Debriefing: the most common kitchen mistakes

With the era of the Internet and the availability of all kinds of recipes, any hostess is inspired by modern gourmet dishes, and seeks to repeat the culinary masterpieces found on the Internet. But something goes wrong – and in the end, instead of a restaurant dish, you get a complete disappointment. At what stage do you make a mistake and how can you fix it?

Don’t read the recipe

Sometimes in a recipe, the most important information is listed at the very end. But our confidence does not allow us to read the detailed description – a set of ingredients is enough. At first, do not rely on your culinary intuition and delve into all the intricacies of cooling, heating a dish, technique and sequence of ingredients.

Using the wrong knife

Each knife is made for a specific task, and if you don’t have the opportunity to buy a good set, do not skimp on a quality all-purpose chef’s knife – this way you can properly cut vegetables, meat or herbs without spoiling the ingredients and giving them the right shape.

Cook cold meat

True chefs will never work with thawed meat – only fresh from the store or market. Cold meat heats up unevenly during cooking, so keep this fact in mind and take out the meat long before the cooking process.

Cutting meat incorrectly

Meat should always be cut across the grain, although slicing lengthwise seems more logical. But this method makes the pieces of meat tough and sometimes prevents it from juicing or cooking properly.

Do not use a meat thermometer

It seems that this is a completely superfluous device in your kitchen? But it is he who helps to cook the meat of the required roasting – it is difficult for an inexperienced housewife to determine this feature by eye.

You check a lot

For frying meat and flour products, you cannot constantly raise the workpiece, checking if a golden crust has appeared. Due to the constant change of temperatures, the products will cook unevenly, they will lose juices. Check the first batch and determine the time, then fry using this parameter.

Replace fresh herbs with dried

In dried products, the concentration of taste is much higher, and after drying, they slightly change their aroma. If you decide to replace fresh herbs with dried ones, put them much less, it is better to add later than to overdo it in advance.

Chop meat immediately after frying

So that the meat does not lose all its juices, it should be allowed to rest – from 5 minutes to almost complete cooling. Depending on the type of meat and the thickness of the piece. After cooking, the meat is still cooked for some time under the influence of temperature, therefore, by cutting into pieces, you will speed up the process and the meat will be re-cooked.

Using the wrong oil

The media imposes the unconditional benefits of olive oil – both for the figure and for the health of internal organs. But for frying meat, for example, it is not suitable, as it starts to burn, smoke and smoke. It is better to use in this case sunflower or a mixture of sunflower and cream.

Fry the garlic for a long time

Garlic burns quickly and loses its juices, so it should be added last to the dish. If you fry the garlic first for flavor, it should be pulled out before adding other foods.

Ignore the extinguishing process

The process of cooking and stewing is distinguished by temperature conditions. And if the dish, especially the sauce, should be stewed, then reduce the degree and simmer it. The rest of the products, instead of stewing in their own juice, give their juices to the broth, and the taste is completely different.

Boil eggs incorrectly

There are strictly set boiling times for boiling eggs, and if they are not followed, you can get overcooked or undercooked eggs.

Fry eggs the wrong way

Scrambled eggs should not be fried over too high a heat, let it simmer over medium, and then finish cooking, they turn off the stove – the scrambled eggs themselves will come to readiness in a hot pan. You can add a little water while cooking to keep the eggs dry.

Start cooking in a cold skillet

If you start cooking without fully warming up the pan, the food will stick and burn early. First heat the pan well, then add the oil and wait a little longer for it to warm up as well.

Overloading the pan

For food to cook properly with steam and have time to exchange juices, they need enough space. A pan filled to the brim will turn the dish into porridge. It is ideal to cook in several pans and only mix the ingredients at the end.

Add little water to make the pasta

Pasta is guaranteed to stick together if it runs out of water. They release starch and gluten into the water, which are then drained or washed. To cook 500 grams of spaghetti, you need about 5 liters of water.

Don’t taste the dish 

Especially if this is a spectacular pastry that you want to serve whole. Without trying a dish, you cannot vouch for its quality and taste. After trying a dish in the kitchen, you have a chance to fix the situation or cook something completely different if the recipe did not work out.

Do not dry food before slicing

After rinsing herbs, mushrooms and vegetables, the food should be dried with a kitchen towel. Wet chopped ingredients will “shoot” in a hot frying pan, or instead of frying, you will have a stewing process – the food will soften and lose its shape.

Overdo it with seasonings

Sometimes you want to arrange a real flavor explosion – all available seasonings are used, sometimes not combining in taste, interrupting the taste of the main ingredients. When reading a recipe, carefully measure out the amount of all seasonings, and if a pinch is indicated, then it is better not to report than to shift.

Delicious and properly prepared dishes for you!

Recall that earlier we talked about which seedlings can be grown in your kitchen and how they are useful, and also explained why children should spend more time in the kitchen with their parents.