One of the best things that you can do in life is to learn how to cook. That way, you’re self-reliant, you know for a fact what goes into the food you make, and you can impress all of your friends who like take-out meals a tad too much.
However, getting started isn’t the easiest thing in the world. There are a lot of potential hiccups: from not knowing what ingredients to put into the pan first to how to use the tools, techniques and utensils any food enthusiast should know. That’s why some friendly Reddit cooks took it upon themselves to share the best kitchen hacks they know. Scroll down for some delicious nuggets of kitchen advice and upvote the ones that think everyone should know, dear Pandas. When you’re done, we’d love to hear all about your own kitchen and cooking tips and tricks.
Bored Panda got in touch with redditor u/Sunieta25, who started the thread in the first place. Scroll down for our interview with her. Meanwhile, don’t forget to read on for Bored Panda’s second interview with pie artist, the author of ‘Pies Are Awesome,’ and cooking expert Jessica Leigh Clark-Bojin. Both of them shared some advice about working in the kitchen that you Pandas might find very useful.
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Tongs are also oven mitts, juicers, knives, spoons, and extendo-arms. Just make sure you click them at least twice before using them to make sure they are on.
Redditor u/Sunieta25 told us all about the inspiration behind the fun and informative r/AskReddit thread. "A friend of mine has been staying with my husband and I, and he's a good cook. We've been making recipes together but we kept debating on multiple dos and don'ts in the kitchen, so I asked the question to see professional cooks take on the kitchen. To my surprise there was a lot I didn't know," they shared.
They opened up to us about the fact that they love cooking and practicing recipes. "I feel learning new things adds to cooking skills," they said. Their suggestion for everyone is to never wash your chicken. Meanwhile, when cooking, it's best to rememeber that "you can always add but you can never take away."
You follow instructions when baking. You follow your heart when cooking (...but not too much.)
Sometimes when you think something needs more salt, what it really needs is acid — lemon juice, vinegar, etc.
Which is why us older Chefs use a 'Gastric' - basically a mix of Vinegar and Sugar or honey in order to add depth of flavour to a sauce.
A blunt knife is more dangerous than a sharp one. Always keep your knives sharp.
Got my first real set of good quality sharp knives this year. What a game changer!
If your towels or oven mitt get wet (or your hands are wet while using them on something hot), they will NOT protect your hands.
Jessica urged all cooks, amateur or professional, to have all of their kitchen tools and ingredients set up before they start cooking. That way, the entire process is far, far smoother.
“Working mis-en-place and having all your tools and ingredients set out, nice and tidy, before you start certainly helps cut down on the chaos later,” she said that cooks should try to look and plan ahead.
A good kitchen should be equipped with a plentiful supply of clean, dry towels.
This is really important. Buy at least 20 tea towels and regularly (once a day?) pull out a clean one. Drap it over your shoulder when you start cooking and dry your hands when they are wet, whip a surface clean, dryout a recently cleaned frying pan, use it as an oven mitt to pull a tray out of the oven.... just use it all the time. Do not touch raw meat with it -- ie don't use it to pat dry meat before cooking. I often wet one and leave damp over dough that is rising or even buns or bagels out of the oven. Easily one of the most important tools in the kitchen.
I am not a chef but I know for a fact that you shouldn't cook something you aren't familiar with if you are having guests.
Of course, one thing that puts people off from learning to cook is having to clean up a mountain of dishes later. Nobody’s really a fan of scrubbing endless pots and pans after making a delicious meal for their loved ones.
One way to get around this is to incorporate your cleaning routine into your cooking process. “I absolutely recommend cleaning as you go. It gives you something to do while you wait for things to chill, boil, bake, what-have-you, and it makes your life so much easier in the end,” Jessica explained that you can save a lot of time later.
Contrary to popular belief, it often doesn’t work out great if you add your chopped/minced garlic first to hot oil or butter. It burns so quickly and tastes yuck. I like to brown something else first, like onions, and then add the garlic. The onions are like a burn buffer!
Add the garlic at the end of the whole process, just a few minutes before you turn off the pan. It will turn golden and have that signature garlic aroma. You may add minced garlic at the beginning of the process, but you have add some water to let it simmer rather than burn it.
Baking is a perfect example of 'don't tear down walls unless you know why they were built.' If you know the chemistry at play and what each ingredient is doing, you can get creative. Keep in mind that every ingredient does something, so add-ons and substitution can change how everything works together.
I was making some cookies from a bag ( don’t judge me I had 3 kids asking me for desert and nothing at the house and I didn’t want to leave) but I didn’t have eggs so I used mayonnaise and everyone loved them !bi didn’t tell them about the Mayo til after they had enjoyed them 😂
“Having a finished lovely pie/cake/dish, but a kitchen that looks like a tornado hit it depresses me,” Jessica opened up to Bored Panda. “Not everyone is as mess-adverse as I am, so I suppose it depends on your personal tolerance for kitchen chaos.”
However, keeping a tidy kitchen isn’t just about looks. It also trains you to look out for possible safety issues while cooking. “I will say that keeping things tidy makes it a lot easier to spot potential safety issues, like cross-contamination with raw meat or household chemicals,” Jessica explained why it’s important to remember that cooking isn’t just about cooking.
Soy sauce goes on more than just Asian foods. Try a dash in scrambled eggs or towards the end of your caramelized onions. It is a savory salt flavor that compliments many dishes.
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.
Olive oil is a condiment and is terrible to fry with.
Use vegetable oil or any other 'neutral' oil, it has a higher flash point and is pretty much flavourless.
And don't be scared of salt & pepper, throw that s**t in there.
Also MSG is good.
Use Refined olive oil (without mixed in virgin olive oil). 3rd highest smoke temperature - 240°C (safflower and rice bran are higher by up to 15°C). Other vegetable oil has lower smoke point down to 205°C.
I was wondering why I had never heard of that one. Turns out it's actually illegal to sell refined olive oil, without mixing it with virgin olive oil in my country.
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Extra Virgin Olive Oil is perfectly fine to cook with and is far healthier than vegetable, canola, corn, rapeseed, and peanut oils. If you need a higher smoke point then use Avocado oil. If you need to season cast iron or carbon steel use Avocado oil. It is best to season iron and carbon steel using an oil with a higher smoke point than you would ever actually fry with.
Grapeseed oil!! It is my favorite oil. It's smokepoint is on the higher end but it's flavor is mild enough to be used in vanilla cake.
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This is simply not true. It depends on the type and quality of the olive oil. And it's the healthiest type of oil by far.
It's not about the healthiest oil. Olive oil smokes at a much lower temperature than other oils. The point is that if you're frying, you want the oil to be very hot but not burning or smoking too much.
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Absolute nonsense! I (and generations of Mediterraneans before me) have been cooking/frying/baking/roasting with olive oil my entire cooking life. Almost all my Greek recipes call for olive oil.
MSG fits some dishes and makes others inedible. It mostly is a selective taste enhancer, nothing more. But depending on the receipe, the broothy umami-flavour brought out by it often is not something you want to enhance. It is great for most asian dishes, though. Also some foods do contain it naturally (like celery, dried tomato or parmesan cheese).
I have vestibular migraines so msg is actually not good as it can be a trigger
We need to chat, I've never met anyone else with VM and there's so little info
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Not true, you can use regular olive oil for cooking and low temp sautéing but it is best to use EVOO as a condiment or dressing. Different oils have different smoke points and flavors when cooked.
They didn't say cooking. They said frying, as in high heat.
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Absolute rubbish. In the Mediterranean countries we use olive oil for all sorts of cooking without any problems. It most certainly is not just a condiment. I assume the person making this comment isn’t a cook or chef.
Virgin is a condiment. The rest are really good for frying and also reduce cholesterol. Used it for at least fourteen years without any problem. MSG can cause Migraine in a lot of people and shouldn't be used. If you have fresh veg and meat, and you know what you're doing, you don't need it anyway
I think carcinogens are the main concern, not cholesterol.
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But you can pour a little in the pan while cooking Kale. Makes it easier to scrape into the garbage later.
I don't know about that comment. I have always done my frying with olive oil no and a butter. My dishes are crispy and browned nicely. I would not use it to fry things like fries.
I like the taste of ingredients. An excessive amount of salt makes food salty not tasty..the same goes for msg. If you need it you just cheat and can't make something tasty on your own. Also I don't want drugs to tell me that something is good.
I have switched to grape seed oil as I really don’t care for the taste of olive oil.
Load More Replies... Not accurate. Olive oil is great to cook with. It is all I use. It’s in most Mediterranean recipes and has been used for hundreds of years.
I only fry with olive oil as I get at least around 50 lt per year from our 100 y/o trees. Frying potatos in olive oil is amazing same goes with frying dough (loukoumades or pies), vegetables etc the thing is though that the Mediterranean diet is not based on fried food so the few times you want to fry something here olive oil is the obvious choice. Additionally it's all about it's flavour as well. I think the advice is based on finding the slight heavier aftertaste bothersome but in reality it's a matter of preference.
So basically more than half Italian cuisine is "terrible". Ok, of you say so. *rolleyes*
You CAN fry with olive oil just add some butter or even margarine to increase the smoke point.
The smoke point of butter is even lower than olive oil. WAY lower. You can't fry in butter at all. It burns quickly because of the milk solids.
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I would never eat this person's chicken cutlets then. I only use extra virgin olive oil for mine and they're a favorite.
I always fry things in olive oil and had never had a problem! Healthier and tastier!!
Flavoured olive oil is amazing to cook with, so this is up to individual tastes and choice
Bad advice , evoo is great to fry with. I suggest you broaden your horizons if you are willing to promote such a rule.
Couldn't disagree more. Sautee with olive oil often, don't over heat. Not ask dishes need salt, Lord knows we all get to much in our diets... Peanut oil and walnut oil, like olive oil, impart interesting flavors...msg should be used sparingly, if you're cooking anything with natural sweetness and a bit of salt, you don't need it... Like ham and pineapple, or onion ... Ham is salty, the others are sweet... No msg needed.
MSG is a neurotoxin. & I have used EVOO for almost everything, always a hit.
Well said below. Virgin oil is only for salad dressing, condiments. Use regular olive oil to fry. The food comes out better especially fish. Please fo not use vegetable oil not healthy at all. Use conola oil instead of you are not able to find regular olive oil. Also do try grape seed oil just as great tasting as olive oil.
Stay away from pomace, it's the dregs after the good stuff is pressed.
I use olive oil to fry just fine extra virgin is a condiment normal olive oil is fine and healthier to fry with. Not for deep frying but in a pan is fine
Not accurate. I only use olive oil to cook with, and most Mediterranean recipes use olive oil.
I disagree. I love some things sautéed In olive oil. It's not good for everything, but it's perfect for some stuff.
We use a 'everyday cooking' olive oil, somethings need that yummy olive oil flavour. Eggplant. 094998-624...f16355.jpg 
Only it causes stomach cancer, yes it is tasty I agree, but it's terrible for you.
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Not completely true. You can fry with olive oil by mixing in some butter. I've seen chefs do it all the time. You can't deep fry with it but you can brown things with it quite nicely. Christopher Kimble even suggested using it for scrambled eggs because butter adds a bit of water. "Is olive oil good for scrambled eggs? Do you really need a recipe for scrambled eggs? You do if you want eggs that are consistently fluffy and moist! This recipe from Milk Street uses olive oil, which gives them a velvety texture and richer flavor.Jul 13, 2020 "
Yeah but it's not Extra Virgine Olive Oil we fry wiith, and only add butter after the oil is hot otherwise the butter burns quickly.
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Olive oil mixed with a neutral oil can be used to fry with. Extra virgin can be used, but on low heat. Grapeseed oil is great for frying & has a low "flavor" profile. Sunflower oil is also good. Any oil should be used in moderation, as well as limiting frying. Salt is necessary for certain body processes. Iodine in table salt is also important. Salt from an indirect food source isn't going to be enough salt. (For those interested in salt, as a preservative & as part of their diet, "Salt" by Mark Kurlansky is a fun read.) MSG is a naturally occurring substance in many foods; yes, it's natural! A Japanese scientist, I believe, just learned to isolate it in the 1940s. It's not bad, but can trigger migraines in those sensitive--this includes unusual symptoms that are part of migraines like auras, auditory g visual sensitivity, numbness, rapid heart rhythm, etc. YMMV. Best to just avoid it, if you are sensitive. But perpetuating it as "evil" & cancer-causing is false.
Not a condiment. You are using the wrong type of olive oil. Sesame oil is a condiment. Want a simple dipping sauce for dumplings (real dumplings) combine 3 parts black vinegar, 1 part soy sauce, 1/2 part sugar, and 1/4 part sesame oil or chili sesame oil.
Olive oil is the best for frying. Best p[lace for MSG is in the bin. If your food is fresh and you know how to cook you don't need c**p like that.
lol no. wrong. Olive oil is one of the best things to fry with. Unless of course, you dont want the flavor. That's a different story.
On the contrary, using olive oil with fried over easy eggs is perfect. If it starts smoking, you're cooking your eggs to hot.
Also msg is f*****g delicious and really just "salt with stuff in it". Don't be afraid of it.
Skull in the sky has it right. Olive oil is definitely for cooking but doesn't have a high smoke point. It's also richer in flavor so use olive oil when you want the flavor of olive oil. Only use olive oil as a condiment when it is high grade. Cheap stuff tastes s**t when it's cold/raw.
Some people are allergic to MSG, it gives them migraines. Be careful if you're cooking for others.
Oils of any kind have no nutritive value whatsoever and are used principally by those too freaking lazy or inexperienced as a way to add flavour. Seriously. Be pissed at me if you like, but try cooking without oil (or butter) for three months (and get back to me about how much weight you've lost).
Roast potatoes should only ever be cooked with goose fat, beef dripping or lard. Never cooking oil of any kind if you want proper golden crispy potatoes.
Olive oil is FINE to fry with, just don't use the extra vierge kind (that one is not for cooking but for things like salads)
Be careful... I read somewhere that MSG causes vaccines. It's also made out of baby pandas. 😂
Try frying with a frying grade Olive oil and add half Butter for fried chicken / schnitzel. You will not be disappointed.
Well this is just all entirely incorrect. Opinions aren't necessarily wisdom, lol.
This is not good advice. Understand which oil you're using, what temperature it smokes at and monitor the temperatures. Chances are you won't need 400° oil. The amount of free fatty acids and glycerol(?) Will impact the smoke point. Msg is good though.
I fry breaded eggplant in olive oil all the time. It is Insanely delicious and the whole house smells amazing.
I bought a more expensive looking "cooking oil" for cooking and it works pretty well! I think it's a mix of olive (not extra virgin), sunflower, avacado, and one other oil
I must disagree about the salt and msg. Many Americans consume way more salt than is healthy. If you use less, after a few days your taste buds adjust and regular food tastes far too salty.
MSG has 1/3 the sodium of table salt, so it can be used in place of salt for some things. But really, it's for adding umami, not saltiness.
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I fry with peanut oil...it has such a great taste and doesn't leave everything feeling soggy.
**VIRGIN** Olive oil is terrible to fry with. Regular stuff is fine, but you can still do a lot better (e.g., peanut oil for deep fry, avocado for pan fry).
I use extra virgin olive oil to fry my chicken cutlets and I can assure you it's a fan favorite amongst my family, friends who request it repeatedly.
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I never cook at a high heat so cooking with olive oil is NOT a problem, hindrance, etc. That said, I like a touch of oil and a lil bit of butter. As for salt and pepper..I am not an fan of pepper and I haven't kept ANY salt around for 25 years.
all good suggestion UNLESS you have high blood pressure, heart or kidney disease and need to REDUCE salt which is sodium (sodium chloride) and should be omitted from your shelves when you are coking for yourself - other people can add salt or you can prepare your food separately (pain, I know).
From what I know, in my humble opinion, olive oil is for flavouring not frying. It's ok to mix with vegetable oil for example and roast. But not fry
I agree. I like the flavor as a vinegar dressing/marinade but I hate frying with it. I'll take the extra calories idc, lard tastes infinitely better and doesn't splatter
olive oil is good for pan-frying things like veggies, eggs, bare proteins etc, but yeah always use a clear oil for anything thats breaded or you really need to get some heat on.
Most olive oil available in stores is flavorless or rancid or not even olive oil. Research before you buy any.
MSG is excellent! Miracle flavor enhancer, all the negativity about it is made up by people who forget themselves on Chinese food and feel terrible about it.
Nah. It's from people who can't even eat Chinese food because of it and are sad.
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I was following a meal subscription service recipe once and it called for me to fry prosciutto in olive oil. Following those instructions as closely as I did was very much a mistake as my whole kitchen ended up engulfed with a just-visible layer of smoke (not cough inducing but enough to trigger my smoke alarm for a few seconds). The prosciutto turned out really good so I plan to make some more but there's no way in hell I'm following that recipe again
Put a sock over your alarm while you're frying with OO. Just remember to take it off afterwards.
Load More Replies... Msg is known to cause stomach cancer . Also any oil besides extra Virginia olive oil, coconut oil and avocado oil, are basically rancid before they hit store shelves, making them carcinogenic. So while olive oil may not be good for high Temps at least it won't give you cancer.
Personally I think it's more likely to be lymphoma than stomach cancer, but the stuff gives me blinding headaches, regardless, so I wish they'd just go back to the traditional umami foods
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So let's make soup without salt and see how that tastes!
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Earlier, Bored Panda spoke to Jake Butler from ‘Save the Student,’ about cooking at home. He stressed that homecooked meals will always be cheaper than going out for fast food. However, if we’ve got a craving for some takeout, we can always learn to make some healthier versions of it at home.
“The good news is that you can easily recreate your favorites at home for a fraction of the price. It's much healthier this way too. Google is definitely your friend here as you can find fakeaway recipes from a number of sites,” Jake said that some companies have made their recipes available for everyone, free of charge.
'Always be cleaning' is important to end-of-meal satisfaction. It’s such a drag to look up at the end of a great dinner and see a monstrous cleaning task ahead of you.
I really don't mind shutting the door on the kitchen and doing it tomorrow morning, while still half asleep. Each to our own.
Not a chef but everyone should know how to cook eggs. hard boiled. omelets, scrambled, sunny side up, cooked on both sides. Once you master the Recruit difficultly of eggs. Throw some mushrooms or tomatoes or whatever you like in an omelet or scrambled eggs. Gordan Ramsey made a video on eggs and after trying what he did and really getting better at it, my family and friends just make me, make them eggs.
I tried the Gordon Ramsey scrambled eggs and was so disappointed! I love him and couldn’t believe how gross they were. I’ve been cooking eggs since forever and it turns out that I do not want creamy scrambled eggs.
I recommend choosing an acid based on what you are cooking. Italian? Try some red wine vinegar. Mexican? Try some lime juice. Additionally, if you are working with anything cream based, add acidity literally right at the end or else your sauce/dish will curdle.
I gotta stay away from fruit so that's outta the question. Balsamic Vinegar is good. Especially with Kale and minced garlic!
“The good news is that the ingredients for most of these recipes aren't too pricey and you can still hunt for bargains to make the dish cheaper. Buying in bulk is always a winner too when it comes to saving money so it's a great idea to get together with friends and maybe take it in turns to make your favorite fakeaways.”
According to Jake, the secret to a good meal lies in the seasoning. “Salt and pepper won't break the bank, but they can make or break a meal. Don't forget that sugar can take a dish to the next level too.”
Taste as you cook, and do it at various stages of cooking (while safe, please don't taste raw meat). Not only does it let you know if you have too much or little of something, but it also helps you develop your palette for what different seasonings do.
In movies they always have someone serving food to another person, who then proceeds to choke and cough because something is wrong with it (usually being super salty it seems), and I'm always thinking, how did the person cooking manage to not taste any of it at all while making it?? That annoys me more than it should lol!
Massively improve the quality of your proteins (chicken, beef, tofu, anything) with fond. Fond is the dark brown stuff that sticks to your pan when you're cooking. It's not burnt unless its actually black. To get it off the pan and on the food, pour in either an alcohol or acid to dissolve it and get the now-brown liquid to coat your protein.
Different proteins work best with different alcohols. Good rule of thumb — dry white for chicken or any lighter meat. Red for beef. Lemon juice works great for almost everything.
MSG doesn’t give you headaches. That myth is based upon one very flawed study a long time ago. Glutamates are found in many foods already (include almost every vertebrate.)
MSG is sold under the name “Accent” and a tiny bit can really bring out that umami taste in all foods.
Cooking bacon in the oven is exponentially easier to perfect and clean up than on a stove top.
Set the oven to 405º, line a baking sheet with tin foil, and lay your bacon flat on it. Cook it for 13-15 minutes. It's perfect every time, and you can cook a lot more at once this way. Also, the fat hardens on the foil, so you can just throw it away with no mess.
Throw it away? Throw away bacon fat? Are you insane?! Put that bacon directly onto the sheet pan. When it's done, let the fat cool, then spoon portions onto plastic wrap. Wrap it up and freeze it for later use. Yeah, you'll have to wash the sheet pan. That's a small price to pay for half a cup of liquid gold.
For thick and nice sauces, use the water you cook your pasta with.
I keep a mug by the pot to remind me, and use it to scoop out some pasta water right before draining the noodles. Then you can add however much you need to the sauce.
Cinnamon isn’t just for sweet foods. It can be really, really good in savory foods, too.
Salt your boiling water.
But not if you're making tea. Or enjoy your salty tea if that's how you like it.
Adding is easy, but removing is hard. People like to argue that you should liberally add butter and seasoning, but tastes differ. It's totally fine to put in less if that's what you fancy.
And it's no shame to put salt and spices on the table so everybody can season to their liking.
Salt is seasoning. It makes food taste more like itself. Acids, like citrus or vinegar can also do this. If your food tastes flat, or like it is missing something, try some salt or acid. Acid is also critical for balancing very rich fatty foods. The reason Americans love tomato ketchup so much is the fact that it adds acid and salt to their food. Adding a bit of "heat" like a pinch of cayenne can also accentuate a the flavor of a dish. Spices are something else. They bring a new and different flavor to the dish.
In sweets, sugar often takes the place of salt and is usually balanced by acid - see passionfruit, raspberry, citrus, etc. But salt plays an important role in sweets as well - often in unexpected ways. Try putting a pinch of kosher salt into your next batch of whipped cream.
I could keep going but I'll leave it there. If you can master these concepts you will have a big advantage over most home cooks.
If you’re getting annoyed because it’s taking you too long to peel garlic, place an unpeeled garlic clove under the flat side of your kitchen knife and press on it with your hand. The garlic peel will separate easily and your garlic will be crushed.
If you want crispness on the outsides of your meats, you should pat them dry before seasoning and putting them in oven or over heat.
Note: this post originally had 89 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
Not to be pedantic, but I hate when the term 'hack' is misused like this. These aren't Hacks. Almost all of these are simply tips based on experience. A hack is using things in ways other than their intended function. Using sharp knives isn't a hack, that's just common sense and good advice. Salting pasta water isn't a hack, it's good advice. - - - - Using tongs for juicing citrus - that's a hack. Using a zip-top bag for piping frosting, instead of a piping bag - that's a hack. I really wish people would would quit misusing the term. EDIT: Thank you BP for changing the title. 'Pearls of Wisdom' is much more appropriate. I know it's a silly peeve of mine, but it really bugs me.
You're not being silly. Trendy words are seldom literary gems. "Hack" didn't make my list either.
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Try to learn methods, not recipes. Don't be afraid to try new things. The first attempt probably won't be perfect, but will hopefully be eatable. Each time you make the same, or similar dish, the process will be easier and you can improve the final product.
Yes. When you understand the concepts you are able to invent without following a recipe. I use recipes for inspiration only now or to learn what flavours are meant to be in this cuisine specific dish. Then off to the races
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meanwhile me: pot with water, throw everything I find inside, cook it for 15 minutes, dinner done.
Too much of this advice is geared towards professional kitchens. Much of it can, and likely should, be ignored for a home kitchen. In a home kitchen, you don't need to curl your fingers to chop food. You're not moving that fast, you're resetting after each cut, you're not trying to prep a mountain of vegetables where the time savings of the hyper speed chopping actually matters. You don't need to clean as you go, you need to clean before you start, and keep organized as you go. Don't waste water running to the sink every 5 seconds with a frigging tasting spoon or dirty prep bowl. Just stick it straight into the dishwasher and move on. If you don't use them almost daily cast iron pans are a waste of money. You won't care for them properly, and they WILL rust, stick, or otherwise ruin your cooking experience. Better to invest in a good non-stick pan for eggs, and a few good oven-safe heavy bottom stainless pans for everything else.
I keep a pan of hot sudsy water in the sink and toss the used utensils in as I go, then they are rinsed before they go in the dishwasher. I dry my cast iron skillet on the stove to make sure the moisture is completely evaporated then hit it with olive oil cooking spray to seal moisture out. P.S. If I see little tongue marks in the bottom of the pan, I rinse it out, as my little boy (cat) likes the taste of olive oil!
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First time cooking something, follow the recipe. Later you can improvise. Also when looking for a recipe for a food from a certain region, try to find one where the writer is actually from there. If it's a family recipe, even better. If you can't find it in English - google translate usually works well enough.
The kitchen sink is not a "food trashcan", even if it's got a disposal. You need to keep it as clean as your cookware - minimum. Impress on your family members that it must be kept clean. Not "I wiped it out after rinsing the dinner dishes" clean. "I scrubbed it with a bleach cleanser and then rinsed all the residue away" clean. You will have a lot less stomach problems in the family.
Question: how would a sink drain or garbage disposal give your family stomach problems?
Load More Replies... The best thing you can do is to learn what every individual seasoning and condiment tastes and smells like. That way when you have something out in a restaurant or somebody's home, you will know what is in it and have a rough idea of how to replicate it. This works best with non-spicy (as in hot) foods as the capsaicin will dull your taste buds to the finer ingredients.
Ehhh, Sichuan will numb people's mouths, but capsaicin won't in general. In fact, capsaicin enhances the flavors of some spices and flavors like acidity.
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I just got done watching Kitchen Nightmares and now after this, I feel like cooking :) Edit: What if someone on a cooking show actually doesn't know how to cook, so when you actually do what they said to do, and cooked it the way they did just for it to taste nasty, you'll probably think that you did it wrong?
This actually happens more than you'd think. There are a couple of YouTube channels that react to people butchering recipes on tv. Uncle Roger has some doozies of Jamie Oliver &co _trying_ to cook Asian and Vincenzo's plate shows some truly cry worthy attempts of Italian cuisine that are often from food network and such.
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I recently discovered garum masala, a little in chicken soup gives it a fuller flavour.
Garam masala is amazing. I would recommend Some Chicken Tika masala or Butter chicken if you've never cooked with it besides in chicken soup.
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Thanks for a great and informative article. I’m going to forward it to my two sons who love to cook. Mare
I feel like I just commented on nearly all of these about a month ago…
Not to be pedantic, but I hate when the term 'hack' is misused like this. These aren't Hacks. Almost all of these are simply tips based on experience. A hack is using things in ways other than their intended function. Using sharp knives isn't a hack, that's just common sense and good advice. Salting pasta water isn't a hack, it's good advice. - - - - Using tongs for juicing citrus - that's a hack. Using a zip-top bag for piping frosting, instead of a piping bag - that's a hack. I really wish people would would quit misusing the term. EDIT: Thank you BP for changing the title. 'Pearls of Wisdom' is much more appropriate. I know it's a silly peeve of mine, but it really bugs me.
You're not being silly. Trendy words are seldom literary gems. "Hack" didn't make my list either.
Load More Replies... Try to learn methods, not recipes. Don't be afraid to try new things. The first attempt probably won't be perfect, but will hopefully be eatable. Each time you make the same, or similar dish, the process will be easier and you can improve the final product.
Yes. When you understand the concepts you are able to invent without following a recipe. I use recipes for inspiration only now or to learn what flavours are meant to be in this cuisine specific dish. Then off to the races
Load More Replies... meanwhile me: pot with water, throw everything I find inside, cook it for 15 minutes, dinner done.
Too much of this advice is geared towards professional kitchens. Much of it can, and likely should, be ignored for a home kitchen. In a home kitchen, you don't need to curl your fingers to chop food. You're not moving that fast, you're resetting after each cut, you're not trying to prep a mountain of vegetables where the time savings of the hyper speed chopping actually matters. You don't need to clean as you go, you need to clean before you start, and keep organized as you go. Don't waste water running to the sink every 5 seconds with a frigging tasting spoon or dirty prep bowl. Just stick it straight into the dishwasher and move on. If you don't use them almost daily cast iron pans are a waste of money. You won't care for them properly, and they WILL rust, stick, or otherwise ruin your cooking experience. Better to invest in a good non-stick pan for eggs, and a few good oven-safe heavy bottom stainless pans for everything else.
I keep a pan of hot sudsy water in the sink and toss the used utensils in as I go, then they are rinsed before they go in the dishwasher. I dry my cast iron skillet on the stove to make sure the moisture is completely evaporated then hit it with olive oil cooking spray to seal moisture out. P.S. If I see little tongue marks in the bottom of the pan, I rinse it out, as my little boy (cat) likes the taste of olive oil!
Load More Replies... First time cooking something, follow the recipe. Later you can improvise. Also when looking for a recipe for a food from a certain region, try to find one where the writer is actually from there. If it's a family recipe, even better. If you can't find it in English - google translate usually works well enough.
The kitchen sink is not a "food trashcan", even if it's got a disposal. You need to keep it as clean as your cookware - minimum. Impress on your family members that it must be kept clean. Not "I wiped it out after rinsing the dinner dishes" clean. "I scrubbed it with a bleach cleanser and then rinsed all the residue away" clean. You will have a lot less stomach problems in the family.
Question: how would a sink drain or garbage disposal give your family stomach problems?
Load More Replies... The best thing you can do is to learn what every individual seasoning and condiment tastes and smells like. That way when you have something out in a restaurant or somebody's home, you will know what is in it and have a rough idea of how to replicate it. This works best with non-spicy (as in hot) foods as the capsaicin will dull your taste buds to the finer ingredients.
Ehhh, Sichuan will numb people's mouths, but capsaicin won't in general. In fact, capsaicin enhances the flavors of some spices and flavors like acidity.
Load More Replies... I just got done watching Kitchen Nightmares and now after this, I feel like cooking :) Edit: What if someone on a cooking show actually doesn't know how to cook, so when you actually do what they said to do, and cooked it the way they did just for it to taste nasty, you'll probably think that you did it wrong?
This actually happens more than you'd think. There are a couple of YouTube channels that react to people butchering recipes on tv. Uncle Roger has some doozies of Jamie Oliver &co _trying_ to cook Asian and Vincenzo's plate shows some truly cry worthy attempts of Italian cuisine that are often from food network and such.
Load More Replies... I recently discovered garum masala, a little in chicken soup gives it a fuller flavour.
Garam masala is amazing. I would recommend Some Chicken Tika masala or Butter chicken if you've never cooked with it besides in chicken soup.
Load More Replies... Thanks for a great and informative article. I’m going to forward it to my two sons who love to cook. Mare
I feel like I just commented on nearly all of these about a month ago…
