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Culinary Grads Share Tips They Didn’t Learn In School But Find Very Useful (30 Tips)
A single episode of Hell’s Kitchen or MasterChef is enough to realize how much guts it takes to become a chef. Working under so much pressure, your blood boiling like it was on the menu is the norm in a restaurant kitchen. And being shouted at is a polite way to confirm you’re still in. On the other side of the cooking industry, crashing hopes and dreams are washed ashore on moldy food containers as seen on Kitchen Nightmares. Whether you’re doing good or not, it never gets easier.
So this time, we are looking at the culinary school grads who have likely been to hell and back to see what cooking tips they have to share. Thanks to one Redditor who posed the question “What are some golden tips to cooking you didn’t learn in culinary school?” on r/Cooking, we can now learn their useful tricks without selling our sanity to the kitchen.
It turns out, learning stuff the "normal way," aka tuning in to a "how to make an omelet" video on YouTube, may just as well do the job.
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Not a food tip but a cooking tip.... a falling knife has no handle. If you drop a knife, get the hell out of the way and let it hit the floor. Washing it is easy enough. Try to catch it and you could be visiting the emergency room.
If you're a home cook always clean up after your self while you're cooking. You'll thank yourself after you've eaten and you're full and you don't have a sink full of dishes and stuff to put away everywhere.
Recipes are a road map. You don't have to follow them exactly, its ok to deviate. Unless you are baking, in which case, follow the recipe exactly.
To find out more about the subreddit r/Cooking, where the “What are some golden tips to cooking you didn’t learn in culinary school?” question was posted, Bored Panda reached out to the moderator u/zem, who told us more about the community.
The Reddit user u/zem explained that r/cooking has evolved over time “to stress the fact the membership is interested in cooking rather than just food.” Hence, the moderator team has disallowed pictures of food without a complete recipe attached.
“Compare r/tonightsdinner to see what we were trying to discourage; that's a great subreddit too, but it's focused more on the food than on how the reader can make it for themselves,” u/zem added.
You can use the stem of broccoli. Just peel, slice and fry it in the pan, it's delicious.
Professional chef here. Hot pans make a world of difference. Never start anything in a cold pan.
Same for ovens and grills. Never start cooking cold. Heat it up first and then add the food.
Learn cooking techniques instead of recipes.
Don't approach recipes like they're magic spells in the Harry Potter universe. If you wiggle your nose wrong or put in a spec to much of some seasoning you're not going to end up with a completely different dish.
Alton Brown does an incredible job of teaching a cooking technique and then showing you a recipe that applies that technique. If you learn a process instead of a rote recipe you will know how to cook dozens of dishes, and it's really the only way to develop skills in the kitchen.
The moderator also said that the team behind the community is here not because they’re cooking experts, but rather because “we spend a lot of time on Reddit and are basically volunteering some time and effort to keep the community running smoothly.”
The subreddit, which now has 2.2 million members, describes itself as “a place for the cooks of Reddit and those who want to learn how to cook.”
Take a small hand towel and either loop it through a belt loop or between your waist and your belt so it hangs over your leg. As you move around, then, you always have something to wipe your hands/your instruments on and you don't need to go out of your way to do it!
The only recipe that should have only one clove of garlic in it is a recipe for one clove of garlic. Two MINIMUM people.
When making a sauce for your pasta, you should add some of the water you used to boil the pasta into the sauce. This will help the sauce bind better to the pasta and make it taste better.
ALWAYS use real butter, not margarine.
But isn’t water one molecule away from being an explosive gas?
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Not everyone can afford butter. I live in indonesia. A block of butter cost IDR 30,000 at least while margarine only cost IDR 5,000. With the cost of a block of butter you can get 2 full meal (rice, meat, veggies, water) here. So margarine it is.
Not a great tip for vegans or people with allergies/intolerances though.. What’s a good substitute?
Margarine was originally formulated for use as a turkey feed to fatten them up, but they wouldn't touch it. Says it all really.
Actually, that is a myth. Margarine was invented to win a prize offered by the French government as a butter replacement. It was always meant for humans. Turkeys eat grain, not fat. https://culinarylore.com/food-science:margarine-myths-feed-turkeys-and-more/
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Margarine is not healthy at all it is essentially hydrogenated oil (trans falt)... butter is much healthier and has been around thousands of years.... margarine is essentially an artificial food created in the post war era and, amongst other processed foods, is a culprit at today´s obesity crisis...
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Pay attention to all your senses. Sauteing things like onions sound different at different stages. More of a hiss at the start as the steam escapes settling down to a crackle once all that's left its vegetable and fat. Similarly everything you cook will have subtle changes to the way they smell as they cook. There have been many times when I have been multitasking and my nose has alerted me to check on whatever I have in the oven. I'm not talking about smelling burning but just the subtle changes as certain stages of cooking are reached. Eventually it becomes second nature.
I can tell when it's time to check cookies by smell. I made cookies last week for the first time my boyfriend was with me and he didn't believe me until he saw it in action. I warned him I have a sensitive nose!
Add about a half of a tablespoon of sugar to your chili or spaghetti sauce. It takes some of the acidity out.
Honestly do this whenever adding tomatoes to a sauce since they can be pretty acidic.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil is not for frying things! It has a very low smoke point and will break down. For higher (but still not very high) heat, you want regular Olive Oil, not Extra Virgin.
You can use soy sauce or fish sauce as a substitute for salt for a better umami taste. Also, because you'll need less due to the concentrated flavour, it'll naturally be less sodium.
Salt in the hand, not in the pan. When adding salt to a dish, try not to hang a 5 pound box over it.
Mise en place. Have all your stuff lined up and ready to go before you start. You don't want something to burn because you're busy looking for the tablespoon or opening a can of something.
Always scrape the ingredients from the cutting board into a pot with the back of the knife, it will help the blade stay sharp longer
Keep it simple. Something with 3-4 ingredients that go really well together is better than something with 12 ingredients that clash with each other.
I keep telling my husband this and he refuses to listen. When he cooks it’s overkill of meats, and he doesn’t notice if the flavours are complimentary.
Salt early, salt late. Adding salt at different points in cooking dramatically affects results.
There’s literally no point, and even a health hazard, to “rinse” pre-cut chicken and salmon.
By rinsing chicken under a faucet/tap you are splashing any potential germs/bacteria all over the shop.
Electric stoves are much hotter than gas. A high setting on gas will get you a nice sear, but the same on electric will burn. It's not something to worry about in the kitchen, but definitely at home.
I have heard that gas cookers are apparently so much better and seem to cook more evenly, especially in the oven. Does anyone know if this is true, I have only lived in houses with electric ovens and pretty crappy ones at that. One thing I do know is that gas is cheaper to run, well in Aus anyway.
A master chef told me this in culinary school: "you can always stop cooking." Take it off the burner or out of the oven if you need to. Surprisingly helpful tip
And do what- let the existential dread settle in? Or do they mean to lower the heat so you can stir and add ingredients without overcooking the whole thing?
Always use cold water to mix with flour or cornstarch to make your gravy. It won't get lumpy.
Put the water in the freezer before you need it. The colder the water the better the mix, also make sure all your cornstarch has disolved before you pour it into your pan. Also also, cornstarch disolved easier in cold cinnamon in hot. Fun stuff. Don't just throw cornstarch in the pan thinking it acts like flour.
Please don’t buy pre-marinated meats in butchers and grocery stores, they’re usually older cuts of meat being ‘rescued’ with a marinade to cover the unfreshness and smell.
If no-one buys any of the pre marinated meats then it will all just end up being dumped. There is nothing wrong with the marinated meats even if they are the “older” meats, doesn’t mean they are off/spoiled.
Timers. I always forget I have something going on the stove while I'm cutting something across the kitchen. Timers save lives.
Make your own stock.
Save the parts of veggies you didn't use like ends of onions, inners of peppers, and chicken bones in a ziplock in the freezer. Just make sure you don't put anything bitter like cabbage or brocolli in. Also never put lemon rind in, it will make it super bitter and inedible. Sweet things like carrots or squash are a must, even pieces of apples are delicious. And I always make sure to put in some celery. Put it all straight from freezer bag to pot, cover with water, throw in a few bay leaves and salt and pepper and simmer for like two hours.
I always try to have chicken stock on hand... so much better than store bought broth, and you control the sodium. Your soups will never be the same. Also delicious to use to cook rice
I've made my own stock for years and this is a great way to save yourself money in the long run. It might not last as long but that's why you do it in small batches.
A few drops of a hot sauce like Crystal or a fish sauce can be unrecognizable in a vinaigrette, dip or sauce but it can take it to otherworldly levels. A touch of heat, umami, sugar or acid can turn a flat dish into something people crave. Little drops, add more. Stop when you taste it and start salivating.
Using scissors to cut things. Cherry tomatoes, dough, pizza, some cuts of meat, veggies.... So much faster, less to clean up and way cleaner cuts.
You'll move faster if you maintain the saying of 'Everything has a home, and if it's not in my hand, it's in its home.' This way, you can rely on everything being exactly in its place.
Also, stay clean. Not just by wiping up crumbs after you use a cutting board (keep a sanitized towel nearby for a quick wipe and it'll become second nature), but by always keeping 'landing spaces' clear. You go faster when your space is flexible, and that only happens if you stay clean.
Work like an assembly line. Cut all the ends off, then peel everything, then split everything, then slice. Having 500 veggies to chop will take so long if you do each, from beginning to end, individually. When you change jobs or motions or tools, you slow down to recalibrate. The less you change actions, the faster you can get.
This "tip" is rubbish. Do all the veggies that take longest to cook first (e.g. carrots) then while they're cooking you can be preparing something that won't take as long to cook, e.g. cauliflower or courgette.
Chop with the rear part of the blade, not the tip, in a rolling motion.
Also don't press down- MOVE the knife front to back. I've seen so many people just press the knife down while barely moving. It's a blade- not a hammer.
This is more than one:
-If your sauce is too salty, add half a potato.
-If you are going to be deep frying or making candy, invest in a decent thermometer.
-If you are making simple drop cookies, you want to mix every stage to totally smooth.
-Garlic reduces spice.
-Don't be a punk, use fresh cracked pepper.
Dry any ingredients that trap moisture — like meat, fish, and vegetables — with a paper towel before cooking them. My mom’s cooking was always too watery — and not properly crispy, browned, or caramelized — because she missed this step.
Don't be afraid to experiment. Every successful new recipe or derivation was at one point an experiment.
If you're on a budget, experiment with cheap ingredients. It doesn't matter if you ruin $2 worth of stuff. This goes for learning to bake too. Flour and sugar are not expensive.
This isn't a secret or anything, but I think a lot of folks don't realize how important acid is in a lot of cooking. When you've seasoned something perfectly but it still tastes like it's missing something, it's usually acid. A bit of citrus juice or vinegar will take it to the next level.
Don’t add the oil or butter before your pan is hot! Heat up your pan first, then add the oil and let that heat up (it will get ripply), then add whatever you’re cooking.
If you want to brown your meat, don't fill the pan to the brim. It will only boil in its own juices until it's still pale but also tough. Just put a few pieces in at once, you can place them on a plate once they're done and then do the next ones.
Place cherry tomatoes in between two plastic lids to cut them in half. You can cut 15 to 20 at a time this way instead of one at a time.
The more you diversify your cuisine knowledge, the better a cook you will become. There's usually more than one way to do something well, and no one cuisine or continent has all the answers. My culinary school was very Eurocentric in its approach. But in the real world, people cook differently — with different techniques from one place to the next — and all create amazing food. I've learned from many YouTube cooking channels that a lot of the old cooking or baking wisdom from school doesn't apply. Or that it may be OK, but there are newer and better ways of doing things."
I started learning to make Ramen, then I learned it's a local dish to be made with local ingredients. This inspired me to invent Milwaukee Style Ramen. Yes, it uses beer. The IPA agitama eggs are amazing.
Add some cider vinegar to chicken or turkey gravy. Game. Changer.
Caramelize onions in butter (rather than olive oil) and a bit of sugar. Butter is especially great for browning. If you’re going a bit beyond just browning, like with fried or caramelized onions, use butter and sugar. It makes a world of difference.
(grandfather's artisanal) honey instead of sugar taste really good too
Flouring pans for cakes is a step not to be skipped but when it comes to chocolate cakes, it looks awful so for dark cakes, I use cocoa powder instead.
Why? I have never had to flour pans. I just use baking paper.
Instead of just straight up sauteeing shrimp for a dish you can take (high quality) raw uncooked shrimp, take off the shells and tails and set them aside, heat up a little oil in your pan, saute the shells in the hot oil until they turn red and get little white speckles on them, add 1C of a good white wine, simmer for about 5 min, strain and use a spoon to sort of press on the shells to get all the liquid out, return the liquid to the pan, and then poach the shrimp in that liquid just until cooked. Flavor explosion!
Only cook with wine you would actually drink yourself. This means, don't use "cooking" wine. As in, that garbage that is all salty from the grocery. Just stick to wines you'd find on the shelf that aren't in the cooking aisle.
If you are cooking a dish that asks for thinly sliced beef or pork, throw that hunk of meat in the freezer. Way easier to cut thin when semi-frozen
If you’re searing a bunch of little things in a pan, like scallops, set them in the pan in a clock-like circular pattern. That way, you’ll be able to easily keep track of where to start flipping, and then you can just move clockwise down the line. Seems obvious, but I was just haphazardly throwing pieces of meat or seafood in a pan prior to seeing this done on a cooking show.
Never throw away bacon fat. Filter cooled (but still liquid) bacon fat through a paper towel into a coffee mug or heat-resistant container. It stays fresh uncovered in the fridge for months. Use it anywhere you'd use butter, lard, or oil. It makes great gravy and is also perfect for sautéing veggies, especially leafy stuff like kale and spinach. Just remember that bacon fat is salty, so you'll want to adjust your recipe for that.
Heat will remain in your food after turning off the stove and it will continue to cook, so pay attention to your timing. e.g. when you want to add cheese to your omelette, cheese should melt in a plate with heat of the eggs, otherwise you will have over dried omelette, same as overcooked pasta.
Same with baking. I tend to take a minute off the original recipe's minimum time, especially when baking something like chocolate chips - they continue to bake on the sheet after removal from the oven. This way they stay soft on the inside and slightly crunchy on the edges.
If you're worried about calories, just eat a smaller portion rather than substituting "healthier" ingredients. Especially when baking.
If you're cooking on a budget, buy pasta, potatoes, rice, beans, onions, garlic, canned tomatoes, olive oil, butter, green peppers, salt? Pepper, cumin, Italian seasoning, broth. You can make lots of dishes with these
Read the recipe all the way through before you start cooking. You could miss small details otherwise.
Also it's good so you don't go halfway and then realize...4 HOURS to chill in the fridge?!
When prepping or cooking a recipe, plan your next two tasks as you're performing your current task.
That way, you always know what you're moving toward.
This is for any task or job in life, not just for cooking :)
Control your heat. Control everything, but mostly your heat.
If you're cooking with chicken or pork, season aggressively. Both meats are wonderful seasoning sponges; find a regional spice map or guide and start combining flavors.
Using the finger measurement for rice. Just fill your pot with rice and cover with water so that the tip of your finger is touching the top of the rice and the the water comes to your first knuckle.
This would depend on the shape of the pot, and the length of one's fingers. The depth of the water depends on the diameter of the pot. I put in 5 dl water and 2,5 dl rice, i.e. twice the water as rice, as it says on the package and it works regardless of finger or pot shape.
Pour boiling water on a chopping board after cutting raw chicken, will cook any remnants and make it easier to clean
Properly browning mushrooms takes fat, time and a lot of heat. I'm talking "20 minutes on high heat"-heat with the occasional stir-and-flip. If you don't like mushrooms, you have probably only eaten soggy chewy mushrooms that have been warmed up in their own juices for 5 minutes. You need to cook all those juices away!
Always "cook one off" — and taste your product or prep mixture before you dive into making the rest of it. Too many people just go along making recipes and don’t taste.
Same with baking cookies - if you have the time. Plop one or two in the oven at the minimum baking time, remove, let cool then taste and adjust your time from that. This has saved me countless times - and a whole lot of wasted dough - when trying a new recipe. It's a little extra work but worth it. Oh, and make sure to note the best time on the recipe.
The size and cut of your vegetables has a dramatic impact on how the overall dish will taste. Ever order a pizza and the onions still taste and feel raw? They cut them too big and they couldn't finish cooking in the 8 minutes it takes to bake the pizza. Same with dips, if you cut the veggies too large, the consistency of your dip will suck.
When making cookies (maybe sweets in general?) if the recipe calls for both brown sugar and granulated sugar always add more brown than white. It makes your baked goods softer
If something burns slightly, throw BBQ sauce on it and call it "Smoked".
If something that's supposed to be smooth comes out chunky, call it "Homestyle".
When browning ground meat only flip it twice. Flatten it out and cook it till it is half done flip over like a giant burger then cook till done. Crumble it once its cooked. And never again eat gray tasteless ground beef.
Memorize the three-step method for perfectly crispy fish skin.
1) Scrape the skin with the back of a knife to dry it out.
2) Put it in a hot pan with fat skin down and press it until it stops trying to curl. 3) Put the whole pan in the oven and roast until done. Cook it the whole way skin down.
My dog is really disappointed about this "tip": "the fish skin is mine, please don't eat it!"
Treat your learning experiences as if they're "XP bars" in video gaming/rpg's, I approach all my learning this way. Your time spent x difficulty = wisdom/learning/skill level. If you're getting good at something and keep doing the same thing you'll plateau and go from learning to stagnating. Push your boundaries beyond your limit like you did when your first learned to get the most effect, and the most failure.
Peeling a hard boiled egg is easier if you do it under cold running water.
Use chopsticks to cook bacon. Makes flipping the bacon so much easier and gives you great control in moving the bacon around the pan!
If you do it enough times, you can make a great sourdough loaf by feel. You don't have to measure anything.
Add your flour to make a loaf the size you choose, your starter into a levain, your water and salt. You can tell by the feel of the dough if it's hydrated where you like it. I make my best loaves this way.
I never measure with bread or pizza does or similar. I've always done by touch, that's how my granny and mom did it.
If you're cooking a meal with lots of components, use appliances to keep things at temperature — *without* taking up real estate on stove burners.
A slow cooker, Instant Pot, or grill with some kind of temp control can all have things going low and slow, holding food at temp waiting for you.
When melting chocolate:
Chocolate holds its shape after melting point, so stir it frequently
If it has lost its initial shape but feels thick to stir, it's burnt
If it is lightly burnt, it can be saved by a bit of olive oil. Add a teaspoon at a time, stir well, and your chocolate will be magically good again.
Most recipes tell you to fry onions before browning meat. Don't. The onions will add liquid to the pan, meaning your meat boils rather than browns properly.
Silicone spatula for eggs. Fat bonds to plastic, making plastic spatulas frustrating to use when frying eggs.
Yes great article - I would add not to cook meat straight out of the fridge - by the time it warms through it's overcooked on the outside...let the chill come off first.
Chefs have studies this. Leaving meat out of the fridge for half an hour or an hour doesn't do anything for the cooking process and the taste
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First rule of burger club, DO NOT PRESS BURGER, JUST LEAVE IT ALONE, STEP BACK UNTIL YOU NEED TO TURN IT OVER. If you start prodding and pressing the burger any moisture/fat starts to leak out and instead of a juicy burger, you've got a flat piece of chewable, ground beef.
Amen! I don’t get this trend of “smashing” burgers...all I’ve been getting are dry, tough burgers. Yuck!
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Is it just me or does the "wipe your hands & knife on a towel" thing just seem unhygienic? i just wash my hands. a LOT.
Yea dont do that with raw chicken obviously. With bread or veg its fine. If you work in a restaurant you do go wash up completely to get rid of some bread crumbs. That takes much time and your hands feel like sandpaper after one day.
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Use a bigger cutting board than you think you need. Under sixes cutting boards slow you down A LOT and are dangerous.
For perfect jacket potatoes everytime cook them in the microwave first. 10 minutes for a large potato and 7 to 8 minutes for a medium size potato. then put them in the oven. This literally cuts the usual cooking time in half. Even really big potatoes cool in about 40-45 minutes instead of about an hour and a half. But remember score a X on each side of each potato before putting in the microwave to prevent the potatoes from splitting. Tip 2. When making buns cup cakes and /or muffins pour the mixture into an icing bag. Make one if necessary if you need to by pouring the mixture into a small plastic bag and cutting one of the bottom corners off. Then just as you would when icing the bun cupcake and /or muffin squeeze the mixture into their cases then put in the oven to bake. This tip I got from my brother who has been a professional chef specialising in dessert and pastries for over 30 years.
The baked potato should be done after ten minutes in the microwave. That's how I fix my baked potatoes and I use the big ones. Ten minutes in the microwave and then 45 minutes in the oven. Geez, how big are these potatoes?
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My own tip: If you have to cut any kind of dough that is flattened, use a pizza wheel. It is so much easier than using a knife or scissors, gives you much more control of the cut, and the dough doesn't stick to the tool. (At least not nearly as much as using anything else).
Jeez, I thought these were pretty obvious but judging by the comments they're not to most on here. They need to reintroduce home economics in schools if adults don't know this stuff!
Learned much of this in home economics and from my grandmother. I do rinse chicken to remove blood & goo. But, I don't really have much issue with the splashing everyone worries about. But, I do wipe down surfaces w/bleach and frequently wash my hands. Disposable food gloves are wonderful. I don't like bits of meat stuck in my nails hard to disinfect without soaking. Being a mom of five/grandma of five has also helped me hone cooking/baking skills. Gas stoves rule. Never had a problem w/gas ovens, but cleaning any oven, with non-caustic cleaners is essential. One daughter has first electric stove/oven in her life and is not thrilled.
Load More Replies... Yes great article - I would add not to cook meat straight out of the fridge - by the time it warms through it's overcooked on the outside...let the chill come off first.
Chefs have studies this. Leaving meat out of the fridge for half an hour or an hour doesn't do anything for the cooking process and the taste
Load More Replies... First rule of burger club, DO NOT PRESS BURGER, JUST LEAVE IT ALONE, STEP BACK UNTIL YOU NEED TO TURN IT OVER. If you start prodding and pressing the burger any moisture/fat starts to leak out and instead of a juicy burger, you've got a flat piece of chewable, ground beef.
Amen! I don’t get this trend of “smashing” burgers...all I’ve been getting are dry, tough burgers. Yuck!
Load More Replies... Is it just me or does the "wipe your hands & knife on a towel" thing just seem unhygienic? i just wash my hands. a LOT.
Yea dont do that with raw chicken obviously. With bread or veg its fine. If you work in a restaurant you do go wash up completely to get rid of some bread crumbs. That takes much time and your hands feel like sandpaper after one day.
Load More Replies... Use a bigger cutting board than you think you need. Under sixes cutting boards slow you down A LOT and are dangerous.
For perfect jacket potatoes everytime cook them in the microwave first. 10 minutes for a large potato and 7 to 8 minutes for a medium size potato. then put them in the oven. This literally cuts the usual cooking time in half. Even really big potatoes cool in about 40-45 minutes instead of about an hour and a half. But remember score a X on each side of each potato before putting in the microwave to prevent the potatoes from splitting. Tip 2. When making buns cup cakes and /or muffins pour the mixture into an icing bag. Make one if necessary if you need to by pouring the mixture into a small plastic bag and cutting one of the bottom corners off. Then just as you would when icing the bun cupcake and /or muffin squeeze the mixture into their cases then put in the oven to bake. This tip I got from my brother who has been a professional chef specialising in dessert and pastries for over 30 years.
The baked potato should be done after ten minutes in the microwave. That's how I fix my baked potatoes and I use the big ones. Ten minutes in the microwave and then 45 minutes in the oven. Geez, how big are these potatoes?
Load More Replies... My own tip: If you have to cut any kind of dough that is flattened, use a pizza wheel. It is so much easier than using a knife or scissors, gives you much more control of the cut, and the dough doesn't stick to the tool. (At least not nearly as much as using anything else).
Jeez, I thought these were pretty obvious but judging by the comments they're not to most on here. They need to reintroduce home economics in schools if adults don't know this stuff!
Learned much of this in home economics and from my grandmother. I do rinse chicken to remove blood & goo. But, I don't really have much issue with the splashing everyone worries about. But, I do wipe down surfaces w/bleach and frequently wash my hands. Disposable food gloves are wonderful. I don't like bits of meat stuck in my nails hard to disinfect without soaking. Being a mom of five/grandma of five has also helped me hone cooking/baking skills. Gas stoves rule. Never had a problem w/gas ovens, but cleaning any oven, with non-caustic cleaners is essential. One daughter has first electric stove/oven in her life and is not thrilled.
Load More Replies...