1. Using Old or Expired Ingredients
Buy fresh and quality ingredients and herbs. One of the easiest ways to elevate your cooking is to incorporate fresh spices more often and go beyond the simplicity of salt and pepper. However, it’s important that you don’t use old, expired spices when doing this. Take a look at your spice rack and consider splurging on fresh spices that will give you the desired flavors and aromas that will have your family asking, “What’s your secret??” to an amazing meal.
Buy fresh and healthy looking vegetables. Farmers markets are a great place to look for quality vegetables at a bargain. Have an onion that’s past its prime? Of course you can use it, but keep in mind that it won’t be as potent or add as much flavor and aroma to your dish. A great tip for using up older produce is to make a broth-based soup. Remember, everything we put into a dish influences the final product. So, if you have no other options, you might add a little more onion than the recipe actually calls for.
2. Not Investing in Quality Knives
If there is one tool in the kitchen that I can’t live without, it’s my chef knife. A chef knife can also be called a cook’s knife. If you’re a person who doesn’t enjoy cooking per say, you might not instinctively find it “worth it” to invest in good cutlery. I can tell you from personal experience- even as a person who doesn’t love to cook- once I took the leap and invested in better knives, it made my required cooking much more enjoyable. It’s not only easier, but it also doesn’t require as much time. Win-win!
I had been struggling with cutting techniques and, to my surprise, it was the knife that was holding me back and making me feel like I was struggling when cutting. A good chef knife must be sharp and feel good in your hand. If you have small hands, you may feel more comfortable with a smaller 5-7″ size and larger hands would fit better with an 8-9″ knife. There are different styles of chef knives out there from Santoku style (Japanese style chef knife), a vegetable chef knife (often referred to as Nakiri style) and then the more traditional chef knife (French style). Having a chef knife you feel comfortable with AND it being the right tool for the right job will completely change your cooking experience.
3. Overcrowding the Pan or Baking Dish
We all know the pain of preparing and seasoning all the veggies just to realize that the baking sheet isn’t big enough. Shoot! Food releases moisture as it cooks, so when the pan gets crowded, the food will start to steam itself rather than brown. This changes the overall texture of the food. Potatoes in the oven won’t be as crispy on the outside, meat won’t brown as well, etc. Give your food ample room in the pan, especially when browning or baking things that need to crisp (like oven-baked French fries or breaded chicken). Even if you have to do them in batches, the texture will be much better.
For example, when I make crispy brussel sprouts, I bake them on two separate pans to allow the leaves to crisp up. When I bake the same amount of brussel sprouts using only one pan? They tend to end up mushy. So unless the recipe calls for it, don’t steam your food by cramming too much too close together!
4. Putting Food Into a Cold Pan
I know we can all be guilty of this one, especially when we are hungry! And I get it. We want to eat NOW! And getting the food in the pan as quickly as possible gets us from point A to point B faster. Just don’t forget: cooking is a science, and good cooking (and consequently good meals) come from following food science.
When you put meat into a cold pan, the meat is going to release moisture as it heats up. By preheating your cookware first, you’re able to give your meat a nice sear immediately, which holds in all those flavorful juices. Unless you like gnawing on dry meat, heat your pan up first so the moisture stays in the meat and doesn’t escape too early.
5. Seasoning With Salt But Not Acids
Most people know that salt helps flavors shine and food taste better, but not everyone knows the importance of acid. Acid helps brighten flavors — and just like salt, it's an important step to balancing the flavors of a dish. If your food tastes flat even after you’ve seasoned it with salt, try adding a splash of vinegar, wine, or citrus juice for some added zest!
