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Get familiar with the recipe before you start

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).