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.
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.
No, undersalting is a problem because food ends up bland. My cooking improved immeasurably when I realised that for years I'd not been adding enough salt during the cooking process.
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“I can never make it taste like the restaurant, even from their cookbook!” Because there was even more salt and fat added when we made it on the line ;)
Don't assume that everyone eats processed snacks and fast foods. Home cooking is very often oversalted!!
I have an "American " recipe book, And EVERYTHING in it has sugar in it, Sugar in everything?? Just reduce the sugar for sweet dishes and pass on the sugar for savoury -dishes, I always like to salt lightly, because different people have different tastes for salt. it is SO easy to add salt. and impossible to remove it!!
Load More Replies... Here's an interesting find. When my dad had his stroke he lost a lot of his ability to taste his food. It tasted kind of like whatever it was but extremely bland. The answer wasn't salt. It was sugar. With that discovery, on one admission to hospital the staff told us he wasn't eating. Mom told them to sprinkle (not pour) sugar on everything, even his meat. No problem. He ate. I developed an issue with my mouth. At one point, when I could eat again, I could barely taste anything. I remembered and sprinkled Splenda on. It worked the same way. A carrot tasted like a carrot. Green beans, even the chicken. It all had taste.
Everyone should be afraid of sodium. It's very easy to add too much to a dish that doesn't even end up tasting salty. Better a little undersalted than over salted. You can't fix over salted food nearly as easily (or sometimes at all). And eating under salted food might taste not great, but it's way healthier and tastes better than over salted.
I rarely use salt and my food tastes great. I can't stand a ton of salt.
If you dont like any food without any added sodium, that's a you problem, not a food problem.
And if you need to limit your sodium intake, that's a you problem, not a rule for everyone.
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Nah, it's pretty much impossible to remove salt if you've used too much, while it's generally fairly easy to add salt to taste even after something is cooked.
I've never used salt - either in cooking or putting on my food. I was told that I needed to up my salt intake - put salt on your finger, put in mouth - if it tastes salty you don't need it. I found it tasteless until I reached an optimum level of salt - too little makes your blood thick and sticky, which sounds like a contradiction
I found out how to check if I have lost too much salt *Hot weather*. Sprinkle a little in the palm of you hand, IF it tastes sweet. do it again. When it begins to taste salty again, then you know your raised your salt levels far enough
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This is a clear reminder that chefs and cooks are NOT health professionals; they are NOT nutritionists. Taking health advice from them is a recipe for...bad health. Oversalting is a MUCH bigger problem in our society. The very fact that most fast/restaurant foods contain too much salt is the very reason why you need to pull back on the salt when cooking at home. The only other (basic) option to maintain healthy sodium levels in your overall diet is to...never eat out or eat processed. Good luck trying to sell Option B to the public.
Sodium chloride is salt. Sodium ions (Na) help control membrane depolarisation in excitable cells which affects impulse transmission. Without Na your muscles wouldn't move, your brain wouldn't think, your heart wouldn't beat. Chloride ions control the transmission of an impulse at synapses and also membrane permeability, hence allows nutrients to pass into the cells. An imbalance of ions inside or outside the cell affects the water potential causing water to leak in or out hence dehydration or diarrhea. Salt is important. It's hard to overdo it unless all you eat is processed food or out. If you're from the US I can see why you're all terrified of it, because no one knows how to cook for s**t. Y'all use way too much cheese and bacon and butter.
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Agree with this. Two pinches of salt is fine (if you use coarse sea salt or salt flakes you really don't even need that much). But definitely check salt levels in processed stuff if you want to really see how unhealthy and over-seasoned most of those are
Funny thing is most people don't even recognise that to preserve food sodium nitrate is used which is also a salt. Chemically salt isn't one thing. It can be sodium chloride, potassium chloride, etc
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Someone send this to my grandmother 😒, she is paranoid about over-salting her food and so it always tastes so bland
Unprocessed sea salt is the best! It HELPS your heart... and is a must for thyroid and blood pressure issues, restoring electrolytes... etc. Of course, you don't want to over-do it, but it's not the heart that is the biggest issue. You'd notice swelling and thirst as warning signs, before anything... and then reduce your intake. I bought into the no-salt diet, when I was a teen in the '80's. A friend told me about pink sea salt for my thyroid/low blood pressure/dizziness problem. It helps! The dizziness is better and the blood pressure is better. :)
Actually unprocessed salt does not contain iodine, which is actually the "must" for thyroid. It's usually added in by manufacturing companies and it's not a thing in all countries, just those with populations that are deficient in it. Or in countries that had windswept radiation from Chernobyl. It's salt in general that you require. Being a gullible duck and buying into the pink himalayan trend has nothing to do with it. Sodium chloride is salt. Sodium ions (Na) help control membrane depolarisation in excitable cells which affects impulse transmission. Without Na your muscles wouldn't move, your brain wouldn't think, your heart wouldn't beat. Chloride ions control the transmission of an impulse at synapses and also membrane permeability, hence allows nutrients to pass into the cells. An imbalance of ions inside or outside the cell affects the water potentialcausing water to leak in or out hence dehydration or diarrhea. Salt is important. Do you also believe in essential oils?
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I now prefer to use "Lite Salt" Two parts of NaCl to one part KCl, This vastly improves the flavour of the dish.
I think OP is saying undersalting in home cooking is a problem, not in general. Prepared foods, fast food, and some restaurants are guilty of oversalting. If you made the same dish at home from scratch you'll realize you don't need to use nearly as much salt. Fat, acid, and sometimes sugar can also be used to enhance flavor instead of just relying on salt.
and some people are on medically restricted low sodium diets because higher sodium will kill them faster e.g. heart and kidney disease. However, they also like to eat decent tasting food but nowadays everyone over salts everything.
Not true...the amount of moisture on a steak if you let it sit before you cook it does not steam it.
It's all a matter of taste really. Some people have salt restricted diets, that's fine if that's what you are on. I believe the advice to salt your food is good because salt, used wisely, can really enhance the flavor profile of pretty much every food, geez, my hubby used to douse sliced watermelon with it, lol
salt is so misused in most western foods now..unless you start from scratch
I think that is one of my biggest issues. I hardly ever taste as I go. So far, however, I've been fortunate in that everything has tasted rather good. I'm sure I'm going to slip up at some point, though, and serve something disgusting because I didn't taste it first.
I don't use salt at all (except in the pizza dough) and I'm totally fine with this. Not because of any "salt is bad" reasons - just because I don't need it.
Sodium chloride is salt. Sodium ions (Na) help control membrane depolarisation in excitable cells which affects impulse transmission. Without Na your muscles wouldn't move, your brain wouldn't think, your heart wouldn't beat. Chloride ions control the transmission of an impulse at synapses and also membrane permeability, hence allows nutrients to pass into the cells. An imbalance of ions inside or outside the cell affects the water potentialcausing water to leak in or out hence dehydration or diarrhea. Salt is the easiest way for those ions to be introduced to your body. You've probably heard of electrolytes right?
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There are so many herbs and spices you can turn to instead of salt. High blood pressure is something many people battle.
Meat doesn't need to be salted at all. Meat is super salty to begin with. That's where an animal stores it's salt in the muscle to retain water so the muscles work properly. Anyone who salts meat has something wrong with their taste buds. You're ruining the meat.
I think you need to learn how to properly spice your food (with herbs and different spices) rather than yelling about people undersalting. If you learn to use proper spices for things you don't need much salt. Also over here we hardly ever have precessed crap, so f**k off with that nonsense, not everyone is a fat murican
WHat? NO!!!!!! no no no no no no no no no, in most (of not all) places canned foods are extremely oversalted!!!!
Load More Replies...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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
