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Eating is loads of fun, but in order to do that, you’ve got to get off the couch and cook (let’s pretend that ordering pizza isn’t an option). The good news is that cooking can be incredibly enjoyable and it will put your creativity and dexterity to the test. The bad news is, watching Gordon Ramsay shout at amateur cooks for the 100th time on YouTube won’t make you a brilliant chef if you don’t hone your skills like a cuisine samurai.

Luckily, the internet is full of helpful professionals. These cooks are sharing some of their wisdom with amateurs and helping them avoid the most basic, common mistakes that some of us are guilty of. Personally, I overcrowd the pan. No wonder cooking’s harder than it should be.

Bored Panda has collected some of the best bits of cooking advice to improve your (and our) food making skills, so scroll on down and upvote your fave tips. Remember to share your own cooking advice in the comments, Pandas!

This post may include affiliate links.

#1

Pro Chefs Share The Most Common Mistakes That We, Amateurs, Make (30 Pics) Clean as you cook. Most dishes have some downtime while cooking them, use that time to clean up the mess you made.

Bran_Solo , Dejan Krsmanovic Report

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Ellen Ranks
Ellen Ranks
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I do this every time. It is such a joy to have a clear countertop to fill your plates on as opposed to having to move dirty stuff around to even be able to put a plate on there. My kitchen is very small.

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#2

Pro Chefs Share The Most Common Mistakes That We, Amateurs, Make (30 Pics) The most dangerous piece of equipment in a kitchen is a dull knife.

notmy2ndacct , Jaap Driest Report

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Steve Barnett
Steve Barnett
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Get yourself a good whetstone. I use a dual whetstone, one side 2000 the other 6000. The 2000 side is used for when your knife is exceptionally dull and the 6000 (which is finer) I use for refining.

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#3

Pro Chefs Share The Most Common Mistakes That We, Amateurs, Make (30 Pics) Taste as you cook. Continually adjust seasoning (salt level) as needed. Acidity is also a very overlooked aspect of seasoning. Tons of dishes light up with a little lemon juice or vinegar.

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Beeps
Beeps
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yes, but please use a fresh spoon each time you taste!

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Some people who are new to cooking might not realize that they can add salt to boiling pasta water instead of sprinkling it over it when it’s cooked. Pro-tip: this works with everything you boil. Rice—check. Broccoli—check. Buckwheat—check.

If you end up over-salting things, don’t worry—be happy (and add more water or decide that everything’s messed up and chuck a bucketload of potatoes and other veggies inside to make a really weird soup). Meanwhile, if you oversalt a soup or a sauce that you’re making, you can always chop up and add more ingredients to balance out the flavors.

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#4

Pro Chefs Share The Most Common Mistakes That We, Amateurs, Make (30 Pics) SLOW THE F**K DOWN! Just because you saw Gordon Ramsay chopping s**t at a thousand miles a minute on a youtube video doesn't mean that you can do that. Cut first, go slow, and speed will get there.

I_smell_awesome , Chris Gladis Report

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wandile dludlu
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Gordon always says, get the technique right, speed will follow.

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#5

Pro Chefs Share The Most Common Mistakes That We, Amateurs, Make (30 Pics) Pastry cook here, on the sweet side of things, my biggest piece of advice is to follow the recipe exactly if you don't know exactly what you're doing. Baking is basically science and if you don't calculate substitutions right, it's never going to come out right. Also make sure you have good ingredients. That box of baking soda from 5 years ago is not going to work that well anymore.

freakykukki , Bill Holsinger-Robinson Report

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Mimi777
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I’m a horrible cook so I always have to follow the recipe exactly. I have no idea what I’m doing sometimes.

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#6

Not a professional chef, but if you've put enough salt in your dish and feel that putting anymore would over-season it, but you still feel it's lacking in taste, add some sort of acid.

Lemon juice/zest, lime juice/zest, balsamic/red wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar - you'll be surprised at how much this lifts the dish!

When I was getting interested in cooking, I would skip the acid completely because I honestly couldn't be bothered. I would always chuckle and joke at how much lemon/lime/vinegar chefs like Gordon Ramsay and Alton Brown put in their cooking.

Then I tried it once.

Now, every dish I make has some sort of acidity in it because it's just not the same without!

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The Everygirl suggests that when chopping onions, you should keep the root intact to make all the slicing and dicing easier.

Personally, I chop off both ends of the onion and slice it in half to make it easier to peel. I usually end up crying because a) onions make me cry; and b) I realize that I’ve once again forgotten to chill my onions which prevents a) from happening in the first place.
#7

Pro Chefs Share The Most Common Mistakes That We, Amateurs, Make (30 Pics) My pro chef and former chemist friend gave me an earful for putting my tomatoes in the fridge.

He explained how the cold temp. changes the chemical composition and makes them taste s***tier.

I no longer put my tomatoes in the fridge and they are tastier.

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wandile dludlu
wandile dludlu
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Some of us can't afford to buy fresh all the time, we sometimes need to buy in bulk and that means keeping things in the fridge to make them last longer and not go bad

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#8

Pro Chefs Share The Most Common Mistakes That We, Amateurs, Make (30 Pics) One really common mistake people make is putting food on a cold pan. You should let the pan heat up a bit before you put anything on it.

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#9

Pro Chefs Share The Most Common Mistakes That We, Amateurs, Make (30 Pics) Now, this one is a weird one, but everyone is guilty of it, even some professional chefs. Stirring. Everyone has been stirring stuff wrong for generations. If you have a large pot of something like stew, soup, or sauce, you probably stir in a circular motion, usually clockwise or counter-clockwise, right? Perhaps along the edge of the pot, or in a spiral, either going inward or outward?

Well, you're doing it wrong. When stirring, do in one of two manners: First, in small circles, working from the outside and going inward. Similar to how you might draw a cloud or petals on a flower. Or, stir in a figure-8 motion. This is especially useful if stirring in an oval or square-shaped container. Also, stir upwards. How? Angle your spoon so that basically, you're bringing the part of the food that's closest to the heat source, up to the surface, and vice versa. This allows for a quicker and more even heat distribution. Also helps to prevent burning.

PatrickRsGhost , Andy Melton Report

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What's In Your Head?
What's In Your Head?
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

HA! I actually do this! I am a s****y cook, so I'm glad I've at least always done this right. :-D

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Meanwhile, Insider suggests that you keep a close eye on the shelf life of the ingredients you use for cooking. From produce to spices, you want everything to be as fresh as possible. Don’t use black pepper that expired 5 years ago just because you don’t want to put on your anti-corona gear and go to the shop. Fresh ingredients make all the difference (and a pandemic is no excuse to eat poorly)!

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Oh, and if you want to feel like a Michelin star chef (and know what to avoid doing), check out Bored Panda’s earlier posts about quarantine baking fails here, as well as hilarious cooking fails here and here. Isn’t it great how skilled we suddenly feel?
#10

Pro Chefs Share The Most Common Mistakes That We, Amateurs, Make (30 Pics) If the recipe says an ingredient is supposed to be room temperature, make sure it’s room temperature! Eggs are particularly important for this rule — room temperature egg yolks break more easily and incorporate better into whatever you’re mixing. And for something like cheesecake, or anything else with high fat content, cold eggs can actually harden the fat and make your mixture lumpy.

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Pamela24
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A hack - put your eggs in warm water for a couple of minutes in case you forgot and want to fasten up the process.

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#11

Pro Chefs Share The Most Common Mistakes That We, Amateurs, Make (30 Pics) Pressing burgers to make them cook faster. Don't you ever do that again.

Also, sharpen your knives. It makes them safer and way less frustrating to use.

Seriously though don't you ever press that f***ing burger again you bastard.

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#12

Pro Chefs Share The Most Common Mistakes That We, Amateurs, Make (30 Pics) You take preheating the oven as a suggestion rather than a requirement. it can really affect the texture and appearance, as well as the timings. not preheating can lead to flat/hard cookies and dense/unevenly cooked cakes, among other things.

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#13

Pro Chefs Share The Most Common Mistakes That We, Amateurs, Make (30 Pics) If you don't have a good feel for how done meat should be, use a thermometer. Ignore any recipe that gives precise cooking times, because they're rarely going to be correct.

Bran_Solo , wikipedia Report

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Foxxy (The Original)
Foxxy (The Original)
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I found this out the other night. I have tried cooking Scotch fillets a few times following various methods and times but I either under cook it or over cook it. Well I cooked Scotch fillets on Monday following another technique that uses meat temperature and omg the steak was cooked perfectly for us. I have now bookmarked that site on my laptop for future reference.

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#14

Pro Chefs Share The Most Common Mistakes That We, Amateurs, Make (30 Pics) You throw all your ingredients together at once and mix them without thinking about their order. If you see butter (or any fat) and sugar listed first in a recipe, it’s a creaming method — which means you mix together the fat and sugar first, until it’s light and kind of airy. When you add the eggs, add them one by one to make sure they mix in well and so that your batter keeps its light texture.

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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Read the recipe through completely before starting, too. This will help you understand the order and what's coming next. And maybe why it is in that order.

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#15

Pro Chefs Share The Most Common Mistakes That We, Amateurs, Make (30 Pics) Using too much water when making top ramen

Source : Single Male

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#16

Pro Chefs Share The Most Common Mistakes That We, Amateurs, Make (30 Pics) After you mix your cookie dough, REFRIGERATE IT so that the fat hardens and doesn't melt like cookie brittle or brownie bark — unless you like it that way!

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Beeps
Beeps
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Thanks for the explanation. I already knew to do this, but didn’t know why it is important.

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#17

Pro Chefs Share The Most Common Mistakes That We, Amateurs, Make (30 Pics) Too much or too little salt. Salt is one of the most magical ingredient known to mankind. It can make all the ingredients of the dish shine like stars. It can also f**k up all your hard work by overpowering the other ingredients. Cooking, like every other thing in the world, is about balance. It is the art of balancing flavors that compliment each other

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Chich
Chich
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why do some people use so much salt? Do they not have any taste buds left? I have sent food back at restaurants because all I could taste was salt.

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#18

Hello, I am the chef at a 5 diamond hotel in San Francisco. The biggest thing to learn when just starting to cook, is mise en place. "Everything in its place." This is ultimately to get food timings correct and precise, and for safety and control reasons. The second biggest thing to learn in the kitchen is safety. I once had a cook with 25 years experience get complacent and splashed hot oil on his face. Now we call him twoface. Cooking is a creative release when done outside of a professional kitchen, so take your time and don't hurt yourself. The third biggest thing to learn, and I tell all my cooks this everyday, is taste, season, taste. Taste your food, season it, and taste it again. Most people (whether they believe it or not) have the same taste thresholds, so what tastes good for you will taste good for someone else. Last thing I can add if you want to improve your cooking, is to cook more! Cook everyday, because practice makes perfect. Eat. Eat everywhere and anything.

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Misterscooter
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Be adventurous. And try to get your kids to be adventurous with food, too. I know, that last one can be tough.

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#19

Pro Chefs Share The Most Common Mistakes That We, Amateurs, Make (30 Pics) Don't overcrowd the pan

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Ellen Ranks
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is a presentation of cooked foods in a pan. No pan EVER looks like this while you're cooking.

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#20

A recipe is just a suggestion, not the law. If a recipe calls for garlic, and you don't much care for garlic, leave it out. Or, reduce the amount.

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#21

I know one mistake I used to make was to buy canned mushrooms and use those for recipes. The first time I used fresh mushrooms for something, I realized the dreadful error of my ways, and I haven't bought canned mushrooms since!

Always use fresh mushrooms, people!

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#22

Pro Chefs Share The Most Common Mistakes That We, Amateurs, Make (30 Pics) Start with salt and pepper and get those right first. Seasonings make or break your food, but if you're just throwing s**t in because it sounds good you're gonna have a bad time. Also, keep in mind that you can pretty much always add more later but you can almost never take it back out.

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Foxxy (The Original)
Foxxy (The Original)
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4 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I very very rarely add salt or pepper to my dishes, I find that things like tomato paste, stock, etc has enough salt. And I am not a huge pepper fan. I see chefs putting sooo much salt in their dishes.

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#23

Pro Chefs Share The Most Common Mistakes That We, Amateurs, Make (30 Pics) You don't weigh your ingredients. I cannot stress enough how important it is to weigh out all of your ingredients (all ahead of time, if you really want to bake like a pastry chef) on a digital scale. One cup of feathers does NOT weigh the same as one cup of pebbles, ya know? It's so easy to find volume to mass conversions online, and your baked goods will not only turn out better, but they will be more consistent.

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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I LOVE recipes that give me weights instead of volumes, especially for flour.

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#24

Pro Chefs Share The Most Common Mistakes That We, Amateurs, Make (30 Pics) Underseason your food, taste it, then reseason to what you think tastes good. THEN RETASTE IT AGAIN. There's a reason there aren't salt and pepper shakers on higher end restaurants. The plate put on your table is what it SHOULD taste like.

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Mark Brown
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Mostly true, but not always. I went to a high-end steak house and ordered a steak with sauteed mushrooms and a side of mashed potatoes. Everything came out unseasoned. NO salt and pepper on anything. Not even on the table. I stopped the waitress and she explained that the chef doesn't believe in seasoning. He wants you to taste the food as nature made it. Then she walked away. The table next to ours had the same issue and had complained bitterly until the wait staff brought them small ramekins of salt and pepper, which they graciously shared with us. And even on cooking competitions on TV, I see so-called "chefs" get dismissed because their food was under seasoned. Sometimes even the pros get it wrong. So don't automatically assume that... "The plate put on your table is what it SHOULD taste like."

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#25

Pro Chefs Share The Most Common Mistakes That We, Amateurs, Make (30 Pics) So many baking issues are solved by simply knowing what ingredients you need and when you’ll need them. And unless you really know what you’re doing, don’t mess with the recipe! Seemingly small changes — like decreasing the amount of sugar or substituting a different type of flour — can have huge effects on the finished product. I always recommend that the first time you try a recipe, you make it exactly as written. After you’ve done that successfully, THEN and ONLY then can you think about changing it up!

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JuJu
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I "love" people who ask you for a recipe and then come back bitching. "You must have written down the wrong thing. Your's tasted totally different. I did what you said and just changed the butter for olive oil and yoghurt (that really happend...it was a chocolate cake we call "happy heart attack") and took stevia instead of sugar..."

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#26

Pro Chefs Share The Most Common Mistakes That We, Amateurs, Make (30 Pics) You frost hot cakes and always end up making a huge mess. Just stop. Be logical — if you apply icing to a hot surface it will melt. The cake should at the very least be room temp or even cold if you are doing more intricate decorating.

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Kathryn Baylis
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It only takes doing it once—-especially if the cake was going to be for someone else—-for the lesson to be learned.

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#27

Pro Chefs Share The Most Common Mistakes That We, Amateurs, Make (30 Pics) DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE MICROWAVE. Those cooking shows only show the highlights of cooking. Think of the food network as the facebook of cooking. You don't see the bad s**t that happens, only the highlights.

I_smell_awesome , Kelly Fillinger Report

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bill marsano
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

But never put bread in the micro. Except stale bread, in a damp cloth or paper bag, that you want to refresh.

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#28

Pro Chefs Share The Most Common Mistakes That We, Amateurs, Make (30 Pics) When you put something in the oven to bake, its very tempting to peak inside. Try to do this as little as possible. When you open the oven door, all the hot air escapes, thus lowering the temperature of your oven. It's OK if that happens a couple times, but if you keep checking...it's going to take FOREVER to finish. Finally, invest in an oven thermometer to know the true temperature of your oven. Some ovens just aren't accurate when reading temperature.

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#29

You probably aren’t mixing certain things as much as you should be, like creaming butter and sugar isn’t just combining them, you need to beat them until they’re fluffy. The same goes for adding eggs...you’ll get better cookies and brownies if you beat again until fluffy when adding eggs to your creamed butter and sugar. However, you don’t want to over-mix once you add the flour, just mix until no more dry flour is visible. Over-mixing the flour can make your end product tough.

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Colin L
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Overmixing with flour activates the gluten strands that can make things tough or (overly) chewy. Also, clean up flour with COLD water. Warm/hot water will make it stickier.

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#30

Pro Chefs Share The Most Common Mistakes That We, Amateurs, Make (30 Pics) Always sift your dry ingredients. This is especially important for powdered sugar when making buttercream, because you want the butter and powdered sugar to mix seamlessly.

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Maria Ribaulo
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'll admit I don't do this often enough. I know it makes a difference but... well... lazy.

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#31

Don't be afraid to screw up, and beware too much advice. Everyone has an opinion when it comes to cooking, both on how to do it and what it should come out like. Learn to make food you really enjoy eating first, and then you can branch out into tweaking it to please guests.

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#32

Not all butter is created equal. There isn't a set regulation for how much salt is added to salted butter made by different companies. One brand can have more salt in its butter than the next. Say your recipe calls for unsalted butter and 1 tsp of salt and you decide to use salted butter, which could already have 1 tsp of salt in it — you could be adding too much salt and throwing off the chemistry of your bake.

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#33

Pro Chefs Share The Most Common Mistakes That We, Amateurs, Make (30 Pics) Cooking steaks low and slow. You should set your oven on its highest setting, put a cast iron pan on high until it's smoking, sear your room temp steaks 3-4 minutes per side. Finish in the oven to your desired temp, just a couple minutes to get a nice med-rare. Remove from oven, tent with foil, allow to rest for 15 minutes. Here's last night's steak, although that was using the sous vide method.

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PaulV
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I do a reverse sear per Kenji Lopez Alt. (300F to bring the internal temp to 135F, then sear in a pan.) Life-changing. Well, steak-changing.

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#34

Working in filthy or messy areas. It is amazing how much better your concentration is when you cook without clutter and mess. Clear bench=clear mind.

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Some Cool Guy
Some Cool Guy
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My cooking style is complete chaos. I like it that way and it works out fine.

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#35

Have basic ingredients in house; garlic, olive oil, lemon, onion, herbs and spices, flour, rice and pasta. Most of the stuff is cheap, and lasts forever.

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#36

A lot of cakes require butter and sugar to be beaten together until pale and fluffy. You will never get the right consistency using just a wooden spoon/spatula. There are so many different mixers out there (hand or stand mixers) and you can use them for so many different things. You will really notice the difference in your cakes once you’re getting that extra air in there.

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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Stand mixers can be fairly expensive, but they are very worth the price if you can afford them. Most also feature additional attachments like a grater and spiralizer that you can buy separate, so you can use them for more than mixing cakes and other baked goods. I have a grater attachment for mine that let me shred 4lbs of cheese in 5 minutes for a nacho recipe. Stand mixers are getting to be quite versatile as a result.

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#37

When it comes to cakes, always lightly soak your layers with a simple syrup to keep them moist instead of having dry cake with your frosting. Also, crumb coats are your best friend when decorating your cake. Apply a thin layer of frosting on your cake (smooth it out just like it is your final product) so it can catch all the crumbs that would otherwise ruin the beauty of your finished cake. After you’ve applied it, chill the cake in your fridge or freezer and apply your final coat of frosting.

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#38

Pro Chefs Share The Most Common Mistakes That We, Amateurs, Make (30 Pics) Your stove has temperatures other than On and Off. Most people who just start out turn their burner on high and start throwing things in; that's ok for boiling water, but learn what works best with other things and get acquainted with your equipment (different range tops and cookware cook fairly differently).

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Linus Nilsson
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Come on, nobody actually do this. This is like saying "stop using horsepee to boil your veggies", it's a good advice, but affects no-one

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#39

When trying a recipe for the first time, do follow it precisely. However, if it didn't turn out right, don't get discouraged. Try again. Try to take notes and determine what went wrong with the recipe. Too much garlic? Not enough? Too spicy? Too bland? Did it burn? Overcooked? Undercooked?

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Cathelijne van Weelden
Cathelijne van Weelden
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Put a post-it note in the cookbook with your findings! Or write in the cookbook if you want to be bold...

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#40

Moving things around too much when trying to brown them. Leave it the hell alone, if you're looking you're not cooking!

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#41

I SEE THIS ALL THE TIME AND IT MAKES ME REALLY SAD: People will get a decent knife, like a Victorinox and then using cutting surfaces harder than the knife's edge. Every time the knife strikes the cutting surface, it will mess up the blade.

Please please stick to soft(er) plastics and wooden cutting boards

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Beatrice Multhaupt
Beatrice Multhaupt
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

People who use hard surfaces are usually afraid of germs so they figure that a stainless steel ''cutting board'' will be easy to clean. ACTUALLY, wood is antiseptic, otherwise all our trees would be eaten by all sorts of bacteria all the time.

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#42

Tiered cakes need boards and supports! You can’t just stack eight layers of cake and frosting on each other with all their weight, and expect it to hold itself! Do your research before you DIY a wedding cake and don’t balk then at why bakeries charge what we do for them.

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#43

All my frostings have a healthy pinch of salt in them and people are amazed that they’re never too sweet.

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Beatrice Multhaupt
Beatrice Multhaupt
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Frostings aside as they need a lot of sugar for texture, try halving the sugar content of the dough. During my first few months living in Germany, I couldn,t figure out what made the pastries so delicious. Then I got a locally published cook book....

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#44

Just dumping a bunch of food coloring into your frosting will ruin the texture and leave you with dyed teeth. Add a little dye to your frosting, let it sit a few hours (in the fridge if it has eggs, on the counter if its American buttercream), and if it needs more to get the color you need, add more and repeat the process. Or, for really dark colors (like black), start with a chocolate frosting base.

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#45

Often times home cooks tend to let something cook for too long or take too long to prepare dinner. One major reason is they don't think to prep before cooking. Things go a lot smoother when you have all your ingredients measured up, chopped, sliced, or otherwise prepared before actually cooking the meal. If the dish calls for chopped vegetables, do it all first. No time? Do it in the morning, or better yet, the night before. I often chop up all my vegetables and place each one in a paper bowl. If I do it the night before I actually cook the meal, I'll put them in plastic zipper bags and toss them in the fridge. I do the same thing with my sauces for stir fry. I'll mix up my sauce, usually in a plastic bowl with a lid, and put it in the fridge. Then, when I'm ready to cook, I just take everything out, and all I have to do is throw everything together. Unless the recipe specifically says otherwise, you can mix all your dry ingredients together and your wet ingredients together. If a recipe calls for different spices, measure them all out in one small bowl. If it calls for various liquids, unless the directions say to add separately, mix them all in one bowl. Make sure to read the directions carefully before attempting this shortcut.

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Cathelijne van Weelden
Cathelijne van Weelden
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Alway containers instead of zipper bags 😉 loose the (1 time use) plastic plus they stack 😃

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#46

Haven't seen it here yet, but get familiar with using vinegar. It can take a dish from good to [frikking] awesome. Same goes for fish sauce. Go easy, but it tastes way better than it smells, so don't be afraid.

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Malakai
Malakai
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Fish sauce is delicious! I don't use it a whole lot but I love the flavor it adds when I do! It's so savory and just a bit acidic, and it really pumps up my stir-frys

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#47

You don't need all those fancy food processors and kitchen gadgets, the only thing I have is a small mini blender which I rarely use. Almost everything else only generates more washing up than it's worth. (And I have a dishwasher!)

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Tabitha L
Tabitha L
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I love to cook. I love my immersion blender. I finally got a decent food processor - and WOW. It is amazing. I also have a stand mixer, hand mixer, mini food processor, and blender. They all have different uses, and are so helpful. I guess to each their own.

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#48

Pro Chefs Share The Most Common Mistakes That We, Amateurs, Make (30 Pics) Grease and parchment-line basically every pan you use. For cakes, cut out a circle the size of the bottom of the pan and put it in after greasing the pan. For square pans, have it overhang on the side so you can grab it and lift your brownies/blondies/whatever straight out. It makes life infinitely easier and things almost never get stuck in pans.

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#49

Pro Chefs Share The Most Common Mistakes That We, Amateurs, Make (30 Pics) Not a chef, but many of my friends are. Knives are what they drilled into my head.

You don't need a drawer full of different kitchen knives, or one of those stupid giant knife sets. Spend at least $75 on one good kitchen knife. Buy it at a store where you can try different knives and find a blade and handle you like.

Don't put it in the dishwasher and don't rub it with a scour pad. That will dull the blade. Also get a sharpening tool and or take the blade in to get sharpened when it feels dull. Also, get a protective sleeve for it.

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Malakai
Malakai
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A good knife set isn't stupid. Different knives have different purposes--a chef's knife is the utilitarian of the arsenal, and the most frequently used, but you need others depending on what you're doing. A bread knife, for example, not just to cut bread, but also to slice tomatoes, as the serrated edge makes breaking the skin easier is a common necessity, unless you like squished tomatoes. Paring knives are good for cutting small items like individual cloves of garlic, or peeling fruits and vegetables--their smaller size makes for easier precision. If you use fresh, whole fish, a boning knife makes cleaning and deboning a fish much easier. Every kitchen should have at least one chef's knife, one paring knife, and one bread knife--there are quite a few others, but you should only invest in them if you really need them. Also, a higher cost does not necessarily mean a better knife--some expensive knives are made from materials that are more prone to breakage and damage. Do your research

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#50

When it comes to spices, many home cooks tend to mix them in, one at a time. I'm often guilty of this myself. But I learned an ancient secret: Use a mortar and pestle. Combine all your spices in the bowl, and grind them up. Not only does this release the oils, but it will blend the spices together, creating a more even distribution of all flavorings in the dish. Whether you're making a homemade marinara, stew, or even a roasted chicken, blend all of your spices together before applying.

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Daria Z
Daria Z
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I agree, the combined flavor is awesome and feels stronger than without blending :)

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#51

Pro Chefs Share The Most Common Mistakes That We, Amateurs, Make (30 Pics) Use fresh produce when available for that season. "Fresh" strawberries in January.... Pass.

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Steve Barnett
Steve Barnett
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

in the UK, if you buy, say, asparagus out of season, it will have come from Peru. Because it has travelled so far, by the time it's got to the UK it will be tasteless.

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#52

Pro Chefs Share The Most Common Mistakes That We, Amateurs, Make (30 Pics) Unless you're cooking eggs, don't use a non stick skillet. Season the god damn pan properly and use it how you like.

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Steve Barnett
Steve Barnett
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Seasoned pans, where do I start, it's like an obsession for me. Long story short, season your pans! Get a good set of stainless-steel pans and season them. Sorry, in a previous post someone commented that it was okay to put seasoned pans in a dishwasher, I do not agree with that because the detergent will compromise the seasoning; once properly seasoned you can just clean them with hot water alone.

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#53

Prepared garlic. Once you use fresh garlic there's no going back.

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JuJu
JuJu
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Worst: dried and granulated garlic. Smells and tastes like forgotten socks.

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#54

When making something that reduces they salt to taste before reduction. When it reduces it becomes way too salty. Working in a restaurant the new guys that try to cook stuff on their own do it all the time.

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#55

Always ask for feedback from anyone else who will eat the dish you prepare. Be prepared for both praise and criticism. If your kid says, "This sauce tastes too spicy", take note and adjust the spice. Perhaps ask them to taste it while you're preparing it. Ask what they suggest.

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#56

Sometimes less is more. Being a Sous chef for 4 years after obtaining my bachelors degree in culinary arts, I have seen a lot of mistakes in a kitchen or in someone's home. Just because you bought a spice rack with every spice known to man, doesn't mean you should use them. Learn to taste and balance your seasoning before getting carried away with spices.

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#57

Taste is directly linked to smell in your brain. Having any sort of unpleasant or overpowering odor in your home can completely destroy the taste of a meal for many people.

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#58

Put something under your god damn chopping board.

Even a dry tea towel is better nothing. The amount of people I see chopping with a moving chopping board is crazy.

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Lucas
Lucas
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Mine stay still anyway. When I saw a chef suggest putting something under the board it moved around like crazy. I think if you know how to chop the moving board ceases to happen.

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#59

You have to spoon the flour into the cup, then level off. If you dunk the measuring cup into the flour it packs more flour by volume into the cup than what the recipe calls for, throwing off the recipe.

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#60

I can't stress enough how you should never crack an egg on the side of the bowl. Fastest way to get egg shells in your batter. Always crack them into a flat surface then open them over the bowl. And if you're still nervous about getting shells in, then crack the eggs into a separate bowl before adding them to your batter.

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Cat on a bike
Cat on a bike
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

and if any shell falls into any kind of food, the best way is to take them out with a bigger shell part.

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#61

Mother sauces. Learn them. Perfect them. Use them to your advantage. They are a "must" when it comes to working in a kitchen. Every other sauce is a spin off of any mother sauce.

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Mimi777
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What are mother sauces ? I tried to google it but idk if it’s correct.

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#62

According to Gordon Ramsey, amateur chefs always try to use that god damned f***ing black truffle oil which is never to be used by anyone with self respect.

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Kathryn Baylis
Kathryn Baylis
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Um, no. Never used it in my life. I’m 59, and have been cooking since I took Home Ec in 7th grade.

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