Reddit user MomosOnSale asked readers who are professionally involved in cooking what simple tricks ordinary people might not know. We have collected 13 “nots” that are worth remembering if you occasionally cook for yourself or your family.
1. Do not store different types of food on the same refrigerator shelf to avoid cross-contamination. Vegetables and fruits go on top; eggs may also be below - beef, fish, and poultry. Chicken juice infects fresh vegetables instantly; never put them close to each other.
Read also: 11 Ingenious Kitchen Hacks That Will Make Your Life Easy
2. Don't buy giant knife sets. I make a living by cooking; I cut 10-20 ducks a week and 6 knives. And that's a bit too much - I just like it better. Only three knives are necessary in a typical home kitchen. A normal chef's knife, a paring knife (which few people use in the home kitchen - and in vain), and a medium-sized knife for chopping vegetables.
3. Contrary to popular belief, olive oil is not permanent and can go bad. Do not regret throwing out the bottle of bad oil, even if there is still a lot left in it.
4. Don't underestimate canned food - just mix it with fresh food when cooking.
5. Do not slip into monotony. Most American and European families prepare a maximum of 20 meals. Buy ingredients you are not used to and experiment. Haven't you taken mushrooms for a long time? Try a new type and not all the same mushrooms or whites. Love onions, but buy white all the time? Take red or green and cook something with it!
6.Glass cutting boards are great for working with polymer clay - but not for cooking. Because of them, knives dull faster than usual.
7. When adding flour, make sure there are no lumps in it. They can ruin the whole dish.
8.Stop constantly stirring everything. Unless it's something that really requires constant stirring, leave the food alone! You will never achieve the ideal color of a dish if it comes into contact with a spatula more than a frying pan.
9. In spite of your haste, don't turn the heat up to maximum to cook quickly. You will burn everything on the outside, but the inside will still not be ready.
10. Don't season the dish until you evaporate the excess liquid, or it comes out too salty.
Also read: 5 Unexpected Kitchen Storage Ideas
11. Never put hot oil in cold water! I saw how the girl was left with many burns when I threw an oil pan into the sink with open cold water. Boom - and the oil erupted, scorching her arms and neck.
12. Do not rinse pasta if you are cooking a hot dish. In doing so, you will remove the starch, which helps the sauce to saturate the pasta better. They can only be rinsed if you are cooking a cold dish like pasta salad. But buckwheat noodles (for example, soba) are an exception. If not rinsed, everything will turn into a jelly-like mess.
13. Don't put ingredients on your baking sheet unless you've already had a ton of experience under your belt. Cooking is an art, while baking is a science.
Adapted and translated by The Cop Cart Staff
Sources: Life hacker
