15+ Cooking Mistakes Most of Us Make and How We Can Easily Avoid Them

Many people are afraid of making mistakes because they are afraid of the reaction of other people.
However, that’s an important, some say, even necessary, part of learning. That’s why we should all learn to accept them as a byproduct of creativity. Even more so, when doing something wrong can be easily fixed, like in cooking.

We at Now I’ve Seen Everything prepared some tips and tricks from experts that will take your dishes to a whole new level.

1. Don’t cook tomatoes in a non-stick pan

It’s better to avoid preparing foods like tomatoes or citrus in non-stick pans. The reason is that they are highly acidic and when they come into contact with the pan’s surface, they damage it. Ultimately, they just make your non-stick pans wear off faster. You can use a different pan instead, or a suitable pot.

2. Use rice to bake perfect cupcakes

To bake perfect, less oily, cupcakes, put a little bit of rice under the liner. The grains will absorb any leftover grease, and the bottom will be much drier, which will make the eating experience cleaner.

3. Don’t pour oil into the water

Some people add olive oil to the water the pasta is cooking in. It is supposedly done so that the water doesn’t boil away and the pasta doesn’t stick together. However, experts say we shouldn’t do it. If you serve such pasta with sauce, it won’t be able to connect with it properly because of the oil. Put pasta into a sufficient amount of water when it’s already boiling — this will prevent it from sticking.

4. Don’t overcrowd your pan

When the pan is overcrowded, the temperature in it drops, which must be taken into account when cooking complex dishes. Don’t put vegetables, starches, and meat in a pan at the same time. Fry the meat pieces first, until crispy, then add the other ingredients. Otherwise, the meat will become dry and tough.

5. Don’t use stale eggs for frying

Older eggs are not as resilient, and they can’t retain their shape. This is why the whites start going around the entire pan, and the yolk doesn’t look as smooth and round as a fresh one. Use the freshest eggs possible for frying and boil stale eggs.

6. Don’t rinse cooked pasta

Don’t rinse cooked pasta in water — it affects its taste negatively. Many people think that after all the liquid is drained, the pasta should be rinsed with clean water. However, this is a rough mistake. By rinsing it, you remove most of the salt as well as the remaining starch from it. The latter is required for joining the pasta with the sauce.

7. Cover the meat before tenderizing it

Tenderize meat under a plastic bag. This way, you will prevent the spread of small meat particles around the kitchen, spreading bacteria.

8. Don’t add raw onions to your salad

Experts recommend that you prepare onions first before adding them to salads. Either soak them in ice water for 10 minutes, or lightly salt them and let them sit for 10 minutes.

9. Don’t use cold eggs

Experts recommend frying only room-temperature eggs. If an egg is too cold, the whites will cook slower, so there’s a risk of overheating the yolk.

10. Cut meat into even pieces

Experts recommend cutting meat into 2.4-4 cm pieces. Make sure the pieces are the same size because otherwise, they will need different amounts of time to get cooked: some will be raw in the middle, and others will be burned or too dry.

11. Don’t drain all the water once your pasta is cooked

Chefs recommend that we don’t drain the pasta water. Place a colander over a container where the water will drain. Leave a little of this liquid so that you can add it when you cook the pasta in the sauce.
The pasta water will add a bit of salt to the dish, while the starch in it will unite with the pasta.

12. Don’t throw away stale bread

Put sliced pieces of bread in the blender and make breadcrumbs. Those can be used for many things like crab cakes and more. Another option is to cut stale bread into cubes and freeze it for later. It’s much better to use old bread than fresh one because it absorbs the oil better. This hack works for any type of crouton you want to make, for example, Caesar salad croutons, among others.

13. Remove seeds from tomatoes

Did you know that in restaurants they remove seeds from tomatoes and cucumbers before adding them to a salad? If this is not done, the extra moisture will make the lettuce wilt.

14. Don’t cut steaks right after cooking them

Let the meat rest a bit. Don’t cut it into pieces right after cooking. This way, it will finish cooking thanks to the high temperature inside.

15. Don’t stir cooked rice

Don’t stir freshly cooked rice with a spoon, otherwise starch will start to come out of it, and the dish will become creamy.

Remember the cooking time. White rice takes about 15-25 minutes to cook, and brown rice takes about 45 minutes.

16. Pat dry all meats before searing

Pat dry meat and fish with a paper towel, so no moisture is left on the meat to ensure it has a nice crust after cooking. Otherwise, the moisture from meat will leak into the pan while it’s cooking, and instead of searing it, you will end up boiling it.

17. Don’t salt the water before boiling eggs

Thanks to the salt, the egg white will remain inside the shell even if it breaks. Salty water helps the egg white coagulate faster.

Are there any mistakes you used to make in the kitchen? How did you learn a better way of doing things?