Whether you’re a cooking aficionado with a burning fire (and often, burnt fingertips) for everything food-related or, on the contrary, entrust your taste buds to your holy kitchen majesty, aka the microwave, you can always take your inner chef to a whole new level. And it’s easier than you’d think.
Thanks to the professional chefs of Reddit, who recently shared what simple things “we're probably all doing wrong in the kitchen” in this thread, we can roll up our sleeves and work on the actual things to improve them.
Think of simple things, like never adding an onion and garlic at the same time (so you don’t have that icky burnt garlic aftertaste in a meal you otherwise put your heart into) or having things, ingredients and tools ready at hand to avoid “someone, help me!”-kind of hysteria in the middle of meal prep. Take your notes, everyone, I already have mine.
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Using tongs, you must clink them together at least five times to channel your inner crab.
Let’s face it, regardless of how fast we binge-watched Top Chef, Hell's Kitchen, The Great British Bake Off, Masterchef in all countries it aired in, we didn’t actually learn to cook better. Instead, we now know all about the drama, about the blessing and the curse of being a chef, about nurturing your talent, dreaming hard and working harder… Wait, are we still talking about cooking?
So in order to take us all back to Earth, or rather our kitchen counter, and to find out what exactly we can do to improve our cooking game, since we nailed the watching part already, we spoke with Beth Moncel, a food lover and the founder of “Budget Bytes” where she has been sharing her passion for cooking and delicious recipes designed for small budgets since 2009.
Since I didn't see it in here: instead of adding more salt, try adding an acid. A splash of vinegar or lemon/lime juice can make flavors pop without over salting.
Never add garlic and onions at the same time.
Onions take about 8 minutes to saute and garlic takes about 30 seconds. If you add them together you're gonna have burnt, bitter garlic.
Clean as you go. Throw away trash, wipe up what you spill, get unnecessary utensils out of the way. If your kitchen looks like a tornado struck after you're done cooking, you f*cked up.
When asked what are the most common cooking mistakes people tend to make, Beth said it’s assuming that if they swap out an ingredient, they'll still get the same result. “Changing ingredients often changes both the flavor and texture of a dish, and in some cases can drastically affect the chemical reactions needed to make a recipe work,” she explained.
If you want perfect roasted potatoes (oven roasted, chopped pieces) with crispy outside and fluffy insides then boil them for about 5-10 minutes in salt water first. Then roast them.
And if you want them extra extra crispy you should try the belgian double roasting technic. Wash them with salt water and dry them. then roast them on a lower temperatur very short then let them cool on a paper and roast them on higher temperatur until crispy
Most people suck at roasting vegetables. Brussel sprouts are the number one f*ck up and most people lose their sh*t when I serve them properly done brussels.
Toss with olive oil (more than you think), salt (more than you think), and any other herbs/spices (e.g. curry spices with cauliflower), lay cut side down on a baking sheet, and throw that sh*t into a 200C/400F oven until it's visibly browned. Depending on the veggie (e..g carrots) you'll probably want to turn over to the otherside and continue roasting for a bit. Once they're done you can toss with pepper or fresh/delicate herbs before serving (e.g. mushrooms with tarragon or parsley).
Just because it's fork tender and cooked through doesn't mean it's delicious. Yet.
Unfortunately, not liking brussels sprouts might be genetic: https://www.centreofthecell.org/blog/science-questions/why-do-some-people-hate-brussels-sprouts/. According to various studies, some people have a hereditary high sensitivity to phenylthiocarbamide, which leads to a very bitter taste even in trace amounts. If you have two of these genetic TAS2R38 markers, no preparation or seasoning can make brussels sprouts edible for you.
Beth reminds everyone that the best way to gain confidence in the kitchen is to practice. “Don't let a failed recipe keep you from trying again. Try new recipes often. The more you cook, the more you'll understand the nuances of cooking and you'll build intuition,” she said. “Before you know it, you'll be cooking freestyle and you won't even need a recipe!” Beth concluded positively.
There is a really simple rule when cooking a steak: Leave the steak alone. Stop f*cking with it. Stop poking and prodding and moving it an flipping it around. Let it cook. Let the heat do what it's supposed to do. Get to know your heat source and learn to trust it. Almost everybody I know violates this rule.
I leave my steak alone, put a timer on, used a meat thermometer, rest it and I still manage to f**k it up. Tried a few different methods and have only managed to get it right ONCE. Followed the same method a few more times without success. Have no idea what I'm doing wrong.
It is the fat that carries the flavor. If your going to saute something, put the herb and spices with the butter or oil that is in the skillet. Don't put them in the flour you're using to bread the food.
Not having things ready and in place.
Have you ever been halfway done with a dish and realize you didnt have the cheese grated? Now everything is on hold (and over cooking) while you grate cheese?
Having everything ready to go at the start lets you add the things when they need adding and helps put dishes out at the appropriate time.
Don’t stare at a toaster, it will jumpscare you. (Learnt this from personal experience)
Putting oil in the pot when you're boiling pasta. If you do that, the sauce will just slide right off your pasta. The starchier the water, the better the sauce will stick.
Nah, I finish cooking the pasta in the sauce. Makes it so much tastier.
Sharp knives. Makes things a million times easier, and is actually sooo much safer in the end. Combined with the proper grip and a bit of practice, and suddenly cutting things for prep goes from the most hated step of everything to just another step, maybe even becomes fun for some people.
YEAH! For me, cutting vegetables, meat, ... is fun! ^^ (it's my "yoga time")
I've had 1 set of knives for 50 years. Sharpen them frequently & use them daily. A little expensive to begin with but worth every penny.
Load More Replies...I hate how often I've had arguments with people insisting that dull knives are safer.
if you are very precise, then the sharp knife is safer. If you're a clumsy idiot like me, probably not.
Load More Replies...That cutting technique where they leave the tip down and just scissor up and down chopping, I have to tell you, from bitter experience, that you need a certain level of hand-eye coordination for doing this, which sadly, I do NOT possess.
I wouldn't even try it. I can't put my trousers on without falling over.
Load More Replies...If my chef bro in law hadn't bought and gifted me an expensive German Chefs knife I could have never been convinced of the worth and value of a high quality, sharp, knife. It makes your worse cooking chores just breeze by when you have the right tool for the job. Just like any of the skilled trades! Thank you Chef Billy T of Akron!
Sharp knives are safer-- dull knife will get you fired from any good restaurant
my knives are sharp enough their auras can cut you if you get your fingers close enough.
Some of us live with people who dont respect the words "dont put them in the f*****g dish washer you c**t" and have to live with half cut onions
I can't afford really nice knives so I usually just buy a 20-30 dollar chef's knife from Walmart or Target. They're usually fine for a few weeks and then they just get so dull. Even with a sharpener, though, they never get sharp enough. I bought an electric sharpener hoping it would help but I'll literally be sharpening it for 10 minutes and it's still kind of dull. I don't know enough about knives to know if they just never really get sharp or not because of their shoddy make. I'd be willing to invest in better knives but I'm worried I'm going to end up with the same problem in a few months where no matter how much I sharpen them they remain kind of dull. And now I'm out a few hundred dollars.
Even the cheapest of knives can be sharpened beautifully and kept forever. Firstly, get rid of that electric sharpener, they strip too much metal from the knife, destroying the blade and weakening it over time. The two things you absolutely need are 1-firstly, a honing stone (that long stick in most knife blocks), it straightens and smooths out the microscopic "teeth" on the knife. If you use your knife every day, you should hone it at least once a week. 2-secondly, a whetstone. You should order one right away, it's cheap, and low maintenance. One side if for sharpening, and one side for polishing. (You can look up directions on how to use it properly). These will change your knife-sharpening game, no need to spend lots of money on "good" knives
Load More Replies...Learn how to use a honing rod, aka a STEEL. Get a LONG one, w/very fine grain. Prepare to pay $50 or so for a good one (Henckels, Zwilling, Wusthof). Don't buy one that's short or cheap or coarse or made anything STEEL. Ask your butcher for a lesson or see YouTube. Almost every time you use your knife, give it 3 strokes on the steel, edge toward you) on each side of the blade (Optional but great: 3 more strokes each side going backward.) Clean knives by hand and right away. This way your knives with stay sharp much longer. A top-rated 8" chef's knife from Victorinox (makers of Swiss Army Knives) will last forever and not break the bank. Don't be conned by the myth that expensive forged blades are inherently superior the cheaper stamped blades.There are a couple of other good bargain brands but I don't recall their names. Use you knife often so you will become master of it. Example: scrap your garlic press. Learn to mince your garlic with your knife.
Yeah, sharp knives are safer than dull knives. Even though it takes less force to cut you, you're less likely to cut yourself because you have better control of a sharp knife. And if you do cut yourself, the cut from a dull knife is ragged and torn while a sharp knife cuts clean.
I have a type of "juvenile" arthritis in my hands. Finally this year found a small stay sharp knife that makes a huge positive difference. Every time I put it back in its case it gets a bit of a sharpen from built in stones. I don't exactly enjoy the chopping, but now it is not a miserable and painful. And it is the right size for my small and paining hands. * I just cannot sharpen a knife.
Also learning HOW to USE the knife properly is SO important!! Diff knives req diff pressure in diff places for best result, diff motions for diff foods is helpful ALSO, also. SO many things SHOULD be taught (maybe in home ec or someth, bring THAT isht back!!) bc this isht MATTERS!! The LACK of this knowledge (as well as the RIDIC price of standard groceries in our 'land of plenty' is PROBS why MOST American meals consist of assembling PRODUCTS rather than by prepping and COOKING actual FOOD. Cream of EVERY d@mn thing, chem project Velveeta, chemically preserved, nitrates and nitrite LADEN 'food-products', fillers (to incl SAWDUST: check if YOUR cheese/whatev contains CELLULOSE!!!) and 'binders' ALL contribute to THE most unhealthy diet POSSIBLE. It's WHY our health is bad- food NOURISHES and FUELS the body- EVERY SINGLE NUTRIENT and vitamin has a SPECIFIC purpose and/or function in the human body, replacing it w filler/binder/BS will maybe not kill you IMMEDIATELY, but it WILL act ....
as a POISON in your body LONG TERM: there are FAR more ppl malnourished than we can IMAGINE bc we don't get the vitamins and minerals (NUTRIENTS) we NEED to fuel our bodies. Those preservatives?!!? Those binders/fillers)ETC?!!!?! ALL work TOGETHER to fuel CANCER rates we've NEVER seen before. They leave us tired/fatigued/anxious/cranky, unmotivated and worst of ALL, UNHAPPY. It MAY not seem like it makes sense and/or is relevant to a 'tip' for us to 'use sharp knives' , but using the tools that make using fresh veg and meat and gen ingredients (etc etc ETC) accessible w our schedules and low tolerance and patience, makes our WHOLE lives better. BUY/PREP/EAT FRESH!!! It MATTERS!! AND sharpen those knives so that prepping these ACTUAL ingredients is AS easy as popping the top or opening the pkg/container!! 'as if your life depend upon it' BC IT DOES !!!
Load More Replies...I keep my knives on the duller side of "sharp". Every time they get sharp, I end up slicing a finger - nothing serious, yet... However, there have been times I could have said "Goodbye" to a finger, if the knife was beautifully sharp! I'm living with the trade-off. :/
I chop veggies for my tortoises all the time - very easy with a sharp knife
I dig a sharp knife but I will always hate prep... being a GM when I go home I stop by the line and take what I need for dinner...wrong but still no prep.
i always found cutting fruits and veg to be my fave part. i suck at actually cooking and find that stressful, but prep is a whole other game
Oh yes, this is absolutely important. I have a favorite knife, Ingrid. She stays super sharp and is so easy to use. I love chopping things with Ingrid.
I find doing prep work kind of meditative, depending on what i'm prepping for. Bulk prep is my most favorite. You get into a rhythm like a metronome when you are cutting cases of veg.
My dumb a** has cut the entire tip of my thumb off twice. The first time they salvaged it the second they couldn't. Did I neglect to tell you I did this all in a three week time span.😭
Please see the dull knife being safer comment above!!
Load More Replies...but it doesn't to become a great stabber!
Load More Replies...And don’t waste money on a knife block like in the pic. Buy knives for a purpose, not for a pretty display piece.
Knife blocks are super cheap to buy, and a one-off expense. It protects the edges of the knives and stores them safely. Sharp knives should *never* be stored chucked into a drawer, it's dangerous and it ruins the edges.
Load More Replies...If you invest in a decent set of knives (not the cheap £20 ones from your local Argos either) and a decent sharpener, these could potentially last a lifetime.
Took me a while to get used to sharp knives but I wouldn't change anymore. I haven't had a bad cut ever since and I like to chop, chop, chop...
my wife doesn' t use my kithcen knives because "too sharp"----she uses the dullest blade available to "cut" (=squeeze) onions....
But as an "adhortator," couldn't you encourage her to use better blades?
Load More Replies...Cooking too hot to speed things up. If the recipe calls for something to cook for one hour at 350 degress, cooking it at 425 degrees for 35 minutes is not a substitute. Some things just need to be cooked slowly and gently.
You're more likely to undercook the inside and over cook the outside if you do that.
Crack your damn eggs on a FLAT surface, not the side of a bowl or pan. Cracking on a flat surface makes it easier to open as well as preserving your yolk. If you crack it on an edge it pushes shell inside the egg and is more likely to break the yolk (which sucks if you are making it sunny side up, poached or separating whites) Also, if by some chance there is bacteria or icky gross stuff on the shell it is more likely to contaminate the inside when shell gets pushed in.
After 50+ years of cracking eggs on the side of the bowl, I’m good. Doing it on a flat surface for me just makes a mess, actually. 🤣
My chef brother-in-law taught me how to deglaze a pan to make a sauce like a boss. Leave it hot, and douse it with a cup or more of wine, stock, or water, and you can turn even basic things into an amazing pan of goodness! The stuff in your pan that you're scrubbing off after you're done cooking is all the good sh*t, so learn to deglaze!
It is not even about LEARNING to deglace, the key is just doing it and realizing that the pan residue is your friend. You can make amazing sauces with it, often you do not even need to thicken them. Of course, this only is true if none of the ingredients are burnt, and deglacing works best with cast iron or steel pans. Sorry, but your easy-to-clean-teflon-coated skillet simply is not suitable.
-Under salting your food!
Everyone is so afraid of sodium but the vast majority of sodium in your diet is coming from processed snacks and fast foods not home cooking.
-Also dry your meat before you sear or sauté it. You’re steaming it if not.
-Taste as you go.
Being afraid of fattier cuts of meat. People are so used to that boneless skinless chicken breast that they sub them out for recipes that are 10,000x better using chicken thighs instead. If your primary concern is to reduce fat, sure, but if you're eating in moderation or going for flavor instead of low-fat, thighs thighs thighs my friend.
Practice your recipes. Don’t find one risotto you like and never make a different one. Cook 10 different risottos two or three times each over a long period of time. Doing this helps you understand the basics of how to make it and allows you to spot bad recipes, recognize good ones, and improvise without one.
Idk if this will get buried but my dad is a chef and I know what he would say here.
Always keep trying new things, in different preparations, with different ingredients to compliment them. And if you think you hate a specific meal or ingredient but you haven't tasted it in 10 years, give it a try again.
We were never picky eaters as kids because we were always encouraged to just try things we were unsure about and it opened me up to so many great foods as an adult!
So many people get stuck with what they know for sure they like, not even realizing how much it limits you.
Unless it Marmite! If you didn't like when you tried it 30 years ago, you're still not going to like it!
Leave your meat out to go to room temp before you cook it.
My dog would snatch it off the counter the second I turn my back!
Way too many people over clutter their kitchen and think they need a gadget for everything. In reality, a well-crafted, sharpened French knife, a pairing knife and a peel can get you a long way.
MISE EN PLACE! Everything has a place and everything has a purpose.
Also, steak should never be cooked to more than medium.
Nothing wrong with a well done juicy steak. Some people know how to cook well done steaks and keep them juicy, tender and flavorful.
Not sanitizing your hands and work area after handling raw meat, especially chicken.
Can't count the number of times I've been cooking with friends or family and have to stop them from chopping salad veggies on the same cutting board as raw meat, or running their hands under cold water for a second to 'clean them' before going to grab stuff out of the fridge or drawer or even just going about their day.
Same goes for giving your slimy raw-chicken cutting board a quick scrub to wash it using the same sponge you use for everything else.
If it's touched raw meat, it needs to be throughly cleaned and sanitized with hot water and either soap (your hands) or bleach (everything else).
Don't buy tomatoes that are pink and have no smell. Fresh, good heirloom tomatoes should have a distinct smell and be nice and red/solid yellow. The walmarts and safeway's of the world are selling you these horrific non-tomato tomatos....devoid of flavor and frequently unripe. Don't do it.
If you have to drain your rice after cooking it, YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG!
You should be measuring your rice:water as 1:2 ( 1 cup rice : 2 cup water. Get proper measuring cups, don't use a coffee mug...) and you should no liquid left if cooked properly. Simmer on low after initial boil, lid closed, fluff with a fork about 3/4 of the way, that's it.
And wash the rice until water runs clear. Othersie you're eating dust and bug poop ( Basmati and Jasmine rice mainly...don't wash arborio rice)
MY entire process is:
-Wash rice thoroughly under cold water
-Place washed/drained rice in clean pot and set on stove on low-med heat to slowly dry and toast the rice.
-Add 2bsp oil to the hot dry rice and make it sing, but should not get any color!
-Boil water in your kettle; add salt, pepper and other seasoning(Chicken stock powder is great for rice..or you know, MSG) to your measuring cup, dissolve with the water.
-Dump all the liquid in the pot; it will boil virgorously for like 5 seconds, don't be scared.
-Lower heat to a simmer, cover with the lid ( Big plus if it has a small vent)
-Fluff with a fork at 10mins in, then about 5mins later it should be ready to serve.
Pressing/squashing burger patties down as they cook on the BBQ (you're just making them drier by squeezing out the juices IMHO)
Ex-chef here, and this is a dumb one but I've seen it so many times in student halls. Don't microwave a f*cking steak, or eggs, to cook it.
Pouring water into a grease fire. That's actually SUPER dangerous.
NOT using a mandolin for all your veg. A good one, not the cheapo plastic ones.
Where it can take a good 45 minutes to matchstick fine dice your carrots, courgette, red onion, garlic, red, green & yellow bell pepper & ginger.... All this will take about 15 minutes with a nice quality mandolin.
Make sure you get a finger guard and use it, and always use the utmost caution with the beast & go slowly until you gain confidence through repeated uses.
Once you've mastered the mandolin, your knives won't leave the butcher block as often as they used to.
Get one with the V configuration, not one that's just a slant, those are rubbish.
Seriously, mastering the mandolin changes everything in terms of prep time. It's amazing how fast tomatoes get sliced, how blissfully paper thin fine you can get your onions in just a few seconds!
I love that thing. I have one with a handle & a knob that adjusts the depth of the blade, all in one. I think it cost about 70 bucks.
Toss your hardboiled eggs in an icewater bath right when they're done to make them peel easier.
Note: this post originally had 64 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
My grandmother taught me to always put a little bit of salt in sweet things and a little bit of sugar in savoury things. It does really help bring out the flavours of both.
My mum (rip) always put 2 chocolate chips in with any beef-based sauce. She was the best.
Load More Replies...Heart disease runs in my dads family, so grew up on a low to no salt diet. I continued this into my adult hood. As a consequence I now have a salt deficiency that is worse than someone who has too much salt. I have to take a prescription grade tablets of a type of sodium chloride daily since my system can no longer absorb and maintain sodium levels.
I can relate, but my doctor figured out what was going on before I had to take pills. Just adjusting my diet.
Load More Replies...My grandmother gave me these five rules for cooking and they have served me very well my entire life: 1. Sharpen your knives; 2. Fresh is best; 3. Season high; 4. Taste everything at every stage; 5. Clean as you go.
All the comments about salting foods. My Dad has had several strokes, salt is a major no no, food should reflect dietary needs and health concerns but you see all these television chefs cooking "healthy" food and throwing in handfuls of salt.
The latest research shows that salt doesn't have that much effect on health after all. In terms of heart disease, strokes, blood pressure, etc. the difference between a low salt and a high salt diet makes <5% difference.
Load More Replies...One of the important ones I didn't see listed, NEVER TRY TO CATCH A FALLING KNIFE!
And don't take a perfectly good nicely seasoned cast iron skillet and ruin it with dish soap and steel wool
Don't blame it on the salt while you are eating like 10 burgers/day! Salt is a very important for our health, specially iodine in it .Keeps our organs to funktion properly.
This list is presented as objective facts from professionals, but for the most part they're just differences in style or taste preferences.
Seems like Liucija is having writer’s block. Wasn’t this very same thing posted just a few months ago? And the one about different architecture? Usually there’s some new content, but it all looks the same to me
I like the one about trying thing you didnt like before again. My coworker (also a chef) didnt eat fish. He and his wife didnt like it so they never ate it. When cooking fish at the restaurant he was always unsure about it. When we had leftover fish, he ate it and realized he actually likes it. Makes creating new dishes a whole lot easier
As a chef myself I find these useless rules are meant for regular folk who don't know how to cook. Or maybe for 10 year Olds.
"Regular folk who don't know how to cook" is redundant. --A Regular Person
Load More Replies...The difference between a meal that's taste "meh" and great is often salt and seasoning.
I grew up on salty, Spicy (but not hot spice) foods - Hungarian - and I can tolerate salt very well. I’ve never had heart disease or high blood pressure and I eat salty food everyday.
Would've been better without half of the chefs swearing unnecessarily like unsupervised preteens. Makes it hard to take one seriously.
Would have been a much better article without all the profanity. Not sure the cooking mistakes rose to the level requiring so much anger and vulgar language.
My grandmother taught me to always put a little bit of salt in sweet things and a little bit of sugar in savoury things. It does really help bring out the flavours of both.
My mum (rip) always put 2 chocolate chips in with any beef-based sauce. She was the best.
Load More Replies...Heart disease runs in my dads family, so grew up on a low to no salt diet. I continued this into my adult hood. As a consequence I now have a salt deficiency that is worse than someone who has too much salt. I have to take a prescription grade tablets of a type of sodium chloride daily since my system can no longer absorb and maintain sodium levels.
I can relate, but my doctor figured out what was going on before I had to take pills. Just adjusting my diet.
Load More Replies...My grandmother gave me these five rules for cooking and they have served me very well my entire life: 1. Sharpen your knives; 2. Fresh is best; 3. Season high; 4. Taste everything at every stage; 5. Clean as you go.
All the comments about salting foods. My Dad has had several strokes, salt is a major no no, food should reflect dietary needs and health concerns but you see all these television chefs cooking "healthy" food and throwing in handfuls of salt.
The latest research shows that salt doesn't have that much effect on health after all. In terms of heart disease, strokes, blood pressure, etc. the difference between a low salt and a high salt diet makes <5% difference.
Load More Replies...One of the important ones I didn't see listed, NEVER TRY TO CATCH A FALLING KNIFE!
And don't take a perfectly good nicely seasoned cast iron skillet and ruin it with dish soap and steel wool
Don't blame it on the salt while you are eating like 10 burgers/day! Salt is a very important for our health, specially iodine in it .Keeps our organs to funktion properly.
This list is presented as objective facts from professionals, but for the most part they're just differences in style or taste preferences.
Seems like Liucija is having writer’s block. Wasn’t this very same thing posted just a few months ago? And the one about different architecture? Usually there’s some new content, but it all looks the same to me
I like the one about trying thing you didnt like before again. My coworker (also a chef) didnt eat fish. He and his wife didnt like it so they never ate it. When cooking fish at the restaurant he was always unsure about it. When we had leftover fish, he ate it and realized he actually likes it. Makes creating new dishes a whole lot easier
As a chef myself I find these useless rules are meant for regular folk who don't know how to cook. Or maybe for 10 year Olds.
"Regular folk who don't know how to cook" is redundant. --A Regular Person
Load More Replies...The difference between a meal that's taste "meh" and great is often salt and seasoning.
I grew up on salty, Spicy (but not hot spice) foods - Hungarian - and I can tolerate salt very well. I’ve never had heart disease or high blood pressure and I eat salty food everyday.
Would've been better without half of the chefs swearing unnecessarily like unsupervised preteens. Makes it hard to take one seriously.
Would have been a much better article without all the profanity. Not sure the cooking mistakes rose to the level requiring so much anger and vulgar language.