Here you’ll learn 36 helpful tips that will help you get ahead as a beginner in the kitchen and as an amateur chef. From the simple handling of spices and herbs to the storage of equipment and hazard prevention.
1. “Mise en Place”
Have all your equipment and ingredients ready when you want to start cooking. Nothing is more annoying than having to search for certain ingredients while cooking or having to cut/prepare them.
2. Read the recipe completely
If you are cooking from a new recipe, read it completely beforehand. Often there are valuable tips at the end. So you can get an overview of all the individual steps beforehand and save yourself nasty surprises during cooking.
3. More ingredients than necessary
Always have a little more than enough ingredients for your cooking session. There’s nothing more disruptive than realizing you’re running low on an ingredient in the middle of a cooking frenzy.
4. Clean up
Clean up and wash your used equipment and dishes while you cook. This saves you time cleaning up your kitchen after the meal. This way, your cooking equipment will be ready to use at any time and you can get started with the next dish right away. Many people will find it easier to keep their kitchen clean.
5. Better sharp than blunt
A sharp knife is safer than a blunt one. When you use sharp cutting tools in your kitchen, you avoid a sawing motion and don’t have to use unnecessary force, so you can separate your ingredients with just one movement. If you clench your hand into a fist and move the sharp blade in front of your knuckles, you avoid the risk of cutting your fingers.
6. Knives in the dishwasher
If you want to do your knives and cutting tools a favor, you should not wash them in the dishwasher. The dishwasher will dull the sharp blades over time. Hand washing is much better for the sharp metal pieces.
7. A falling knife does not have a handle
As soon as a blade slips from your hand or a sharp object falls from the kitchen table, you should never reach for it. Often this ends with a cut or stab wound. Never try to catch the knife.
8. Store the blade upwards
If you have a wooden knife block, you should store the knives in it with the blade facing upwards. This will keep the knives sharp longer, as they will not cut into the wood during stowage and storage.
Also, while cooking, you should always store your knives above the cutting board with the blade facing up or away from you.
9. Extra flavor with more salt and butter
Since salt and butter or fats are flavor enhancers, your dishes will taste a little better with a little extra of these ingredients. However, be aware that too much salt and butter or fats do not equal healthier. Especially in restaurants, extra fats and salts are often used to make the dishes tastier for the customer.
10. Two chopping boards
Use separate cutting boards for raw meat or fish and for fruits and vegetables. This way you avoid contamination with salmonella. Unless you wash your knife after each cutting of ingredients, you should also use different blades for meat and fish and for fruits and vegetables.
11. After raw comes hand washing
Never touch another ingredient after touching raw chicken, meat or fish. Raw meat and fish can carry salmonella. You should wash your hands and knives every time you touch or cut raw meat or fish. It doesn’t matter if you just cut the vegetables afterwards or check the water temperature with your fingers. Salmonella and food poisoning are no joke. Even though salmonella is rare in countries like England, America, Germany and Europe, there is always a residual risk.
12. Add garlic for more taste
Garlic, like salt and butter, is also a good ingredient in many dishes to enhance the flavor and add the finishing touch to your delicious dish. In addition to garlic, you can also use shallots. These have a milder flavor than white or red onions.
13. Fresh herbs and spices
With fresh herbs and spices you are always ahead in the taste comparison to old, dry or ground spices and herbs. In the normal household kitchen you can often find spices that have already been stored for months or years. Over time, these herbs and spices lose flavor. Therefore, always buy as small quantities as possible, which you will also consume in the near future. This way you can always spice up your recipes with a fresh pinch.
14. Few spices in the beginning
Spices and herbs are ingredients that can give your dishes a special touch. Start with a few spices in the beginning. Salt and pepper, rosemary, oregano and basil are sufficient for the beginning. Each spice and herb behaves differently. Once you know how your ingredients behave under heat, what flavor notes they give to your dish, and to what degree you use them, you should turn your eyes to new spices and herbs. Learn to use the few herbs you have first and then expand your knowledge.
15. Hot spices in your eyes
Be careful not to touch your face or eyes after using hot spices and ingredients. You would be surprised how quickly they cause you pain.
16. Dairy products against spiciness and salt
Con productos lácteos como el yogur, la nata y la leche, puedes neutralizar el picante de los platos y hacer más sabrosa una comida salada.
17. Half the amount of dried herbs
If your recipe says to use fresh herbs and you only have dried on hand, use ½ as much as the recipe says. Half of the dried herbs is perfectly fine, as they are much more concentrated in their dry and/or ground form.
A good tip is to season your food with herbs about halfway through cooking and again just before serving. This way your dishes will stay well seasoned even if the cooking takes a little longer and your guests will taste the hint of fresh spices.
18. The green of leek is edible
What many don’t know is that you can quietly use and eat the green end of leeks or scallions.
19. Cook food with residual heat
A common mistake is overcooking food or taking the hot pan off the stove too late. Your food cooks with its own heat or the residual heat in the pan. 99% of all amateur cooks overcook their fried egg because they take it off the heat too late. It is also important to remove steak from the heat early enough. If you want to cook a medium steak, take it off the heat when it is already medium rare and let it rest for 5 minutes until you are ready to eat it. With the inherent heat you get the perfect medium steak.
20. Blanching saves time
If you are using a lot of ingredients or cooking for several people, you can blanch vegetables beforehand. That is, boil them in water for a few minutes and then let them rest until you use them in your dish. This way you can pre-cook some ingredients that would otherwise take a long time to cook and save time in the final cooking cycle.
21. Double the heat does not mean halven the cooking time
High temperatures make your food dry and burn. The chemical reactions of cooking start at low temperatures. If you want your food to be prepared earlier, you should start cooking earlier.
22. Defrosting under cold water
You should never thaw your frozen meat or fish in hot water. Due to the higher temperature difference of the hot water, the proteins already start to cook. You should also not thaw anything under warm water. The slight heat is a perfect breeding ground for bacteria. Therefore, always thaw under cold or neutral water temperature. Of course, your ingredients should be in a plastic bag to avoid contact with the water.
23. Be careful with oil and water
Oil and water can make a dangerous combination. Oil floats on water. If you pour water into a pan with hot oil, the water will immediately start to boil and turn into steam. As oil floats on the surface of the water, fine extremely hot oil particles will now rise with the steam. The steam does not cause any damage, but the oil particles are extremely hot and can cause severe burns under certain circumstances. Therefore, never pour water or frozen ingredients into very hot oil.
24. Never throw anything into the frying pan
When you put meat, fish or vegetables in hot oil, never throw them into the pan, but carefully pour or gently lay them down. It is good if you put the food at the end of the pan facing away from you. This way you avoid burns from oil splashes.
25. Your frying pan is too hot
If your pan is only filled with oil and is already starting to steam, then you know the pan is too hot.
26. Baking soda and salt against fire
If you ever get into the situation where your oil starts to burn, you can pour baking soda or salt into the pan. Never use flour for this, because flour in the air can cause a flour dust explosion and a huge fireball when it gets stirred up and comes in contact with oxygen and flames. Caution! Baking soda is not to be confused with baking powder. Baking powder can also develop a similar reaction with oxygen and heat as flour.
You can also throw baking soda into and onto electrical equipment without danger.
Milk is also a good remedy for a grease fire, unless there is salt or baking soda nearby.
27. Never barefoot in the kitchen
You should always wear safe footwear in the kitchen. Barefoot or in flip-flops/sandals is a no-go. Hot oil, boiling water and sharp cutting tools are safety hazards that should not be taken lightly. A blade in your foot or scalding your foot are not nice things to do.
28. Everything might be hot
Any pan, dish or dish could be hot. Always be careful not to burn yourself because of inattention. A saying from chemistry that also applies to the kitchen is “Hot glass and cold glass look the same”.
29. Never barbecue in closed room
Never grill with a gas or charcoal grill in your closed four walls. The gas and charcoal grill produces a lot of CO2 which can be lethal. Unless you have an electric grill, you should always grill outdoors.
30. Cold water on hot glass
You should never run cold or lukewarm water on hot or warm kitchenware such as casserole dishes. As soon as hot glass comes into contact with cool water, it shatters into many small glass fragments that can cause life-threatening injuries.
31. Lift lid completely
As soon as you intend to lift the lid of a pan or pot, you should remove it completely in one movement. It has often happened that cooks have lifted the lid only slightly to look through the gap. The hot steam, however, is directed right through this gap into your face.
32. Deep fry twice
For example, to get really crispy fries you should double fry them. The first freeze with a low oil temperature is to fry the potato and make it edible. After that, take the fries or potato wedges out of the oil bath and let them cool for a few minutes. Then send them into the fryer a second time at a higher oil temperature. This way, you’ll get them really crispy on the outside. With this tip, you’ll never have soggy fries or other fried foods again.
33. Never salt before frying
When you fry something, you should always salt your food immediately after frying. If you salt your ingredients before frying, the salt will start to draw moisture from the inside to the surface of the ingredient. This causes the oil to splash in all directions during frying. If you salt immediately after frying, you have the highest chance that your salt will stick to the surface.
34. “The eye eats with us”
Present your dish in an appealing manner.
An appealing arrangement of your ready-cooked dishes will make them taste better to your visitors than if they were just slapped lovelessly onto the plate. The saying “The eye eats with you” is not without reason.
35. Cook regularly
Probably the biggest tip is to cook regularly and learn from your mistakes. Cooking is a very nice and especially delicious hobby. Once you get the hang of it, an exciting time with lots of delicious dishes from all over the world awaits you and your family and guests.
36. Teach your children
If you have learned something new, you should teach it to your children, because they don’t yet know that you can’t pour water into hot oil, for example. Teaching your children not only helps you, but can save you a lot of money and health.
