We asked people to tell us about the mistakes they used to make when they just starting out at cooking. Here are some of their responses...
Turning the heat up too high while sautéing.
"I tend to be very impatient when cooking, so I cook everything on the highest temperature so it cooks quickly. The result: lots of burnt dinners."
Over-flipping your food.
"I always found myself over-flipping my food — things like pancakes, steaks, burgers, and chicken — instead of letting each side cook through. There are handy charts online that give a rough estimate of how log to let things cook on each side."
Confusing kosher salt for table salt.
"I used to confuse Kosher salt for table salt, and I'd try to substitute the former for the latter. It definitely doesn’t work that way."Not letting meat come to room temperature.
"I used to get lazy and cook my meat immediately after taking it out of the fridge when I really should have let it sit and come to room temperature. The meat would often cook unevenly: too overdone on the outside and still undercooked on the inside."Adding the garlic too early.
"I always add garlic to the pan at the same time as the onions. Onions can handle heat a lot better than garlic, which only needs a minute or so to sauté and become fragrant, so I would always burn the garlic."Not preheating the oven long enough.
"It took me quite some time to realize how long it takes to properly preheat an oven or a pan on the stove. Some things can't be rushed."Adding ingredients out of order when baking.
"I used to add ingredients in a random order when baking, rather than following the order specified in the recipe. Big mistake. The recipe lists them in a certain order for a reason."Measuring ingredients in the wrong measuring cups.
"There are two different types of measuring cups: one for wet ingredients and one for dry ingredients. As someone who had baked for years just using the two interchangeably, it blew my mind when I found out."Adding way too many herbs and spices.
"When it comes to seasoning, less is more. Season properly, but don’t overdo it. I've learned that adding too many herbs can mask the ingredients or clash with them. Sometimes salt and pepper is all you need."Using olive oil to cook everything.
"I used to cook everything with olive oil. I would even try to fry things in it. I guess I thought I was being healthy or something but my apartment was always filled with so much smoke. Then, I learned about low and high smoke points of oil and it changed my life!"
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