The 14 Best Cooking Tips

We've Ever Heard

By Sarah Stiefvater 
| Mar. 14, 2018

Whether you regularly whip up Michelin-worthy meals at the drop of a hat or your
cooking skills are best described as “fine,” you can always benefit from the helpful
little tricks of others. Here, 14 of our friends’, families’ and coworkers’ most-used
cooking tips.

RELATED: 5 MISTAKES YOU’RE PROBABLY MAKING WHEN YOU COOK

EGGS
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NEVER TRY A NEW RECIPE AT A DINNER PARTY

There’s a time and a place to whip out that complicated coq au vin recipe you’ve
been dying to try. A dinner party isn’t that time. With a new recipe, you’ll likely be
chained to the kitchen the whole time, plus, when you’re trying something for the
first time, there’s always the possibility that it could go horribly wrong. When
cooking for a group, we always err on the side of tried-and-true crowd-pleasers.
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TASTE (AND SEASON) AS YOU GO

You do hours of prep work on an intricate dish, only to be totally disappointed

once you taste the final product. Bummer. Instead of putting in all that effort only
to be disappointed, taste while you cook. That way, you’ll realize sooner that the
dish isn’t tasting how you’d like it to, and you can make all kinds of last-ditch
efforts to save it. This doesn’t just work for bad-to-OK meals. Tasting midway
through and realizing how perfect a dash of cayenne or a squirt of lemon juice
would be can take a great dinner to legendary status.
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FINISH PASTA IN THE PAN

Plating pasta means tossing some onto a plate and finishing it with a nice dollop of
sauce right on the middle, right? Wrong. Here’s how to take your carbs to the next
level: On the stove there should be two pans, one with pasta and one with sauce.
Cook the pasta to al dente and transfer it into the sauce. Then, add a little bit of
pasta water (literally just the starchy water the pasta has been cooking in), which
will help the sauce cling to the pasta while also keeping it the right consistency.
Perfection.
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DON'T BE AFRAID TO SET OFF THE SMOKE ALARM

In the pursuit of the perfect steak, you have to be OK with your kitchen getting a
little smoky. That's because, to get the mouthwatering sear we're all after, the
meat has to be dry and the pan should be pretty damn close to smoking hot. Trust
us, it's worth a few seconds of a blaring alarm. 
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SALT STEAK LIKE YOU'RE SALTING YOUR DRIVEWAY

Most foods are ruined by too much salt. Steak is different. When it comes to
seasoning your meat (before you cook it), more is more. Use a generous amount of
coarse Kosher salt—more than you think you need. Since most cuts of steak are
pretty thick, even though you're using a lot of salt, it's still only covering the
surface. 
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A FRIED EGG MAKES (JUST ABOUT) EVERYTHING BETTER

This one isn’t too complicated. Whether you’re making avocado toast, pizza, fried
rice or a burger, the addition of a fried egg on top will not hurt your feelings. Trust
us.
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READ THE WHOLE RECIPE BEFORE YOU START COOKING

This one seems like a no-brainer, but we’ve definitely found ourselves in a
situation where we assumed we knew all of the ingredients that went into
chocolate chip cookies only to find out that we had about half the required amount
of brown sugar. Ugh. To avoid a mid-cooking grocery-store trip, read the recipe
from front to back—carefully—before you start.
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COOK GRAINS IN DOUBLE BATCHES

Prepping grains in mass quantities is less about taste than convenience. Rice,
quinoa and even oatmeal last about a week in the fridge after being cooked. When
we’re prepping any one of those, we double up our measurements and store the
leftovers, which are then impossibly easy to use up throughout the week. Too tired
to make dinner? Heat up some leftover rice from the fridge and toss an egg on top
(remember?). Couldn’t be simpler.
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SAVE BACON FAT

So you fried up a pound of bacon for an indulgent (read: delicious) brunch. Great,
just make sure you don’t throw out the grease in the pan. Instead, save it in the
refrigerator or freezer (it technically lasts for up to a year, but should be used
sooner than that to take full advantage of its flavor). Then, anytime you’re cooking
something you typically prepare in oil, try cooking it in the bacon grease instead.
You’ll never want to eat Brussels sprouts the old way again.
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DON'T ALWAYS RELY ON SALT

You’ve probably heard that whenever a dish is lacking a little something-

something, the best thing to do is toss in some salt. But, we have it on good
authority that salt isn’t always the answer. When you’re tasting a dish at the end
and you think it needs a little oomph, often it just needs a splash of acid (like
lemon juice) to round out the flavor.
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TAKE CARE OF YOUR KNIVES

You know the difference between a paring knife and a fillet knife, but do you
know how to take care of them? Or, more importantly, how to use them? A set of
good knives can be the difference between a stressful cooking experience and a
great one. First, practice your knife skills. Look up tutorials on YouTube and
practice chopping, slicing and julienne-ing. It’s amazing what you can do with
your cook time when your prep time is shortened with solid knife skills. Then,
once you’ve got your skills down pat, learn how to take care of your set. No one
ever achieved kitchen greatness with a dull chef’s knife.

RELATED: 7 ESSENTIAL KNIVES EVERY HOME CHEF SHOULD OWN

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THINK BEYOND LOW AND SLOW

The key to tender, flavorful barbecue and roasts? Cooking it on a low temperature
for a long time. The same doesn't go for roasting veggies. For crispy, perfectly
cooked butternut squash, Brussels sprouts and more, remember the magic number:
400 degrees Fahrenheit. Any lower, and you risk pulling a pan of blah carrots out
of the oven. It might seem high, but to get the nice roasted flavor, you need high
heat. And while we’re on the subject, stop crowding your veggies in the pan,
which will also make them soggy.
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REFRIGERATE YOUR COOKIE DOUGH

You know how just about every cookie recipe suggests that you chill your dough
in the refrigerator for at least a few hours, but oftentimes you don’t listen because
you just want cookies now?! (Same.) Unfortunately, this step actually does make a
difference. In addition to limiting how much the dough spreads while baking,
chilling your dough intensifies the flavors and produces that perfect chewy, crispy
texture we know and love.
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BE GENEROUS WITH GARLIC

It won’t do your breath any favors, but never (ever) scrimp on garlic. In fact, we
typically double the amount a recipe calls for. Apologies to anyone who was
planning on kissing us.