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Someone Asked, “What Advice Can You Give To People Who Want To Cook And Eat Better At Home?” And 30 Chefs Delivered
Cooking is an art form, and with proper practice, knowledge, and skill, anyone can master it. But whether you’re a true food aficionado who can whip up Michelin-worthy meals at the drop of a hat or a passionate novice with a burning desire (or, more often, burnt pots or pans) to take your game to the next level, your inner chef can always use some tips and tricks that can help elevate your dishes.
Thankfully, friendly 'Ask Reddit' cooks are here to lend a helping hand. They have gathered in one popular thread to assist us, lost souls, looking for ways to make our home-cooked meals better, and instantly offered some of their best kitchen hacks that actually work.
Below, we’ve wrapped up an illuminating collection of advice from people who know what they’re talking about. So continue scrolling to learn all about the cooking know-how, and get ready to create mouth-watering feasts that’ll make everyone squeal in excitement! Be sure to upvote the responses you found particularly useful, and then share your own tips with us in the comments.
Psst! For more pearls of wisdom from experienced cooks, check out Bored Panda’s earlier piece right here.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
A blunt knife is **the** most dangerous thing in the kitchen.
#2
Something I call laddering.
Cook too much of one thing (eg.rice). Not that's your base for tomorrow's dinner (fried rice, or curry and rice) half as much cooking and you can always freeze any left overs.
Yesterday I cooked twice the chicken so tonight I just had to make a salad and put the chicken on top. Tomorrow I have left over salad and I'll make tacos. The following day I've got left over taco stuff that I'm make huevos with and so on.
Half the cooking, super healthy, and you don't get tired of leftovers.
#3
Clean while you cook. Don’t ruin your meal by slaving over it’s remnants on a full stomach.
DennyS (denzoren) 2 years ago
Yep, clean after you finish a set of steps. Don't wait...it'll be very tiring in the end.
#4
There is a cookbook called Sauces. Get it, read it, and use it. A good sauce can take a mediocre dish, to a really nice dinner.
Disclaimer: not all sauces are easy to make.
#5
Get your pan and oil hot before you put anything in it. The oil just absorbs into the food if it's not hot. People coming out of culinary school make this mistake all the time.
#6
Buy quality ingredients. You don't have to buy *the best*. Just aim for somewhere in the middle.
Ruth Hempsey 2 years ago
Inflation. Buy the misshapen potatoes etc and save money. They taste just as good as perfectly looking ones.
#7
Don't overcook stuff, except eggplant. Cook the f**k out of eggplant, then cook it some more.
#8
Salt your water for boiling pasta or potatoes... And not just a pinch either, it should taste almost (but not quite) as salty as sea water.
indiecognition 2 years ago
If you start boiling potatoes in a pot of cold water, they will cook more evenly (dropping them into a pot that's already boiling will cook the outside of the potatoes faster than the middle)
#9
Fresh cracked black pepper is 100x better than pre-ground. Buy a cheap pepper grinder, they're disposable in the spice aisle, and use that.
#10
Mis en place: everything in its place. Prep, chop, measure out, peel, organize everything before you begin assembly. With a bit of prep the day before I can put a full turkey dinner onto plates in a couple of hours...all from scratch. Because everything is out and measured/weighed.
#11
Try to let your refrigerated ingredients warm up a bit before cooking, if possible. Take them out and leave them on the counter for a little bit.
Also, soups taste soooo much better after they have cooled and had time to rest. Make it on Sunday and eat it the rest of the week.
#12
Every protein gets a sauce. Learn to deglaze the pan.
Mike D 2 years ago (edited)
Deglazing = Towards the end of cooking, or after removing your protein, splashing the hot pan with room temp fluid. The fluid rapidly heats and releases steam, and helps break up the fond (fond = the yummy brown stuff stuck to the bottom of the pan), so you can mix the fond with what you're cooking (either directly in to the dish, or in a sauce for the dish). Example: Any time you've seen a professional cook with a wok, when they toss some fluid in to the wok and make flames jump out of the pan. They're not just entertaining, they're also deglazing. I should warn you though, don't do this with non-stick pans unless you want to kill the nonstick.
#13
For the love of God, get your meat from a butcher.
Minath 2 years ago
If you are a total novice, tell your butcher what you are wanting to cook, they are a mine of information and will be able to give you some really great advice. If you are on a budget they will tell you the best way of cooking cheaper cuts. My butcher is awesome and makes his own rubs and marinades and they are so much better than anything you'll get in a supermarket.
#14
Don't just fry something in oil. Chop up some onions, a bit of garlic (not too much), and use butter instead of oil. Cook until the onions are golden, then add anything.
#15
Learn to use salt properly. Properly used salt should never make a dish "salty" but should enhance the flavors within the dish and bring them to the surface better. Start by adding a little salt, taste, add a little more, taste. You will quickly learn to tell the difference between something that is over or under salted, and something that is just right. Salt content can make or break any dish, even sweets.
#17
Be clean. Wash hands, work surface, and knives (and change cutting boards) between working on foods that will be cooked and those that will be served raw. Don't even have them out at the same time. Nothing will turn you away from doing it yourself harder than making yourself (and others) sick.
#18
The best advice I've gotten was from Roberto Rodriguez's 10 minute Cooking School. (can find on YouTube). He recommends picking just 5 of your favorite dishes and learn to cook those 5 dishes really well. Just keep making them over and over until you can do them perfectly. Then always have those ingredients on hand and if you have someone over you can wow them with your amazing skills.
Appalachian Panda 2 years ago
This is my MO exactly. I don't experiment in the kitchen all the time, but when I'm cooking for guests, it'll usually be one of my tried and true recipes, just to be on the safe side!
#19
Get yourself a meat thermometer. They're hella cheap and it takes the guess work out of cooking meats to the correct temp.
Mike D 2 years ago (edited)
You can also get thermometers with a long cord on the probe, designed for the probe to be left in the food while it cooks, while the actual electronic part sits on your counter, or magnetizes to your oven. You can go even further, and get that style thermometer, but they also alert you when your food gets to temp, or ones that report directly to your phone, and even ones with a remote probe (no wire) that you just stick in your meat, toss the meat in the oven, and the probe reports directly to your smart device. Get on Amazon, there's some crazy stuff out there.
#20
The best and easiest improvements everyone can make are:
Season your food.
Let all meat rest after cooking.
These 2 alone will make a drastic difference.
Mike D 2 years ago
FRESH HERBS, I CANNOT SAY IT ENOUGH, FRESH HERBS. You would be shocked how much of a difference they make, how little it takes to make that difference, and how cheap they can be. I get mine pre-chopped, in a small container from the produce section of my local Dillon's/Kroger. It's about $5 for what looks like a small container, but it really goes a long way. Keep the container in the fridge, and they'll be fresh for up to a week, but they start to dry out after that. Good news is you can still use them dry if you forget about them, and they keep dry for several weeks.
#21
Sharpen your knife. It’ll make a world of difference.
Dee Engelson 2 years ago
That is actually a honing steel that should be used every time you use a knife. Keeps from having to sharpen (lose knife edge a little each time) very often. I have a set of knives that I've had for 30 years and have never had to have them sharpened. They are really good knives also, which helps.
#22
Get a crock pot, or better yet a pressure cooker.
Seriously, a digital pressure cooker lets you do all those crock pot recipes in 1/10th of the time. You can basically make the most awesome stews in less time than it would take you to heat up the oven.
#23
After years of being a professional chef, my main advice to anyone;
Cookings not about eating, its aboot sharing experiences. No matter how bad you goof it up, its still a good time. Just go for it, cook and eat anything. "Oh whats that weird looking thing!?" yeah, buy that. "Chicken feet for 0.40 a lb" guess we're googling chicken feet.
Put yourself outside those lasagne wednesday routine and you'll be impressing your friends in no time.
Have fun :)
#24
Don't crowd your food. One of the major reasons restaurant meals turn out so well and taste so good is the larger pots, pans, cooking surfaces allow the food to saute, bake, broil, etc without steaming/stewing itself to death.
XenoMurph 2 years ago
I don't have the room or the pans generally. But I do have 3 frying pans (when I buy a new one I always keep the old ones even though they are not non-stick any more.) for browning meat and veg when making casseroles or soups. all 4 hobs are on and browning carrots onions ,celery, mushrooms, meat. Otherwise it takes too long. and/or they get crowded and never brown properly. Quicker to rinse 3 extra frying pans than wait 30 minutes for the veg to brown in so many small batches.
#25
Work in a 5 star kitchen, get some olive oil in a pan and cook some garlic (a lot) and rosemary in the oil until its cooked to a point it will melt in your mouth. Strain the oil and you have a cooking oil that has an amazing flavor that will add to whatever you are cooking with it.
Mia Jones 2 years ago (edited)
I can’t believe this is the one that finally broke me to comment but nine hells, it’s so right but so dangerously vague. What op is going for is a garlic confit, but “cook it with rosemary in a pan”…. Jesus. Submerge peeled cloves of garlic in your preferred fat over LOW and CONSTANT heat. You can do this in a crockpot or a Dutch oven or a saucepan or a roasting pan in the oven. You want to test the cloves periodically until they’re soft enough to spread over toast. Strain the oil and then spread the rest over EVERYTHING YOU OWN. With a pinch of salt.
#26
Follow recipes, but not to a T. Cooking is an art, not a science (baking, however, is a science). After your first recipe or two, stop measuring out 1/4 teaspoons of stuff, and start eyeballing it.
#27
If your garlic tastes bitter, you're probably adding it too early. It can be easy to burn garlic - try adding it later next time.
Also, if your garlic has a bright green stem in the middle, take that s**t out. That part will ALWAYS be bitter.
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! 2 years ago
Jacques Pepin says the green stem in the garlic is fine. I trust Jacques!
#28
* Buy more produce and meat, less prepackaged food
* If the ingredients list includes sugar, try to avoid buying it
* Always have on hand: garlic, onions, lemons, limes
* Remember to use plenty of salt, and if it still tastes flat, squeeze a little lemon or lime on there
#29
Use fresh whole spices (not ground spices that's been sitting in your cupboard for years). I use a mortar and pestle to grind up the spices. Learn which spice needs toasting to release the flavor first before grinding. I love The Flavor Bible to see if there are combinations of flavors I have not tried before; it's helpful especially if you are new to cooking. It's by no means an exhaustive list but it's great and does include some exotic ingredients.
cogadh 2 years ago
Obligatory "ain't nobody got time for that!" If my sole job was cooking, sure I could dedicate the time and effort needed to maintain a supply herbs and spices to freshly toast, grind, whatever for all my cooking needs, but reality is people have jobs and lives and that jar of ground mustard is just easier and quicker. Only exception is nutmeg. Freshly ground nutmeg is so much better that the pre-ground stuff, it's worth the time to pull out the rasp and shave some off.
#30
Always start with cold/room temp water when boiling pasta.
What do you think ?
Andy 2 years ago
Think you are being generous, pretty sure I read "cooking is an art, baking is a science" at least once a fortnight on BP!
Load More Replies...
Kenny Kulbiski 2 years ago
I like to eat and I like food but jeez who's got the time, space, and sometimes, money for all this. Example; make your own stock. I tried this once and if it was better it wasn't enough for all that time, effort, and mess.
Nathaniel 2 years ago
I'm concerned by the salting, my Dad has heart conditions, we try to avoid salt like the plague. Then you see the chefs adding a "pinch of salt" seemingly carpet bombing the food with salt.
Anders Highbarger 2 years ago
Yeah, usually a chef's "pinch" is a heaping three to four-finger grab of salt Not necessary a bad thing, especially for flavor, but it definitely is a large amount if you need to avoid salt
Load More Replies...
Andy 2 years ago
Think you are being generous, pretty sure I read "cooking is an art, baking is a science" at least once a fortnight on BP!
Load More Replies... Kenny Kulbiski 2 years ago
I like to eat and I like food but jeez who's got the time, space, and sometimes, money for all this. Example; make your own stock. I tried this once and if it was better it wasn't enough for all that time, effort, and mess.
Nathaniel 2 years ago
I'm concerned by the salting, my Dad has heart conditions, we try to avoid salt like the plague. Then you see the chefs adding a "pinch of salt" seemingly carpet bombing the food with salt.
Anders Highbarger 2 years ago
Yeah, usually a chef's "pinch" is a heaping three to four-finger grab of salt Not necessary a bad thing, especially for flavor, but it definitely is a large amount if you need to avoid salt
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