet, sheet, tray, whatever; drape a towel or oven mitt over the handle/edge of it. That way you or anyone else understands that it’s hot and not to be grabbed bare handed.

From a Homecook who has grabbed handles in excess of 400 degrees literally 30 seconds after taking them out of the oven…..more than once

TheWingus Report

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Witchling
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you're like my mom you do it after warning everyone else that it's hot!!

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#35

Chefs Are Sharing Simple Tips That Can Instantly Make Your Cooking Better (40 Tips) Not a chef but avid bbq smoker. LET YOUR MEAT REST AFTER COOKING

Leave_it_to_stupid · , Hitesh Dewasi Report

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#36

Always salt your pasta water!

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troufaki13
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

But NEVER put olive oil in the boiling water. It doesn't matter if Gordon Ramsey said so, it's wrong

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#37

I've had the great fortune of knowing some pro cooks in my life, and the most memorable piece of advice I've gotten was when there were several of them at my place during a housewarming and they had, of course, taken over the kitchen.

One was searing a pork loin and was pissy because I had a liquor dispenser top on my olive oil and just a grinder for salt (no pig). After he ripped the top off the oil and found my box of kosher salt, he explained

"dirtymick, do you know why restaurant food tastes so good?" he asked, while liberally dumping oil and salt on the pork, "It's because we cook like we hate you".

Turns out the best home cooking aide is self loathing.

dirtymick Report

#38

The digital meat thermometer is hands down the best $10 I ever spent. It has a temperature alert setting that takes the guesswork out of when to take something out of the oven. The only time I have had dry poultry in the last five years or so is when I go to someone's house to eat that doesn't use one. 90% of people suck at Thanksgiving turkey

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#39

Chefs Are Sharing Simple Tips That Can Instantly Make Your Cooking Better (40 Tips) After cutting an onion into half, soak in cold water before slicing to avoid tears

McThal , Couleur Report

#40

Chefs Are Sharing Simple Tips That Can Instantly Make Your Cooking Better (40 Tips) Don’t use wet towels… learned there the hard way

redvelvetlookinass , monicore Report

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