Batting Practice in the Kitchen

For those of us that are new to the cooking-for-yourself thing, trial and error is inevitable within the kitchen. All the recipes in the world can't teach one to poach an egg (which I'm still admittedly nervous to try.) Much like hitting a softball, it's all about practice! Timing, pace, focus, picturing the end result... you see the connection, right? ;)

So while I do love time in the kitchen, if I cooked at a .500 average (50% chance of success), well I'd run out of money, food, time and most importantly patience! 


For this reason, I just had to post a new article by Cooking Light, The 25 Most Common Food Mistakes. It's seemed like such a great 101 session for us newbies, and potential refresher for those of you who have spent more years within the kitchen triangle (sink to stove to fridge.) So let the learning begin!

1. You don't taste as you go (Jill note: obviously the best part of being the chef, right!?!?)
2. You don't read the entire recipe before you start cooking (guilty)
3. You make unwise substitutions in baking
4. You boil when you should simmer
5. You overheat chocolate
6. You over-soften butter
7. You over-heat low fat milk products (just another reason to just use the good full fat stuff!)
8. You don't know your oven's quirks and idiosyncrasies (that's a trial and error issue)

9. You're too casual about measuring ingredients (guilty, really only a big deal if baking right?)
10. You overcrowd the pan
11. You mishandle egg whites
12. You turn the food too often
13. You don't get the pan hot enough before adding the food
14. You slice meat with - instead of against - the grain
15. You underbake cakes and breads (brownies do not fall within this "no-no")
16. You don't use a meat thermometer
17. Meat gets no chance to rest after cooking
18. You try to rush the cooking of caramelized onions (best pizza topping ever)

19. You overwork dough
20. You neglect the nuts you're toasting (totally guilty!)
21. You don't shock veggies when they've reached the desired temperature
22. You put all the salt in the marinade or breading
23. You pop meat straight from fridge to grill/oven
24. You don't know when to abandon, skip or start over
25. You use inferior ingredients (great balsamic has become my new best friend)


Hopefully you will find this info as helpful as I did. Check the Cooking Light link for more info on all 25 tips!
Enjoy~ Jill