14 Valuable Tips and Cooking Advice from Chefs and Seasoned Cooks

11. I like to have a ‘trash bowl’ in easy reach on the counter. For peel, skin, bones etc.- Yshnev

I move around the kitchen a lot. The garbage bowl is way easier to move than the trash bin. Also, when I’m doing something like peeling veggies, I would have to lean over the bin. The garbage bowl is at perfect counter height, resulting in less back pain. To each his/her own, of course, but there is something to be said for a dedicated garbage bowl. – _NoSheepForYou_

Another reason to do this is you’re not touching the trash can while handling food. Cleaner hands and less need for constant handwashing. – omgBBQpizza

12. Wash dishes as you go. – VVillyD

Your dish needs to sautee for 5 minutes? That’s time to wash a few dishes, throw away trash, or put away ingredients. Nobody wants to clean the kitchen after eating a filling meal, so just do it as you cook. – VVillyD

13. When baking, make sure the recipe uses measurements in grams, not cups and follow it as precisely as possible. – jbm222

It’s more consistent. 100g of flour weighs the same whether you’ve fluffed it up with a fork, or squashed it into a measuring cup as tightly as you can. You can dramatically change the volume (cups) of flour by getting it into the measuring cup in different ways. When baking, the comparative amounts of ingredients is very important, and having just a little too much or too little of something can make a huge difference. – basket_weaver

14. Finally, keep asking yourself why. – pinky0926

Why have you got the heat that level? Why are you putting in that particular spice at this stage? Why are you adding these things together? What is actually going to happen? There were a lot of times when he’d walk into the kitchen and I’d be doing something simple and he’d just say “why are you cutting the vegetables like that?” or “why are you adding the feta to the salad now, what is that going to do to the vegetables?”

It sounds simple, but all I was doing beforehand was going by an “I reckon these things would taste good” kind of angle without critically thinking about the logic of each action. With the vegetable example, I hadn’t really thought about the difference in how quickly garlic would cook if I was adding it as a mince paste vs if I was adding it in chunks – too often I’d burn the garlic without even knowing it. I hadn’t thought about how feta is really salty and salt draws out moisture almost instantly and can cause lettuce to wilt and go soggy. That kind of thing really really matters.

So basically the tip I learned was to keep questioning everything you’re doing and break it down logically, like you would if you were building a shelf. – pinky0926

Do you have more valuable cooking advice to share?

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