Not all pieces of cooking advice are created equal. Some are undeniably useful – there are a few tips that remind myself of every time I’m in the kitchen – while others don’t really stand the test of time. When the advice comes from the pros, however, I’m a firm believer that it’s always advice worth listening to.
Season everything
Chicken alfredo: Season the chicken, pasta, and sauce
Season everything with salt
Everything needs more salt than the average home cook uses
Use your hand instead
It’ll be easier on your arm, and you’ll be able to feel if everything is getting combined.
Nonstick pans
Invest in a good quality stainless steel or cast iron pan since they heat up and retain heat better than nonstick pans.
- Proper care is essential to keeping them at optimal quality, so NEVER douse a hot pan with cold water, and try not to use cooking spray.
“Hurry up, slow down.”
When rushing, you make time-consuming mistakes, like jacking up the heat too fast to sear more aggressively, or spilling and incorrectly measuring ingredients.
Taste as you go
Adjust seasoning and salt frequently
The Best Culinary School Cooking Tips
Even if it’s not feasible for everyone with an interest in cooking to attend culinary school, it’s never a bad idea to learn from the ones who did.
- To figure out the best culinary school cooking tips, we sifted through a lot of advice from the culinary school grads of both the BuzzFeed Community and Reddit.
Think of your culinary skillset like a crayon box
As you learn new ways of doing things, you’ll add new shades to the colors you already have
- This way, you can be flexible and improvise based on the ingredients or limitations you have, since you’re never “replacing” skills you once had.
Keep your elbows in while cooking
This will stabilize your arms so they don’t shake and prevent you from making sloppy errors.
Set the oven timer to 5-10 minutes less than what is suggested in the recipe to prevent things from burning or overcooking.
You can always add time, but you can’t get time back
- ovens are different, so adjust the timer as needed.
A good sauce can save almost anything
Learn how to cook at least three quick sauces from memory using everyday ingredients.
- A red wine sauce can turn any dried out piece of meat into a great meal, and a quick marinara that you throw together can taste as good as the sauces you eat at restaurants.
Salted Veggies
Salt vegetables before adding them to the salad.
Cooking with softened butter and melted butter yields entirely different results
The fat solids emulsified in the softened butter make the bread crispier when it gets toasted over high heat, resulting in a much more flavorful and crispy result.
- Cooking with melted butter gives the bread a lighter flavor, while softened gives it more crispiness.
Use canned ingredients if you don’t make everything from scratch
Diced tomatoes and canned beans, for example
Don’t overthink your recipes
Learn how to shop for quality ingredients
- A simple recipe made with quality ingredients and proper technique is always better than a fancy recipe made using fancy ingredients and fancy techniques
- Food doesn’t have to be fancy to taste good
Flavor Balance
If you have a rich flavor, you’ll need a touch of acid to balance it out
- Salt can also make the flavors of sweet things pleasantly intense
- Experimentation and trial-and-error is key to refining your palate, so try and learn as much as you can
