30 Basic Cooking Tips Everyone Should Know

A tablespoon of salt per four quarts of water is a good ratio. This allows the pasta to absorb some of the salt, making it more flavorful.

Use enough water to reach an inch over the eggs. Once it’s boiling, lay the eggs in with a spoon and cook 6 minutes for soft boiled and 12 for hard boiled. Immediately drain and place in cold water.

In general, hone your knives after each use or every other use, and sharpen them once a year. This makes cutting faster and easier on your wrists. (Every time you use a knife, some of its teeth will be bent or misaligned. You hone the knife to fix them – to return the teeth to their optimal position.)

That way there are no surprises. You’ll know in advance if you need to pre-melt or cook anything, or if there’s something that needs to rest overnight.

Pre-chop vegetables and measure other ingredients into small containers before you begin cooking. This can save you from forgetting ingredients or rushing around in a frenzy while the stove is on.

If your knuckles are resting against the side of the blade, the blade can’t cut you.

Whether you’re searing meat or sauteing vegetables, leaving space between pieces allows them to brown and crisp. Crowding leads to soggy, steamed food.

You’ll thank yourself later. It saves space, time, and muscle if you wash dishes as you use them or at least soak them while you cook.

If you stir-fry often, get a wok. Peel a lot of vegetables? Invest in a y-shaped peeler. Frost cakes? Get an offset spatula. Tools can be relatively cheap and save you a lot of time and frustration.

Ginger often dries out before we have used most of it. Keep it in the freezer and grate it directly into your dish.

It’s hard to brown chicken if you place it in the pan wet.

Put a bag in the freezer for all your onion skins, carrot peels, chicken bones, and celery tops. When it’s full, make soup stock.

Whether it’s cake, muffins, or biscuits, most wheat flour-based baked goods that aren’t yeasted need to be mixed just until all the flour is incorporated. Any more and the final result will be more dense and chewy than desired.

Unsalted butter gives you full control over the sodium content of your food. In baking, it’s important to remember that various butter brands have different amounts of salt and moisture, so unsalted is the best bet for consistent products.

Any residual oil can prevent egg whites from whipping into stiff peaks, no matter how long you whip them for. For added insurance, wash the bowl in hot water, dry it, then wipe it down with lemon juice.

When making aioli, hollandaise, or other emulsified sauces, separation is common. Rather than tossing the curdled sauce, try re-whipping it with an extra egg yolk or a few tablespoons of hot water.

Water that is too hot can kill yeast, so use slightly warm water and keep the yeasted dough above 70 degrees while rising.

No matter the cut, you can make every bite of beef more tender by slicing perpendicular to the direction of the muscle fibers.

A lot of heat escapes whenever the oven opens, and this prolongs cooking time. Use the light to check on baked goods, and only open to baste meat, rotate pans, or check done-ness.

Cornstarch is a common thickening agent used in gravies and puddings. If you don’t have any, white flour is a fine substitute. Use 2 units of flour for every 1 unit of cornstarch that the recipe calls for.

Scooping straight out of the flour bag can compact flour into the cup, causing you to use way more than you intended. Always stir flour to fluff it up, spoon it gently into the measuring cup, and then level it off with a knife.

Weights are much more accurate than volume measurements when baking. Most good recipes will come with ingredient weights.

There is a good reason, whether it’s to ensure your cookies don’t spread into each other, or to develop flavors or texture.

To test doneness in cakes and cupcakes: gently press the middle of the cake. If it bounces completely back, it’s done.

For uniform treats, invest in a few sizes of spring-action ice-cream scoops. This also saves time and is less messy than using two spoons.

A great way to ensure more flavor is to use in-season produce and high quality, local dairy and eggs when available.

This allows the juices to reincorporate, leading to a moist final product.

Flat surfaces create less shattered shells that can end up in your food.

Seriously. Putting food into a heating oven can cause it to burn on one side or cook unevenly.

Spices have a shelf life. They won’t make you sick, but they will taste like nothing. If it no longer has a distinct smell, get rid of it.