"Weighing by volume rather than by weight is a big pet peeve of mine," pie artist Jessica shared with me in an interview. "The chemical reactions involved in baking require precise measurements of ingredients, and depending on how densely people pack flour into their measuring cups, they can be using up to 25% more or less than the recipe actually calls for!" Instead, she suggested using kitchen scales as an alternative. They're cheap. And they're much more precise. This leads to far fewer mistakes in the kitchen.

"Working mis en place can eliminate most blunders amateur cooks make… Issues with timing, forgetting certain ingredients, using ingredients at the incorrect temperature, etc.—all of these mistakes can be avoided when you take the time to prep and lay out all tools and ingredients before you start cooking or baking!" Jessica suggested getting everything ready beforehand.

"This way you aren’t wasting time waiting for your butter to chill for pie dough, or waiting for eggs to come to room temperature for meringue, overcooking one ingredient in the wok because you forgot you needed to dice another ingredient first, or suddenly realizing you’re completely out of salt."

For Jessica, food isn't just about the taste—the aesthetics are equally as important! Especially when it comes to making a good first impression. "We eat first with our eyes—and if we’re having a meal with friends over Zoom, we’re only eating with our eyes! Try sprinkling a complimentary spice/powder on your food through a stencil as a quick and easy way to add some aesthetic impact to your food," she suggested.

"You can sprinkle paprika on mashed potatoes, cinnamon on pudding or ice cream, activated charcoal on home baked bread, matcha powder on your tea, cocoa powder on pie dough or toast… there are so many options! All you need is a flat surface and a food safe stencil—either store bought, or you can cut your own from acetate. You could choose a simple pattern, a word, or even a template of your friend’s face that you create on the computer yourself!"

Bored Panda had the pleasure of carving up the world of gastronomy in earlier articles as well. Previously, I spoke about kitchen mistakes with pie artist Jessica about some of the other issues that came pop up in the kitchen. For Jessica, problems in the kitchen can range from the tiny and insignificant to the dangerously disastrous. Distraction and a lack of preparation, in her point of view, are the main villains.

"Kitchen 'mistakes' can range from the catastrophic, 'I forgot the pot roast in the oven and now the kitchen is on fire' to the more benign, 'I accidentally put paprika in the cookies instead of cinnamon', but in most instances, they stem from the same thing: distraction and a lack of preparation,” she said.

In Jessica’s professional opinion, improving our skills in the kitchen starts with picturing in our minds all the steps that we need to take before diving head-first into the gastronomic fray. If you’re prepared, you’re less likely to run the risk of burning yourself, your kitchen, and your pride.

"Taking the few extra minutes to prep will give you a lovely stress-free baking experience!" Jessica believes that it’s hard to mess up if you follow all of these steps. What’s more, following them means that if any mistakes do pop up, you’ll catch them before they cause some serious havoc. 

Jessica also revealed to Bored Panda about what cooking’s like in her family. Every member of her family cooks, however, they all have very different dietary preferences! You can imagine what a nightmare that is when it comes to actually getting people to taste the food as it’s being made.

“We have family members who are vegetarian, vegan, celiac (and just plain fussy) and it’s not always possible for the cook to taste what they are making for everyone else. But you can always bring in a pinch-taster and get a second opinion!" she said.

Jessica also gave us some useful tips on how to ensure that food products stay fresh longer than usual. “One of my favorite tricks is to serve fruits and veggies in cups with a layer of ice in the bottom. It keeps the snacks fresh and prevents them from getting dried out and floppy," she said.

"They make a pretty little bouquet in the cup, and the individual serving sizes mean no grubby little hands contaminating a communal veggie platter! Which I know is something at the back of all of our minds these days,” she pointed out that this is very useful in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, Canadian cake designer Darci, the founder of Kake by Darci, also told me earlier what we can do to keep food fresh for longer. She said that products like milk, whipping cream, and fresh fruit spoil the fastest, so you have to use them all ASAP.

“If you have leftover fruit, you can make fillings! Milk, you can freeze into cubes and use later on. Whipping cream is an easy caramel recipe," Darci said.

What useful food prep, cooking, and kitchen tips do you have for us, dear Pandas? What are the biggest kitchen no-no’s that you know of? Which of the things mentioned in this list have you done at least once? Share your thoughts in the comment section with all the other readers.