Opt for the *Really Good* knife set. Keep the cutting board in place with a wet towel. Practice the art of Mise en Place. Try it on grandma's rosemary rolls.
Discover 5 good cooking habits that anyone can adopt to become a true cook and not just a follower of recipes. Don't make the rookie mistake of serving a poorly seasoned dish. How? You have to constantly try food as you go. Reserve a container with tasting spoons that you can use to sample the food while you cook, and be sure to set aside dirty and used spoons to avoid any possibility of cross-contamination.
If your dish tastes bland, you can probably correct it by adding more salt. One of the most important lessons you'll learn in your first days in culinary school is the importance of mise en place, which means putting everything in its place in French. For example, if you're going to grill or fry a chicken breast, wait until it's half cooked before turning it over the other side. Take the guesswork out of the cooking point and invest in a quality kitchen thermometer to ensure that recipes are cooked to perfection.
This simple act of preparing the ingredients before cooking them is vital to ensure that you have enough of all the ingredients needed to prepare the recipe. Finally, don't open the oven door while cooking, as this will lower the oven temperature (that's what oven lights and windows are made for). It's best to use oils with high smoke points, such as avocado, coconut, or grape seed, for cooking at high temperatures. Drying the protein properly will help start this reaction and will promote more uniform outdoor cooking.
One way to do this easily at home is to place a large bowl on the countertop and use it as a garbage container while you cook. Moving the protein, before it has had a chance to form a crust or the Maillard reaction cooking process ends, will prevent food from browning deliciously. Quickly add leftovers and peels for easy disposal in the compost or trash when you finish cooking. Flip it more than once slows down the cooking process and you won't get that golden brown color you're looking for.
You'll prevent a cluttered fridge that could cause forgotten or abandoned items to accumulate, and instead, you'll use older items for cooking before having to throw them in the trash. Oils are used for a variety of culinary needs, so it's important to learn and understand their different smoke points.
