this post was submitted on 18 Mar 2025
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I suck at cooking. A couple of times I have tried, the kitchen was such a mess like you would see in a comedy movie or something. But a couple of really basic things that I have learned the hard way:
Get really familiar with the recipe before you start, prep your ingredients and measure things out. Most of my issues have come from trying to figure things out as I go, or neglecting one thing because I was busy trying to clean/prep in the middle of cooking.
It takes time for the pan to heat up, especially on an electric stove. Despite this, you almost never need to crank it up to high heat. Actually, lots of cookware specifically says don't use high heat. When I have used high heat, it usually results in a bad time, with hot liquids or grease splashing all over myself and the kitchen.
Chopsticks are really useful to turn certain foods, like bacon or bite sized pieces of meat.
This deserves repeating many times. So many recipes are poorly written/arranged/organized. Ingredients should be listed in the order used, and be written specifically and clearly. None of this 3 Tbsp butter, divided. Wtf does "divided" mean in this recipe? Just tell me I need 1 Tbsp and 2 Tbsp, in different stages.
Reading through helps you find stuff like this, or the always-wrong "cook onions until translucent, 3 to 5 minutes". I've never once sweated an onion in 5 minutes.
Invariably I have to re-write any recipe after reading through it.
The idea of setting everything up first is called mise en place. I can cook some simple things without doing this, but it really helps prevent getting part way through and realizing you don't have something you need, or that you need to prep that something for a while (e.g. brining onions).
Thank you !