Article created by: Justinas Keturka
One of the best things that you can do in life is to learn how to cook. That way, you’re self-reliant, you know for a fact what goes into the food you make, and you can impress all of your friends who like take-out meals a tad too much.
However, getting started isn’t the easiest thing in the world. There are a lot of potential hiccups: from not knowing what ingredients to put into the pan first to how to use the tools, techniques and utensils any food enthusiast should know. That’s why some friendly Reddit cooks took it upon themselves to share the best kitchen hacks they know. Scroll down for some delicious nuggets of kitchen advice and upvote the ones that think everyone should know, dear Pandas. When you’re done, we’d love to hear all about your own kitchen and cooking tips and tricks.
Clean while you're cooking. WHILE.
You follow instructions when baking. You follow your heart when cooking (...but not too much.)
Sometimes when you think something needs more salt, what it really needs is acid — lemon juice, vinegar, etc.
A blunt knife is more dangerous than a sharp one. Always keep your knives sharp.
If your towels or oven mitt get wet (or your hands are wet while using them on something hot), they will NOT protect your hands.
A good kitchen should be equipped with a plentiful supply of clean, dry towels.
I am not a chef but I know for a fact that you shouldn't cook something you aren't familiar with if you are having guests.
Contrary to popular belief, it often doesn’t work out great if you add your chopped/minced garlic first to hot oil or butter. It burns so quickly and tastes yuck. I like to brown something else first, like onions, and then add the garlic. The onions are like a burn buffer!
Baking is a perfect example of 'don't tear down walls unless you know why they were built.' If you know the chemistry at play and what each ingredient is doing, you can get creative. Keep in mind that every ingredient does something, so add-ons and substitution can change how everything works together.
wash your hands
Soy sauce goes on more than just Asian foods. Try a dash in scrambled eggs or towards the end of your caramelized onions. It is a savory salt flavor that compliments many dishes.
The amount of garlic flavor is dependent on WHEN you add the garlic. Add it early for light flavor, add it late for bold flavor.
'Always be cleaning' is important to end-of-meal satisfaction. It’s such a drag to look up at the end of a great dinner and see a monstrous cleaning task ahead of you.
Not a chef but everyone should know how to cook eggs. hard boiled. omelets, scrambled, sunny side up, cooked on both sides. Once you master the Recruit difficultly of eggs. Throw some mushrooms or tomatoes or whatever you like in an omelet or scrambled eggs. Gordan Ramsey made a video on eggs and after trying what he did and really getting better at it, my family and friends just make me, make them eggs.
I recommend choosing an acid based on what you are cooking. Italian? Try some red wine vinegar. Mexican? Try some lime juice. Additionally, if you are working with anything cream based, add acidity literally right at the end or else your sauce/dish will curdle.
Taste as you cook, and do it at various stages of cooking (while safe, please don't taste raw meat). Not only does it let you know if you have too much or little of something, but it also helps you develop your palette for what different seasonings do.
Massively improve the quality of your proteins (chicken, beef, tofu, anything) with fond. Fond is the dark brown stuff that sticks to your pan when you're cooking. It's not burnt unless its actually black. To get it off the pan and on the food, pour in either an alcohol or acid to dissolve it and get the now-brown liquid to coat your protein.
Different proteins work best with different alcohols. Good rule of thumb — dry white for chicken or any lighter meat. Red for beef. Lemon juice works great for almost everything.
Cooking bacon in the oven is exponentially easier to perfect and clean up than on a stove top.
Set the oven to 405º, line a baking sheet with tin foil, and lay your bacon flat on it. Cook it for 13-15 minutes. It's perfect every time, and you can cook a lot more at once this way. Also, the fat hardens on the foil, so you can just throw it away with no mess.
For thick and nice sauces, use the water you cook your pasta with.
Cinnamon isn’t just for sweet foods. It can be really, really good in savory foods, too.
Salt your boiling water.
Adding is easy, but removing is hard. People like to argue that you should liberally add butter and seasoning, but tastes differ. It's totally fine to put in less if that's what you fancy.
Time is the best and most expensive ingredient.
If you’re getting annoyed because it’s taking you too long to peel garlic, place an unpeeled garlic clove under the flat side of your kitchen knife and press on it with your hand. The garlic peel will separate easily and your garlic will be crushed.
If you want crispness on the outsides of your meats, you should pat them dry before seasoning and putting them in oven or over heat.
