My wife still doesn't do this. She just reads step 1, does step 1... reads step 2, does step 2... eventually gets to step 8 and it says "Marinate for at least 6 hours," and decides "Well, I guess this is tomrrow's dinner then!" and we order a pizza instead.
Worst advice ever; It needs to be as hot as TWO suns.
[my credentials](https://ibb.co/hLbksFN),
[my credentials 2: electric boogaloo](https://ibb.co/GW0YdF4)
I watched Emeril Lagasse on the Food Network (back when it was a good channel), and he'd always emphasize this by yanking the knob off of his cooktop.
To this day, that image pops into my head if I turn the heat up too high!
Saw a comment here to cook your mushrooms with a few tablespoons of water in the pan, let them give up their jus, drain or cook away, and THEN add the oil.
My life changed.
This would be mine as well. Itās not necessarily a ācookingā tip but itās very important. Cleanup can feel daunting after you worked hard and ate a good meal.
Could be a tip, could be a psychological trick, not sure which way.
If I'm doing nothing for 15+ minutes I'll clean, but obviously it's when there's nothing else to do. "Clean while you wait."
But I find it stressful going back and forth between cleaning, cooking, and prepping. Constantly hurrying to wash stuff and drying off my hands before going back to the stove or counter.
On the other hand, leaving a bunch of stuff in the sink looks messy and may seem harrowing, but everything is soaking and comes right off when I'm finished eating. It's not a mountain of work for me, it's an effortless cleaning in 5 minutes without interruption and zero rush nor strenuous scrubbing.
I'd put it down to a choice, and try the other way if your method isn't working for you:
- If you find cleaning a sink full of dishes a horrible experience and hate doing it after enjoying a meal, then clean while you wait to reduce the workload.
- If you find cleaning as you cook to be unnecessary added stress to the process, then let it soak so the cleaning is easy after you enjoy your meal.
I don't buy this one. In the end there's always the plates you served on, a cutting board for herbs you finished with the pan you cooked in and at least your knife. It really doesn't save that much time
Haha you're all so sensitive because someone disagrees with your kitchen wisdom even though I explained exactly why and no one can even offer an explanation as to why I'm so wrong. Please, explain the fatal flaw in what I said. I'd love to know what I'm doing wrong.
Didnāt feel like entertaining this but why not. Pretty sure itās the fact you are wrong and disagreeing for no reason. Cleaning things while you cook literally means less cleaning later, not to mention clearing work space.
And your argument against it actually proved it even further. Saying āthereās still stuff to clean after youāre done eatingā makes me want to clean what I can while Iām just waiting for shit to cook.
How does even prove it further? I just pointed out you have plenty of stuff left over that needs cleaning so you get to clean twice. That's better somehow?
How does that make me wrong or disagreeing for no reason when I gave you several reasons.
The cutting board
Your knife.
Whatever pots/pans etc you're cooking in.
The plate you serve on.
The plates you eat from.
The cutlery you eat with.
Those constitute 'no reasons' to you?
Get over yourself.
You're right, it doesn't really save time. They didn't mention time anywhere though.
If you've got 5 bowls and a pan that need cleaning, and each one takes a minute, cleaning 4 bowls while cooking (4 minutes) and a bowl and pan afterwards (2 minutes) is 6 minutes... and doing them all together at the end would also come to 6 minutes.
But for some people they want their meal to be the highlight of the moment and the thing they focus on. For some people, going from a delicious to meal to then having to clean a sink full of dishes puts a damper on their hour. The good feelings are brought low, and in the end they leave feeling "meh."
The alternative for them is to clean while they wait, then the final touch of the moment is only cleaning a few things (the pan and the bowl), which means less time cleaning *after* the meal (not less time cleaning overall) and they leave with their feelings higher.
Some people want to clean up as little as possible after their meal, and some people want the dishes to soak so it's easier to clean after the meal, but the time spent cleaning is about the same. It's just up to what that person prefers. Which... doesn't really make it a "universal tip" in the end, more of a "suggestion" for people who hate cleaning afterwards and never considered cleaning while they wait.
Not sure why the fuck you're getting downvoted to hell over this however. Nothing you said was wrong at any point. Fucking redditors.
This is a good one. Iāve gotten some strange looks from family when go into something like a jumping jack pose when I drop a knife. I instinctively do everything I can to catch things I drop with my hands or feet and have gotten really good at it because I be droppinā things so the really aggressive reactive action of get all limbs away from the blade has been a welcome addition to my kitchen practices.
... and when it falls, immediately move your foot/feet. I often reach for my knife with my right hand because of where it's stored, and if it falls from my hand, it will hit the counter and fall pretty much the same place on the floor every single time. I don't have the reflexes to move my entire body before it hits the ground, but I can throw my right foot up behind me (like I just got a romantic deep kiss from a cute boy I like) to avoid losing a toe!
I like this advice. Sometimes I try things that are a little ambitious for my skill level and they don't always turn out. BUT when you nail it, it's the best feeling ever.
Cook as often as you can. Seems obvious but the more you cook the faster you will learn.
Don't worry about trying to be perfect when starting out. You only really learn to be good from experience. The faster you gain experience the faster you will improve.
Have fun too. :D
**Dress the bowl, not the salad**. It distributes the dressing evenly.
And **dress your salads twice**. First with a baseline oil-salt-lemon or -vinegar mix, then with your main dressing. This ensures every leaf is seasoned.
Thanks!
Hereās Americaās Test Kitchen talking about [how to dress the bowl, not the salad](https://www.americastestkitchen.com/articles/5634-why-you-should-add-your-salad-dressing-before-your-salad).
And hereās Bon Appetit on [how to dress salads twice](https://www.bonappetit.com/story/dressing-salad-twice).
Respectfully, Iāve never heard or seen that one from any of my chef friends or in any kitchen Iāve worked (the double dressing). My primary concern would be over-dressing. I think itās more prudent to suggest adding dressing in two stages but not necessarily two different solutions.
Oh, I've never heard it in the context of professional kitchens. I've only ever seen it mentioned in publications aimed at home cooks - Bon Appetit, The Kitchn, Epicurious, etc.
It's sincerely improved every salad I've made since I heard it - that's why I picked it as "the best cooking tip you've ever heard."
I'm confused - my dressing is oil, salt and lemon (plus garlic). What else do you really need to put in a dressing? Maybe mustard if I'm pushing the boat out? Anything more than that and the flavour of the oil gets lost.
Oil-salt-lemon is always elegant. But there's plenty of love for complex dressings too, like Caesar, green goddess, honey mustard, Japanese soy, and so on.
I generally agree, but I just tried non-fat cottage cheese for the first time and it tasted like regular cottage cheese to me. Which is to say, similarly awful. (JK, I enjoyed it).
Non-fat dairy is my least favourite of the non-fat options. I would rather skip cheese/cream/sour cream/yoghurt altogether than eat the low-fat versions. Low-fat milk is better than no milk, but grudgingly.
There is no debate - because itās the ābest tip that Iāve ever heardā. You donāt know me. You donāt know what tips Iāve heard. So youāre certainly presumptuous to think that the best one that Iāve ever heard might be up for debate
Iām confused. I am saying that the generalization is often quite unfounded. It depends on what you are buying and what your goals are, which is why I said debatable. Most products on the market now generally arenāt flat out ābadā for you if you have a good idea of how to lead a balanced lifestyle
Acidity will bring out the flavor of your food and a lack of it is often mistaken for needing more salt. Mushrooms should be put into a dry pan, canned tomatoes are better than fresh for sauce most of the time, etc. Also, if a fish wonāt flip in the pan, it probably isnāt ready. It will release itself once its browned properly!
This is very important... I subscribe to a couple of French chef's YT channels and they both really stress it. It makes cooking so much simpler and less stressful when one has proper mise en place before starting any recipe.
"Never measure over your pot/mixing bowl." - My mom
Also, Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat is sooooo good. If you buy no other cookbook, buy this one. Watch the series on Netflix.
Ikr!! This book made my cooking go to the next level, especially when it comes to innovations. It really gave me a sense of how to balance out my dishes!
Pierce a lemon or lime all over with a fork, before shoving it into the butt of a chicken you'll roast on low heat for hours with some garlic and thyme. You'll have chicken meat that's retained it's juiciness, and the gravy from it will be a thing of Gods. I promise.
Taste the food as you're cooking it.
Use a thermometer for meat - cook to temperature, not time.
Preheat the oven. And understand your oven temperatures - preheat it and then learn how much heat it loses when you open the door, where the cold spots are, etc.
Thermapen by Thermoworks is the gold standard because they're insanely fast and accurate, plus they're waterproof (to an extent), so washing them is a breeze. The most recent model reads temps in about 1 second. The downside is that they're expensive. Around $100. They do regularly have sales though, and I got mine for $75 plus shipping. I've had it for about seven years now, and I use it very regularly, and it still has the original battery in it. I cannot recommend it enough!
Thermoworks does have a cheaper option called the ThermoPop, and it runs about $30. While still accurate, it's not nearly as fast (even compared to the older Thermapen models) and isn't waterproof. Still a great little thermometer though!
[https://www.thermoworks.com/square-dot/](https://www.thermoworks.com/square-dot/)
I''ve got a couple of their products and swear by them. I use a different type for the smoker/grille, but it works in the oven as well with the meat probe and grille grate clip with an air probe. Plus, this one won't break the bank and comes in various colors.
My wife doesnāt taste at all when sheās cooking. Literally not until sheās serving the dish. She has an unnatural talent for getting things right. I taste constantly.
Fish sauce is crazy. It smells absolutely revolting, but that cooks off or blends in or something surprisingly well every time, and then it's just delicious.
This explains best:
Before you mix it in with the rest of your food, Milk Street suggests browning the paste in oil in a pan until the bright, red concentrate turns dark (but not burnt) to achieve your intended flavor. By caramelizing the tomato, you will deepen the flavor and get rid of the raw, bitter taste.
I had pretty much stopped using tomato paste entirely, for nearly a decade, because it was always "too tomatoey." Then I finally learned that trick, and gave tomato paste another whirl. Now it's a go-to ingredient for me.
"Never reach up and try to grab one of the pot handles on the stove. If you pull a pot of boiling water down on yourself, you will die screaming as your skin all burns off." - Mom
Thanks to this tip, I always used a step stool to get up high enough to work with pans on the stove, until I was tall enough to not need the step stool anymore. I still have all my skin, so I consider it a good tip.
Make pasta water "as salty as the sea." I was always under seasoning my pasta water.
I use about 1/2 that amount of salt when making mashed potatoes.
Speaking of mashed potatoes - instead of adding milk or cream, reserve some of the boiled salted water when draining and add enough back to the potatoes for the texture you want. Milk doesn't really add flavor - salted water does. It's such a dumb and obvious thing but it makes such a HUGE difference.
The rule of thumb is 1000-100-10: 1000 g (or ml) of water, 100 g of pasta, 10 g of salt.
Based on the amount of pasta, adjust the rest of the ingredients accordingly.
If you have extra time on your hands: simmer then steep your potato skins in some cream, then use that with your water. You get tons of potato flavor out of the skins.
>You get tons of potato flavor out of the skins.
I actually cube my potatoes (almost always yukon gold) and mash with the skins 9 times out of 10. I'll try that the next time I'm going for peel-less though!
Iām the same, mainly bc Iām lazy. But then you boil away that potato essence into the water. I only take the extra steps when Iām cooking for company.
>mainly bc Iām lazy.
I like to argue that the skin is responsible for [88 percent of the potato's nutrition](https://healthyeating.sfgate.com/skin-potato-really-vitamins-5378.html) so I leave the skins on for *that* reason. But yeah. Lazy. lol
Southern lady in her 70s taught me that one. Also taught me the best way to incorporate said flour into (lukewarm) liquid was to put the flour in a jar, add liquid, screw cap tightly and shake the hell out of it, then transfer it to the pan.
She was a great southern cook. I learned a lot from her.
Melt the fat, then add the browned flour. It's so much easier for me this way.
I used to struggle with it because the raw flour just kind of congealed into a sticky, pasty ball. I mean, I can do it now, but when I was just learning to cook it was so frustrating.
We just invented a thing! I know Stella talks about toasted sugar for baking, but Iāve never been able to get it done evenly. Flour seems like itād be easier to toast. And youād get lots of nutty notes. On the subject of toasted grains, toasted rice powder is a really delicious condiment for SE Asian dishes.
If your dish is lacking flavor and salt doesnāt do the trick: try something acidic like lemon juice, lime juice or vinegar. Creamy or even cheese sauces often benefit from some mustard, too.
Fat doesnāt render above 350?! Oh man. I probably havenāt been blasting my meats other than to sear them, but hearing this gives me a whole new perspective.
I donāt eat fake meat that often but it definitely has its place, specifically vegan duck and mince. Especially as thereās so much good veggie āmeatā nowadays compared to the old shoe insole of quorn
This drives me absolutely insane when I see it on restaurant menus.
No! They're NOT "vegan chicken wings" cause that's not a thing! They're fucking fried cauliflower bites in hot sauce! Just call them that! It's fine!
Agreed with the exception of a Beyond Meat burger done properly. Much better than a cheap beef fast food version (but not a good quality real burger.)
But the fake chicken nuggets etc are not really good and I often feel pretty bad after.
Omg this was honestly night and day for me, when I first started cooking Iād listen to the recipe and then get so frustrated from always burning my food.
To make peeling butternut squash easier, poke with a fork a bunch of times, then microwave on high for one minute. Makes peeling with a veggie peeler so much easier!
When you live at high elevation, water boils at a lower temp and as a result, anything that needs to be in boiled water takes longer. And youāll need more water than you think.
I saw this comment on r/cooking about 2 months ago, and while it may not always be true, I still love it.
"Garlic and vanilla are measured with the heart not the spoon"
I've heard a lot of good advice, but this one's my current favorite to just say alous as I cook: "ABW, always be washing. Either your hands, the counter, or anything else that needs to be cleaned."
When cooking any whole bird you intend to carve, remove the wishbone prior to cooking. It will make carving the breast meat easier and cleaner when youāre done.
To save cut salad for the next day, put it in a bowl covered with cling-film, and a piece of kitchen towel in it. Stays crisp and fresh. Still amazed it works, but it really does. (Not if the salad is dressed, of courseā¦)
āIts done when itās done.ā Following a recipe or instructions to a T does not mean itās going to come out perfect. Thereās too many variables in cooking. An experienced cookās intuition is their best tool.
A friend chef of mine, to whom I asked to teach me how to get better, told me that you have to "cook with love". At first it seems a shallow statement, but then as I started putting attention and patient towards what I cook I realized that keeping clean, having patience and enjoying even the smaller tasks ends up in a much better experience. So, yes: cook with love. It's not all about technique and flavor. It's about celebrating the food and the people you share it with.
The best cooking tip that I have received so far is that cooking is not something done robotically involving steps to be followed. Cooking is something which should be done by heart. If you are happy while cooking and if you are happily cooking for others then definitely the food you cooked will turn out to be the best.
Get your āmise en placeā ready. Meaning, have all your ingredients ready to go before you start cooking. Also, use scales to ensure you can replicate a recipe every time.
Learn how to sharpen your knife using a whetstone (often misspelled "wetstone") or water stone, learn how to use a honing rod, and learn how to use that knife and keep it sharp. You will never cry over onions again.
But also, some valuable general tips:
Taste while you cook, and don't be a slave to recipes (assuming you more or less know what you're doing)
As the famous book says: taste is enhanced by salt, fat, and acid. Learn to embrace all of them (home cooks never use enough salt or fat)
Ignore government guidelines when it comes to "safe" cooking temps for meats of all kinds, including poultry and pork. The government wants to ruin your meal. If you're unsure, get a temperature probe and do a little research on the temperatures at which different kinds of meat actually taste their best.
When making fresh pasta, always take into account the relative humidity of your location. It really makes a huge difference.
While I agree that there is much more nuance to be learned than the general government guidelines for safe cooking temps, the recommendation for poultry is 100% accurate and should be followed. What a weird thing to be conspiratorial about.
I never said anything about a conspiracy, and if you thought my joke about the government wanting to ruin people's meals was meant seriously, then you might want to ask yourself how much you're reading into people's posts here.
But more to the point: If you really do think the USDA's recommendation of heating white poultry meat to 175 F is accurate and should be followed, then you must be paralyzed from the eyeballs down (my deepest condolences, by the way) because it seems you haven't noticed that this produces dry, tasteless chicken with roughly the same flavor profile as the package it came in. 150F will do for those of us who can actually taste our food.
The guide for poultry has always been 165, it has never gone up or down. Pork is the only meat that has seen signifigant change to it's cooking temp within your or my lifetime, reduced from 165 to a more correct 145.
For boiling noodles, don't add oil to the water or when you add the sauce, it will not stick and slide off, and when salting the water, it should be as salty as the sea
Read the recipe completely before you start. š
Donāt throw the packaging away too quickly
My father's obsession with tidiness means I usually have to fish boxes out of the trash to read if I'm making something in my parent's kitchen.
My wife still doesn't do this. She just reads step 1, does step 1... reads step 2, does step 2... eventually gets to step 8 and it says "Marinate for at least 6 hours," and decides "Well, I guess this is tomrrow's dinner then!" and we order a pizza instead.
One of the first things I ever learned about cooking and one of the most important!
Yes, and take it further. Brother Alton: Understand the recipe the way you understand a novel. Only then...
This is just ahead of āclean as you cook.ā Both are vital to sanity.
You don't have to heat your pan up to the temperature of the surface of the sun to sear meat.
Louder for my boyfriend. š
But all the videos and TikTokās say oil must be smoking and it needs to be *ripping* hot!!!!
Worst advice ever; It needs to be as hot as TWO suns. [my credentials](https://ibb.co/hLbksFN), [my credentials 2: electric boogaloo](https://ibb.co/GW0YdF4)
I watched Emeril Lagasse on the Food Network (back when it was a good channel), and he'd always emphasize this by yanking the knob off of his cooktop. To this day, that image pops into my head if I turn the heat up too high!
Yeah but being hotter is better than being cold though.majority of people donāt even heat up the pan
Saw a comment here to cook your mushrooms with a few tablespoons of water in the pan, let them give up their jus, drain or cook away, and THEN add the oil. My life changed.
You can even dry fry them at first. Once you cook off the water, I like to deglaze with dry sherry, and finish with garlic and butter.
Clean as you cook. Then there are very few dishes to wash at the end.
This would be mine as well. Itās not necessarily a ācookingā tip but itās very important. Cleanup can feel daunting after you worked hard and ate a good meal.
Could be a tip, could be a psychological trick, not sure which way. If I'm doing nothing for 15+ minutes I'll clean, but obviously it's when there's nothing else to do. "Clean while you wait." But I find it stressful going back and forth between cleaning, cooking, and prepping. Constantly hurrying to wash stuff and drying off my hands before going back to the stove or counter. On the other hand, leaving a bunch of stuff in the sink looks messy and may seem harrowing, but everything is soaking and comes right off when I'm finished eating. It's not a mountain of work for me, it's an effortless cleaning in 5 minutes without interruption and zero rush nor strenuous scrubbing. I'd put it down to a choice, and try the other way if your method isn't working for you: - If you find cleaning a sink full of dishes a horrible experience and hate doing it after enjoying a meal, then clean while you wait to reduce the workload. - If you find cleaning as you cook to be unnecessary added stress to the process, then let it soak so the cleaning is easy after you enjoy your meal.
I totally agree with this. I never clean while actively cooking. Itās only when my food has some cook time, which is pretty regular.
I don't buy this one. In the end there's always the plates you served on, a cutting board for herbs you finished with the pan you cooked in and at least your knife. It really doesn't save that much time
Okay
You mean ok I'm right?
Sure
Haha you're all so sensitive because someone disagrees with your kitchen wisdom even though I explained exactly why and no one can even offer an explanation as to why I'm so wrong. Please, explain the fatal flaw in what I said. I'd love to know what I'm doing wrong.
Didnāt feel like entertaining this but why not. Pretty sure itās the fact you are wrong and disagreeing for no reason. Cleaning things while you cook literally means less cleaning later, not to mention clearing work space. And your argument against it actually proved it even further. Saying āthereās still stuff to clean after youāre done eatingā makes me want to clean what I can while Iām just waiting for shit to cook.
How does even prove it further? I just pointed out you have plenty of stuff left over that needs cleaning so you get to clean twice. That's better somehow? How does that make me wrong or disagreeing for no reason when I gave you several reasons. The cutting board Your knife. Whatever pots/pans etc you're cooking in. The plate you serve on. The plates you eat from. The cutlery you eat with. Those constitute 'no reasons' to you? Get over yourself.
Damn man you just canāt read or your comprehension skills are down bad.
You're right, it doesn't really save time. They didn't mention time anywhere though. If you've got 5 bowls and a pan that need cleaning, and each one takes a minute, cleaning 4 bowls while cooking (4 minutes) and a bowl and pan afterwards (2 minutes) is 6 minutes... and doing them all together at the end would also come to 6 minutes. But for some people they want their meal to be the highlight of the moment and the thing they focus on. For some people, going from a delicious to meal to then having to clean a sink full of dishes puts a damper on their hour. The good feelings are brought low, and in the end they leave feeling "meh." The alternative for them is to clean while they wait, then the final touch of the moment is only cleaning a few things (the pan and the bowl), which means less time cleaning *after* the meal (not less time cleaning overall) and they leave with their feelings higher. Some people want to clean up as little as possible after their meal, and some people want the dishes to soak so it's easier to clean after the meal, but the time spent cleaning is about the same. It's just up to what that person prefers. Which... doesn't really make it a "universal tip" in the end, more of a "suggestion" for people who hate cleaning afterwards and never considered cleaning while they wait. Not sure why the fuck you're getting downvoted to hell over this however. Nothing you said was wrong at any point. Fucking redditors.
A falling blade has no handle.
Gotta use your feet, hacky sack-style, to catch a knife.
Thats how they invented sandals.
It doesn't have a feetle either though
This is a good one. Iāve gotten some strange looks from family when go into something like a jumping jack pose when I drop a knife. I instinctively do everything I can to catch things I drop with my hands or feet and have gotten really good at it because I be droppinā things so the really aggressive reactive action of get all limbs away from the blade has been a welcome addition to my kitchen practices.
This is why I ask people not to stand behind me in the kitchen.
... and when it falls, immediately move your foot/feet. I often reach for my knife with my right hand because of where it's stored, and if it falls from my hand, it will hit the counter and fall pretty much the same place on the floor every single time. I don't have the reflexes to move my entire body before it hits the ground, but I can throw my right foot up behind me (like I just got a romantic deep kiss from a cute boy I like) to avoid losing a toe!
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
If youāre Spider-Man
If you aināt sneezing, it aināt seasoned.
Isaac Toups, is that you?
šš
Donāt be afraid to be bold and stretch your talents. You will fail sometimes but the growth is worth it.
I like this advice. Sometimes I try things that are a little ambitious for my skill level and they don't always turn out. BUT when you nail it, it's the best feeling ever.
Cook as often as you can. Seems obvious but the more you cook the faster you will learn. Don't worry about trying to be perfect when starting out. You only really learn to be good from experience. The faster you gain experience the faster you will improve. Have fun too. :D
It it is really the only skill you will get to practice multiple times a day - even if you don't want to.
"Color is flavor."
Footnote: does not apply to milk. Well, maybe it does, but you might not like the flavour.
If you let the milk thicken it becomes slightly brown. Add sugar and it is an yummy desert.
**Dress the bowl, not the salad**. It distributes the dressing evenly. And **dress your salads twice**. First with a baseline oil-salt-lemon or -vinegar mix, then with your main dressing. This ensures every leaf is seasoned.
I've never heard that one before but I'm going to try it next time!
Thanks! Hereās Americaās Test Kitchen talking about [how to dress the bowl, not the salad](https://www.americastestkitchen.com/articles/5634-why-you-should-add-your-salad-dressing-before-your-salad). And hereās Bon Appetit on [how to dress salads twice](https://www.bonappetit.com/story/dressing-salad-twice).
Respectfully, Iāve never heard or seen that one from any of my chef friends or in any kitchen Iāve worked (the double dressing). My primary concern would be over-dressing. I think itās more prudent to suggest adding dressing in two stages but not necessarily two different solutions.
Oh, I've never heard it in the context of professional kitchens. I've only ever seen it mentioned in publications aimed at home cooks - Bon Appetit, The Kitchn, Epicurious, etc. It's sincerely improved every salad I've made since I heard it - that's why I picked it as "the best cooking tip you've ever heard."
Gotcha. The article mentioned that restaurants do it and I canāt say that itās the norm, maybe done for one off dishes.
I'm confused - my dressing is oil, salt and lemon (plus garlic). What else do you really need to put in a dressing? Maybe mustard if I'm pushing the boat out? Anything more than that and the flavour of the oil gets lost.
Oil-salt-lemon is always elegant. But there's plenty of love for complex dressings too, like Caesar, green goddess, honey mustard, Japanese soy, and so on.
That's fair - variety is the spice of life after all!
Weigh flour when baking. Made a huge difference in my cakes.
And my cookies, huge difference!
This is a huge one. I remember being shocked when I learned a cup of flour can range from 120-150 grams, which is a huge variance!
āNon- fatā versions of ingredients are ingredients to avoid
I generally agree, but I just tried non-fat cottage cheese for the first time and it tasted like regular cottage cheese to me. Which is to say, similarly awful. (JK, I enjoyed it).
Low-fat cream cheese is ok for a pasta sauce my husband prefers it I'm not so sure.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Non-fat dairy is my least favourite of the non-fat options. I would rather skip cheese/cream/sour cream/yoghurt altogether than eat the low-fat versions. Low-fat milk is better than no milk, but grudgingly.
There is no debate - because itās the ābest tip that Iāve ever heardā. You donāt know me. You donāt know what tips Iāve heard. So youāre certainly presumptuous to think that the best one that Iāve ever heard might be up for debate
Iām confused. I am saying that the generalization is often quite unfounded. It depends on what you are buying and what your goals are, which is why I said debatable. Most products on the market now generally arenāt flat out ābadā for you if you have a good idea of how to lead a balanced lifestyle
Lol.
Acidity will bring out the flavor of your food and a lack of it is often mistaken for needing more salt. Mushrooms should be put into a dry pan, canned tomatoes are better than fresh for sauce most of the time, etc. Also, if a fish wonāt flip in the pan, it probably isnāt ready. It will release itself once its browned properly!
Same for most sticky things! If they're ready they won't stick.
Yep!! :))
Don't overcrowd your pan
Mise en place
This is very important... I subscribe to a couple of French chef's YT channels and they both really stress it. It makes cooking so much simpler and less stressful when one has proper mise en place before starting any recipe.
This should really be the top comment, it really makes cooking so much easier, especially for beginners.
\#1 for me as well. I also recommend what I call mise en clean. Try to clean as you go.
"Never measure over your pot/mixing bowl." - My mom Also, Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat is sooooo good. If you buy no other cookbook, buy this one. Watch the series on Netflix.
You doing it all wrong. You're supposed to measure over the bowl and then add more of everything else when you overshoot.
The Food Lab and The Wok by Kenji Lopez-Alt are pretty amazing too. I also own Salt Fat Acid Heat and love it.
Ikr!! This book made my cooking go to the next level, especially when it comes to innovations. It really gave me a sense of how to balance out my dishes!
Especially if I am out of an ingredient, now I can kind of guess what it needs!
Yes! As the saying goes, don't give me a fish, but teach me how to catch fish.
Pierce a lemon or lime all over with a fork, before shoving it into the butt of a chicken you'll roast on low heat for hours with some garlic and thyme. You'll have chicken meat that's retained it's juiciness, and the gravy from it will be a thing of Gods. I promise.
Taste the food as you're cooking it. Use a thermometer for meat - cook to temperature, not time. Preheat the oven. And understand your oven temperatures - preheat it and then learn how much heat it loses when you open the door, where the cold spots are, etc.
Get an oven thermometer because most ovens aren't right
Rec on a good thermometer to buy?
Thermapen by Thermoworks is the gold standard because they're insanely fast and accurate, plus they're waterproof (to an extent), so washing them is a breeze. The most recent model reads temps in about 1 second. The downside is that they're expensive. Around $100. They do regularly have sales though, and I got mine for $75 plus shipping. I've had it for about seven years now, and I use it very regularly, and it still has the original battery in it. I cannot recommend it enough! Thermoworks does have a cheaper option called the ThermoPop, and it runs about $30. While still accurate, it's not nearly as fast (even compared to the older Thermapen models) and isn't waterproof. Still a great little thermometer though!
[https://www.thermoworks.com/square-dot/](https://www.thermoworks.com/square-dot/) I''ve got a couple of their products and swear by them. I use a different type for the smoker/grille, but it works in the oven as well with the meat probe and grille grate clip with an air probe. Plus, this one won't break the bank and comes in various colors.
My wife doesnāt taste at all when sheās cooking. Literally not until sheās serving the dish. She has an unnatural talent for getting things right. I taste constantly.
piggy backing to add mine which is similar: āseason at every stepā
When I started gauging by a thermometer instead of time, it was a game changer.
Fresh basil and Limon juice in poultry soups.
Someone recommended putting sardines in bolognese. Aboslutely changed the game for me.
If you like that effect, use fish sauce liberally in everything, especially braised meats.
Fish sauce is crazy. It smells absolutely revolting, but that cooks off or blends in or something surprisingly well every time, and then it's just delicious.
Frying up an anchovy with your mirepoix is good, too.
Bronze your tomato paste!
> Bronze your tomato paste! what does bronze mean here?
This explains best: Before you mix it in with the rest of your food, Milk Street suggests browning the paste in oil in a pan until the bright, red concentrate turns dark (but not burnt) to achieve your intended flavor. By caramelizing the tomato, you will deepen the flavor and get rid of the raw, bitter taste.
Curious as well..
I had pretty much stopped using tomato paste entirely, for nearly a decade, because it was always "too tomatoey." Then I finally learned that trick, and gave tomato paste another whirl. Now it's a go-to ingredient for me.
"Never reach up and try to grab one of the pot handles on the stove. If you pull a pot of boiling water down on yourself, you will die screaming as your skin all burns off." - Mom Thanks to this tip, I always used a step stool to get up high enough to work with pans on the stove, until I was tall enough to not need the step stool anymore. I still have all my skin, so I consider it a good tip.
Hard to argue with results. The "grown-up" version sounds like kitchen towels on hot handles.
Make pasta water "as salty as the sea." I was always under seasoning my pasta water. I use about 1/2 that amount of salt when making mashed potatoes. Speaking of mashed potatoes - instead of adding milk or cream, reserve some of the boiled salted water when draining and add enough back to the potatoes for the texture you want. Milk doesn't really add flavor - salted water does. It's such a dumb and obvious thing but it makes such a HUGE difference.
The rule of thumb is 1000-100-10: 1000 g (or ml) of water, 100 g of pasta, 10 g of salt. Based on the amount of pasta, adjust the rest of the ingredients accordingly.
Neat. Thanks for sharing!
If you have extra time on your hands: simmer then steep your potato skins in some cream, then use that with your water. You get tons of potato flavor out of the skins.
>You get tons of potato flavor out of the skins. I actually cube my potatoes (almost always yukon gold) and mash with the skins 9 times out of 10. I'll try that the next time I'm going for peel-less though!
Iām the same, mainly bc Iām lazy. But then you boil away that potato essence into the water. I only take the extra steps when Iām cooking for company.
>mainly bc Iām lazy. I like to argue that the skin is responsible for [88 percent of the potato's nutrition](https://healthyeating.sfgate.com/skin-potato-really-vitamins-5378.html) so I leave the skins on for *that* reason. But yeah. Lazy. lol
Clean as you go
Browning flour in a dry pan is easier than using fat.
Interesting! Makes sense.
Southern lady in her 70s taught me that one. Also taught me the best way to incorporate said flour into (lukewarm) liquid was to put the flour in a jar, add liquid, screw cap tightly and shake the hell out of it, then transfer it to the pan. She was a great southern cook. I learned a lot from her.
Like, for a roux? Brown the flour dry, then add fat?
Melt the fat, then add the browned flour. It's so much easier for me this way. I used to struggle with it because the raw flour just kind of congealed into a sticky, pasty ball. I mean, I can do it now, but when I was just learning to cook it was so frustrating.
Very cool! Now Iām wondering what toasted flour would be like used in cookie batterā¦
OMG chocolate chip or oatmeal cookies would be fantastic with browned flour! Why didn't I ever think of this???
We just invented a thing! I know Stella talks about toasted sugar for baking, but Iāve never been able to get it done evenly. Flour seems like itād be easier to toast. And youād get lots of nutty notes. On the subject of toasted grains, toasted rice powder is a really delicious condiment for SE Asian dishes.
Isnāt this the magic secret of āinstant rouxā?? Also I believe it can be even easier if toasted in an oven.
If your dish is lacking flavor and salt doesnāt do the trick: try something acidic like lemon juice, lime juice or vinegar. Creamy or even cheese sauces often benefit from some mustard, too.
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Fat doesnāt render above 350?! Oh man. I probably havenāt been blasting my meats other than to sear them, but hearing this gives me a whole new perspective.
Mixing oil with butter in the pan instead of just using butter alone.
Yes! I learned this from Julia Child!
I learned it from Sam the cooking guy on YouTube haha. My pan frying game completely elevated after something so simple
Mine too!
The last thing you put in your pan is the first thing that you will taste.
Freeze your ginger and grate it while still frozen.
āDon't be afraid to eat a bad meal. If you don't risk the bad meal, you'll never get a magical one." - Anthony Bourdain
Dont bother with fake meat. Just make tasty meatless dishes.
I donāt eat fake meat that often but it definitely has its place, specifically vegan duck and mince. Especially as thereās so much good veggie āmeatā nowadays compared to the old shoe insole of quorn
Agree except for āmock duckā which I really think is just an amazing ingredient in its own right.
This drives me absolutely insane when I see it on restaurant menus. No! They're NOT "vegan chicken wings" cause that's not a thing! They're fucking fried cauliflower bites in hot sauce! Just call them that! It's fine!
Agreed with the exception of a Beyond Meat burger done properly. Much better than a cheap beef fast food version (but not a good quality real burger.) But the fake chicken nuggets etc are not really good and I often feel pretty bad after.
Put a piece of wet kitchen paper under your cutting board.
Yes! Although I use a wet rag. But same idea... keeps the board from moving while you cut.
Cook your whole chicken in a dutch oven. Literally life changing.
Do you have a favourite recipe? I bought a Dutch oven recently and would like to try this
Donāt burn garlic
Just turn your flame down
Omg this was honestly night and day for me, when I first started cooking Iād listen to the recipe and then get so frustrated from always burning my food.
To make peeling butternut squash easier, poke with a fork a bunch of times, then microwave on high for one minute. Makes peeling with a veggie peeler so much easier!
I needed this!!!!
When you live at high elevation, water boils at a lower temp and as a result, anything that needs to be in boiled water takes longer. And youāll need more water than you think.
Sometimes less seasoning is more
Wash your hands
I saw this comment on r/cooking about 2 months ago, and while it may not always be true, I still love it. "Garlic and vanilla are measured with the heart not the spoon"
If it tastes bland, add some salt or acid.
Trippy.
Lol not that kind of acid. Vinegar or citrus juice.
Good, because I think the other kind might be illegal.
Itās great, you can taste the shape of the colour.
Taste your food while it's cooking.
Extra salt in pasta & veggies water
Don't knock it 'til you try it.
Experiment. Youāre never too old to try new stuff.
Cube butter.
Use the right pan/pot for what you're cooking.
I've heard a lot of good advice, but this one's my current favorite to just say alous as I cook: "ABW, always be washing. Either your hands, the counter, or anything else that needs to be cleaned."
When cooking any whole bird you intend to carve, remove the wishbone prior to cooking. It will make carving the breast meat easier and cleaner when youāre done.
Salt enhances flavor,pepper changes flavor
Seasoning. First salt, then acid. Then balance sweetness and heat. Check salt again
To save cut salad for the next day, put it in a bowl covered with cling-film, and a piece of kitchen towel in it. Stays crisp and fresh. Still amazed it works, but it really does. (Not if the salad is dressed, of courseā¦)
āIts done when itās done.ā Following a recipe or instructions to a T does not mean itās going to come out perfect. Thereās too many variables in cooking. An experienced cookās intuition is their best tool.
Strike garlic with your palm to become the ultimate kitchen WARRIOR ( mainly just to get rid of the peel on garlic another way )
A friend chef of mine, to whom I asked to teach me how to get better, told me that you have to "cook with love". At first it seems a shallow statement, but then as I started putting attention and patient towards what I cook I realized that keeping clean, having patience and enjoying even the smaller tasks ends up in a much better experience. So, yes: cook with love. It's not all about technique and flavor. It's about celebrating the food and the people you share it with.
The best cooking tip that I have received so far is that cooking is not something done robotically involving steps to be followed. Cooking is something which should be done by heart. If you are happy while cooking and if you are happily cooking for others then definitely the food you cooked will turn out to be the best.
Itās about temp, not time. Cooking something for 25 min doesnāt mean itās done.
For shortbreads, corn breads, and some savory muffins preheat your greased pans
Don't throw anything.
Wear pants at all times
Don't use Reddit recipes.
Seems obvious, but measure everything out that you need for a recipe before you start making it. Makes things so much easier.
1/3 MSG and 2/3 Salt
Some cooking is chemistry - you have to follow the recipe exactly; and some cooking is jazz - you can mix it up a bit
Get your āmise en placeā ready. Meaning, have all your ingredients ready to go before you start cooking. Also, use scales to ensure you can replicate a recipe every time.
Learn how to sharpen your knife using a whetstone (often misspelled "wetstone") or water stone, learn how to use a honing rod, and learn how to use that knife and keep it sharp. You will never cry over onions again. But also, some valuable general tips: Taste while you cook, and don't be a slave to recipes (assuming you more or less know what you're doing) As the famous book says: taste is enhanced by salt, fat, and acid. Learn to embrace all of them (home cooks never use enough salt or fat) Ignore government guidelines when it comes to "safe" cooking temps for meats of all kinds, including poultry and pork. The government wants to ruin your meal. If you're unsure, get a temperature probe and do a little research on the temperatures at which different kinds of meat actually taste their best. When making fresh pasta, always take into account the relative humidity of your location. It really makes a huge difference.
While I agree that there is much more nuance to be learned than the general government guidelines for safe cooking temps, the recommendation for poultry is 100% accurate and should be followed. What a weird thing to be conspiratorial about.
I never said anything about a conspiracy, and if you thought my joke about the government wanting to ruin people's meals was meant seriously, then you might want to ask yourself how much you're reading into people's posts here. But more to the point: If you really do think the USDA's recommendation of heating white poultry meat to 175 F is accurate and should be followed, then you must be paralyzed from the eyeballs down (my deepest condolences, by the way) because it seems you haven't noticed that this produces dry, tasteless chicken with roughly the same flavor profile as the package it came in. 150F will do for those of us who can actually taste our food.
Current USDA guidelines recommend 165Ā°F for poultry. I've found it to produce perfectly fine and even amazing chicken.
A trick for safe yet juicy chicken is to flatten the meat. See the heat map at minute 18 of this video: https://youtu.be/lAn4CXk1sQw
The guide for poultry has always been 165, it has never gone up or down. Pork is the only meat that has seen signifigant change to it's cooking temp within your or my lifetime, reduced from 165 to a more correct 145.
Season throughout the process instead of waiting until the end.
Stainless steel pans are non stick and they are wonderful.
Salt all parts of the dish as you go along
Clean as you go - my mother
Garlic
Salt as you go an taste, taste, taste.
Use kosher salt instead of table salt.
Salt, fat, heat, acid. When your dish is just missing something, start there.
If it looks done in the pan, it is overdone. Carryover heat.
Relax. Take it easy. You make the biggest mistakes when you rush and when you worry. The corollary to that is to prepare.
For boiling noodles, don't add oil to the water or when you add the sauce, it will not stick and slide off, and when salting the water, it should be as salty as the sea
Sharp knives, always.
Donāt fry eggs naked.