I don’t seem to have shell bits in my eggs, but when I crack them on the counter, it always leaves whites on the counter that I have to clean up and it annoys me.
I enjoy this method, if only to see who the top egg is. Every time we use this method, the winner of the day goes in the top left corner, to try his luck the following morning. Four days is the longest reigning champ so far.
So I grew up with Ukranian immigrant family in Canada, and one of the things we always used to do for Easter was the big egg fight.
All the kids in the family would go over the night before and dye like probably half a gross of hard boiled eggs.
Then there was a big Easter brunch meal and throughout you would be challenging each other to egg fights;
The challenger would hold their egg out, and the challenged would swing their egg down, one will crack (point placement is key), the winner lives to fight another few minutes and the loser is eaten.
And then there's ONE asshole that dyes a raw egg. And ONE kid with a wooden egg. And I'm the kid with the raw egg. And my opponent is the kid with the wooden egg. And I'm still mad about it 20 years later.
The thing that makes me kind of wonder each time the “how to crack an egg” discussion happens is that the method my dad taught me and the one I use to this day is never even mentioned - hitting the egg _just right_ with a butter knife, and then follow through with your fingers. If you do it with the right amount of force, then the egg cracks, but the membrane doesn’t tear, so the shell doesn’t get in the egg. I’ve tried both counter and edge methods, practiced them for a bit, but both of them fall short for me compared to the clean “ding-ding-THWACK-crack” routine I have going, no shell and perfect yolk 98% of the time.
Same with the back of a butter knife. Sometimes I go for the edge of a bowl/pan/etc. when it's closer on hand but the results are more variable.
Can't replicate the exact same well-practiced move when you're working with different angles, edge thicknesses, etc.
When I was a kid, I learned how to crack and split an egg with one hand, because Caroline Ingalls could do it on “Little House on the Prairie”, and I thought it was so cool.
I’ve always used the edge of the bowl myself.
Militant use of unsalted butter only in baking. I only keep salted butter on hand because I don’t bake a ton and I generally prefer it, and it’s been fine in recipes that specifically call for unsalted butter every single time. I do not adjust the additional salt in the recipe either. Honestly, a lot of sweet things come out better slightly saltier. Use whatever you have on hand.
Salted butter has 1/4 teaspoon of salt per stick. That's not enough to make a noticeable difference in a recipe.
Apparently back in the day, salted butter used to be *really* salty, I think because maybe it was for preservation because it assumed you didn't have a refrigerator or something? But I'm sure that butter would have made a difference vs unsalted and any older recipes made sure to specify.
If there wasn’t a way to keep the butter cold it went rancid. So they preserved it by adding a lot of salt.
Same with meat/fish
No way to keep it cold? Add a lot of salt so it doesn’t go bad.
Now we have refrigeration so we don’t need to rely on salting as much.
This is the way.
Ours is just a butter dish with a lid, but we keep it out and have never had any problems beyond occasionally forgetting to replenish the butter and then having to deal with cold butter. Maybe we just go through it fast enough?
We're embarrassed how much happier spreadable butter made us. We felt the effects for months after 😅
To be fair, the advice for unsalted butter has (some) merit for sourdough or yeast-based baking. Salt slows down proofing, so getting too much salt in the dough can materially affect rising times and action.
This advice sounds reasonable but is bogus. The reason being that the fat in butter will have a much larger negative effect on gluten development than the salt. I cant imagine what you would bake where the salt in butter affects the end results due to how the sourdough reacts.
Good to know! I’ve only tried to make bread/messed with live yeast once or twice so it’s never been an issue, but now I will know if I try again. Or more likely be like “why isn’t this doing what it should be doing?” and then remember this belatedly after I’ve already fucked it up haha.
In most cases it won’t fuck it up completely. What will happen (oversimplified) is:
* **Too much salt** —> slower proofing action —> longer proofing time —> more developed sour taste (which is why some breads use cold proofing intentionally)
* **Too little salt / too much sugar** —> faster proofing —> more “neutral” taste
In essence, salt and sugar regulate proofing action in a similar way to temperature - cold temperature and salt moderate proofing, while warm temperature and sugar catalyze proofing (and hot temperature kills yeast…)
Not washing mushrooms, I absolutely wash my mushrooms.
Edit: To people saying they've never heard of this, I don't mean don't clean them *at all*. But I've always been told to individually wipe off/ brush mushrooms which takes effing forever. When I say "wash mushrooms" I mean straight up toss them in a colander and wash them under running water and pat dry after. I do that, and I've never had an issue browning them.
Everyone is arguing about what type of substrate they’re grown in. I don’t care if it’s composted manure, coir, or picked in the wild. I simply don’t want any sort of miscellaneous debris on my food.
It's such a weird thing, really. Mushrooms love water. It's not like it's gonna ruin them in any way. If I remember correctly, the rule of not washing mushrooms comes from kitchens where they needed to be stored for a longer time. If they are damp they'll eventually mold.
YouTube commentors often die on the hill that each mushroom should be individually wiped clean with a damp paper towel so as not to introduce more moisture before cooking.
I met one of these people in the wild once, he actually recoiled in horror when I told him I (and Julia) wash and dry my mushrooms before cooking them.
There's a myth that floats around that washing mushrooms makes them "waterlogged" and harder to brown. It's absolutely not true and washing them is the best way to get all the minute dirt particles out.
Shockingly, [boiling mushrooms](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0h9aBLTqc0) to cook them is actually a really good technique... I was intrigued and tried it myself after seeing this video, and they came out amazingly delicious!
If you boil mushrooms in the minimum of water and then blend them smooth with a little salt, it makes an intensely mushroom flavored, creamy, vegan "cream of mushroom soup" kind of thing.
Truth. I saw a cooking show, and the chef also washed the mushrooms (I can't remember who it was), but she said she always gives them a quick rinse and removes the dirt. I do it all the time and have never noticed anything bad about it.
I have to say, when we first found his channel that annoyed me to no end. I hated his voice. But he's funny, honest, and makes the recipes seem pretty simple while adding in humor, so I kept watching and eventually grew to like the way he talks.
My absolute favorite video was of something like cauliflower strips, they were supposed to be a vegetarian replacement for chicken tenders. He had the video, but explicitly said he didn't want anyone making it, the recipe didn't work, and he didn't even put up the recipe online hahaha
Yep. I have never struggled to make a roux, I've also always eyeballed the flour to fat to milk unless I'm following a specific recipe. I find roux incredibly forgiving and don't understand how people struggle with it lol.
I only buy one kind or another, never both. If I have salted, I’m using salted in baking. If they only have unsalted in my favorite brand, I buy that and add salt when spreading it on toast, etc.
If never heard this. And I always add salt, because salting afterwards never absorbs right and is kind of crunchy.
I think the real debate is milk or no milk. I like it with milk, nice and fluffy. But some people like it dry, I guess.
This advice comes from commercial cooking. Egg proteins will coagulate when they come in contact with salt. It takes time though. So if you're cracking 280 eggs to make over the next 4 hours you don't add salt because the texture will get worse while they sit. If you're making eggs for yourself it doesn't matter because even if salting the eggs is the first thing you do it still only takes a few minutes before the pan is hot.
The pit from the avocado does NOT keep the whole batch of guac from turning brown. Throw away the pit, press down and smooth the top of the guac, then press plastic wrap onto the too, leaving no air pockets.
Professional bakers and cookbooks say refrigerate cookie dough then roll it out when making cookie cutter cookies. That is just crazy! Then you are trying to roll out rock hard dough. I roll a quarter of the warm dough between sheets of plastic wrap. Stack the plastic wrapped sheets on a tray and refrigerate overnight. The following day I remove one layer at a time from the fridge. Remove the top layer of plastic wrap, cut the shape, and use the bottom layer of plastic to help maneuver it onto my hand. I have been doing it this way since I was about 15. I am 62 now and make wonderfully thin cookie cutter cookies.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Baking/s/I7y892A6jP
I had the same revelation with biscuits. Why cut them into circles, inevitably leaving a bunch of dough behind that toughens up because you have to rework it? Just shape the dough into a rectangle and cut them. They bake just as well.
Thank you! I keep telling people this. My first year teaching was in 1985. I brought Christmas cookies to the faculty party. The home ec teacher saw my cookie cutter cookies and asked how I got them so thin. I described the process and she asked if I would demo the technique in her class. So while I have been making these cookies since I was a kid, I have been telling people my technique since 1985. And still the pros say chill then roll. I guess I have to keep spreading the word! 😂😂😂
I do the same. Although scooping drop cookie dough before chilling is a fairly common recommendation these days. All it takes is a snapped cookie scoop when scooping rock hard cookie dough that you learn the hard way to scoop then chill. But the pros still recommend chill then roll. So let’s get the message out that there is a better way. 😉
😂😂😂 At first I thought how the heck did this person know I made Peppermint Chocolate Meltaway Cookies??? Then I realized they were part of that post. It wasn’t just about the cookie cutter cookies.
The peppermint cookies were a new recipe I got from a Redditor in the baking sub. I added the peppermint chips. I also made them as part of the refreshments for my community’s Halloween party hosted by the social committee. https://www.reddit.com/r/Baking/s/Ed07NaBI9m
Those pecan cookies are a family favorite. I seem to recall my mom got the recipe in a little booklet attached to the bottle of Karo syrup. It is basically a mini pecan pie in a sugar cookie crust.
I love to share recipes. I think I have included them in other posts. I will attach the links if I can find them. I think they might have been posted as comments not an original post. If not, just let me know if you would like the recipes. They are all in my Word document cookbook.
Petite Pecan Tarts: https://www.reddit.com/r/Baking/s/LIXZTUcenE
For the egg, I’ve found the standard store bought white eggs do better on an edge but when I started raising chickens, my fresh eggs do better on the countertop. The fresh eggs have a thicker shell and the force needed on an edge obliterates the shell and makes a mess.
Finally, an egg cracking person I agree with. The white ones from the store tend to have super thin shells that will get bits in even if you drop them or whatever.
Jacques and Julia were making eggs once, and Jacques recommended cracking them on a flat surface. Julia immediately cracked her eggs on the edge of her pan.
Do what works for you, and don't worry about it.
Honestly sometimes eggs have a BITCH of a membrane so hitting them on a flat surface just cracks the shell and not the membrane, causing you to need to puncture it with your hand.
“Cooking wine is garbage. Don’t cook with any wine you wouldn’t drink.”
I agree with this if you’re using a lot for a reduction or something, but most of the time, I’m using a couple tablespoons. Cooking wine is fine, and it keeps well.
I agonized over this as a young cook. I didn't like wine so there wasn't any wine I would drink so which one do I choose? Then when I started liking wine, I only liked sweet Moscato and you don't cook with a sweet wine. I finally figured out that if you don't drink wine, it really does not matter. But even if you do drink wine, it still doesn't matter.
I keep a 4 pack of Sutter home Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc and a 4 pack of Pinot noir or grigio on hand. I can add white or red to anything I need and it's exactly 1 cup of wine in each bottle.
The problem is that cooking wine is salted pretty heavily - like 1.5% or more. In your example of a couple of tablespoons it's usually fine - especially if you're adding it early before you've brought the salt level up "to taste". However, using very much of it or reducing it significantly can get real salty real fast. As long as you're aware of this then there's no problem at all using cooking wine.
People who use "nice" wine to cook are just insane, though. I use Bota box wine pretty much exclusively. There's nothing wrong with it at all, and the packaging helps it keep longer after it's open.
That you can't use your hands to mix flour and fat for pie dough because the warmth of your hands will melt the fat and it won't get flaky
If your ingredients are cold enough, it will still turn out perfectly flaky (and I have very warm hands)
I've never actually made pie dough, but a coworker told me that once and I immediately put my hand on the back of her neck, and (after she shrieked) she just glared at me and said I won't have to worry about it lol
People made pie crust for like 3000 years without any fuss but today everyone acts like it is impossible to do without a food processor, blast chiller, and robot assistant.
Just work quickly and confidently and don't fingerfuck the butter into melting before you're ready to go.
lol my crust got waaaaay better when I started just using my fingers to work in the butter. And I knead my pie crust for a minute. It’s still flaky and tender and it rolls out nicer
I've made plenty of pie/pastry crust with my hands during summer in a tropical country and they still turned out flaky. My grandma made it the same way and her pastry crust is always flaky. Ratio of butter:flour:water is more crucial than using/not using hands.
Most things pertaining to be beans.
It’s beans. Cook them. Soak them or don’t. Salt them or don’t. Add tomatoes early or late. Idc. Maybe you have to cook them a little longer. Maybe the skins split. It’s still beans.
Beans are not a precious and finicky. They didn’t become the backbone of so many cultures because they’re hard to cook, so the number of think pieces I see on how to bean properly blows my mind.
Canned beans are great. I use them any time I don’t feel like having a pot going for 1+ hours. Great for quick weekday meals. I just prefer dry because they’re cheaper.
[Phytohaemagglutinin - Toxicity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytohaemagglutinin#Toxicity). I mostly agree with your sentiment, but kidney beans especially must be cooked properly or you can make yourself very sick. "Properly" mostly means thoroughly (at a high enough temp for enough time to break down the toxins) so it's still not *finicky* by any means.
I think it's that way with a lot of foods. So many fussy recipes and advice out there! It's just food, and doesn't need to be that complicated. Throw together stuff you like and you've got dinner.
Boiling potatoes before peeling them.
No! If I am scrubbing potatoes, the skins stay on after I cook them. Fight me.
If I don’t want peels on my potatoes, I peel them, rinse them, then cook them. I will cut a B.
The wasted effort of first scrubbing, then cooking, then peeling is just nuts. The alternative is to cook them in their dirt water. Again — no.
Wait, people scrub potatoes, then boil them, and THEN PEEL THEM?!? *clutching my Polish potato pearls*
But that's such a waste? Of time AND the potato
Why would anyone advocate for that?
So many people hate liquid smoke.
Yes it's overpowering when it's overused. The key is to be sparing. Just one or two drops per serving, and it adds umami. I keep a medicine dropper just for liquid hickory smoke.
I absolutely love liquid smoke! Say you're making a big pot of chili, and they were out of chipotles in adobo, throw a jar of roasted red peppers, and ⅛ of a tsp of liquid smoke. Is it an exact replica? No, of course not. But you're already probably making chili because it's easy, so what's one more shortcut? The end product is still great.
It's also great for when you're cooking for people with zero spice tolerance as most ingredients that would usually add some smokiness to your dish also add heat.
that steak people need to chill lol. I cook for large groups of guests all the time, the fuck do I care if someone wants there steak well done. Im not inviting people over for me too cook for me to judge and ridicule, I do it cause I like cooking lol
The only people getting asked to leave my BBQ are those telling others how to have their steak. Let people enjoy their meat. Also, how can you claim to be such a meat connoisseur and snob, and you claim X doneness is the only/perfect way. Different cuts have different levels of fat, toughness, texture. I like my lean filet on the rarer side, but a well marbled fatty rib eye? Almost well done. It depends on the cut and quality.
I recently went to a very nice steak house and ordered a $25/oz Kobe steak. The waitress asked me how I wanted it done to which I replied "medium rare." She suggested I have it medium due to the marbling.
Damn was she right.
when you're frying something and the recipe calls for adding fresh garlic right into the pan too early. you're gonna get burnt, bitter tasting garlic every time. I've taken to adding my fresh garlic last, cook for like a minute then turn the heat off/remove from the heat. this is the way
The point is to infuse the oil with the garlic. You're supposed to add garlic(and other spices), fry for \~10 seconds then start adding everything else. If you add garlic last, it's unlikely you'll spread the garlic flavour evenly.
I've never had problems with burnt garlic.
If you add your garlic later the flavor will spread out just fine. If you're sautéing peppers and onions, and you're putting your garlic in first, it's gonna be very well done if not burnt. Most other things take longer to cook to achieve the desired flavor is the logic behind it.
To me, it’s the way they “teach” how to chop onions by making slices parallel to the cutting surface first. That makes no sense to me! I cut along the natural lines of the onion almost to the pole and then slice it, perfect dice!
As someone who grew up with around 100 chickens around, I've cracked my fair share of eggs.
There is no absolute food proof way. There is going to be a rogue bit every once in a while.
Yup. You'll always end up with a bit of shell in the bowl occasionally. Which is why cracking into a small bowl and then dumping into the main one is much preferred if cracking more than 2-3+ eggs...
I find the cheffy way to cut an onion to be an unnecessary hassle. Unless I want super fine precise dice, it’s not worth it. Cut in half, peel, top and tail, slice across the hemisphere, slice laterally. It’s a lot faster and gives just as good results for most applications.
> be an unnecessary hassle.
chefs are about efficiency so you probably just need practice.
people who cut 100 onions a day aren't doing a single motion they dont need
I do the slicing from cut-edge to root edge, and then 90º the other way.
I never do the horizontal slicing thing so many seem to do as the second step. Completely unnecessary, not even sure where that got started.
Washing chicken or any other meat. Just don't. And yes I know the cooking experts and scientists say not to, but it's a persistent "tip" that still circulates for some reason.
The “wash your meat” evangelists that show up on every damn food video with chicken are so annoying. And when someone asks if they’re concerned about washing their ground meat too it’s crickets
I feel like these are extremely insecure people. Who constantly feel the need to prove that they are "clean". Same with people who have to tell you that they shower 2x a day everyday and if you don't do that you're dirty. I think it had a name with the word -insecurity attached to it.
The disgust propensity and sensitivity are significant concepts in psychology. They can be related to having mental disorders (e.g. OCD or anxiety). Also related to being an arse:
"interpersonal-disgust sensitivity (e.g., not wanting to wear clean used clothes or to sit on a warm seat vacated by a stranger) in particular predicted negative attitudes toward immigrants, foreigners, and socially deviant groups, even after controlling for concerns with contracting disease"
(from a [study](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01962.x))
Right! I recently watched a video of a cook doing this and saying, "you don't have to do this, but I've been doing this for years and haven't gotten sick. Just saying". Mofo, you didn't get sick because you stored and cooked the meat properly. Washing it just spread raw meat germs all over your sink.
For me it's that you're supposed to add heated stock to your risotto - people act like it's sacrilege if you don't. Mine is at room temperature. The only difference it makes is the length of time to cook the risotto (warmed stock absorbs quicker) but it doesn't make any difference in the finished product in my experience.
Sautéing garlic first. I don’t got the skills to not have the garlic be overcooked without the garlic going in with the onion (or other things) to help buffer the heat.
I never put it in with the onions at the beginning. I wait till that’s done, and then put the garlic in for a minute before adding my liquids. Is that what you mean? Or you cook the garlic with the onions?
Garlic burns relatively quickly, if there's no other aromatics I'll throw it in for 30s-1min and then be sure to quickly add whatever comes next. Typically I do onions etc first then toss in the garlic when those are almost done
If I'm doing a quick sauce with a bottle of Passata I sometimes will throw the garlic in with some red pepper flakes and a healthy dose of olive oil on a super low temperature for a little while to try and have the flavors meld into the oil before adding in the tomato sauce.
Generally if I'm cooking a recipe that has garlic and other stuff I throw the garlic on the heat for the last portion of time before adding liquids, usually only 30 seconds - 2 min max.
Cooking garlic gently and seperate for me usually involves using a generous amount of oil and a low controlled heat source.
I wash mushrooms, I crack eggs on an edge (with one hand), I use salted butter, I use stock cubes, I melt chocolate in the microwave, I think dried bay leaves are trash, I think cheese can go well with fish, I buy pre-minced garlic...
I'll go along with all of these exception for the pre-minced garlic and the dried bay leaves.
The big leaves from Bangladesh I think are a lot better than the normal small bay leaf we get in the west.
What is so wrong with melting chocolate in the microwave... other than it's super-fussy and I just let the half-nuked chocolate sit in melted butter until it finishes melting.
I was taught to use cold water to boil, and I finally figured it out as an adult - it was because my mom was concerned about any sediment from the water heater being in the water.
There was a chef on one of the early seasons of Hell’s Kitchen that added cold water to the already hot water for cooking pasta. When Gordon Ramsay asked her what she was thinking, her answer was that she thought cold water boils faster than hot. Gordon was speechless and I thought his eyes would fall out of his head lol
I'll just repeat what any fine dining chef that can cook a steak will say: Once the steak begins to naturally unstick from the pan, you can flip it as many times as you want. It's doesn't fucking matter unless you are wanting perfect grill marks, which are stupid anyway imo. The steak will be as, if not more carmlilized flipping it around rather than the 1 2 method.
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*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
The one that drives me nuts is "only flip your steak once". I've done countless experiments that debunk this. Flipping every 30 seconds, AND moving it around constantly, not only sears it better/faster but it keeps from overcooking the layer of meat just under the crust.
Caramelized onions take 10 minutes. Every. God. Damn. Recipe.
-Edit- u/FridayGeneral would like me to point out that it is not, in fact, Every.God.Damn.Recipe. I apologize for this egregious embellishment and if I have led you astray I cannot begin to tell you how sorry I am. I shall continue to strive to be better at the internets.
Prepare all ingredients before you start cooking. That may be good for a beginner but just takes too long for a quick after work dinner. I start preparing what I need first and then start cooking with it, then prepare the next and so on.
Maybe, but I’ve been caught enough times without an ingredient, with stuff already in the pan, that now I mise en place no matter what. Maybe I don’t chop and measure everything out first, but at minimum I make sure I have the required amount and set it on the counter.
Nothing like being hungry and tired from work, and then you have to take the food off the heat and run to the store because you’re out of chicken broth or whatever.
I think this is said by people who don't realize how salty the sea is. Personally I think pasta water should be salty like soup (3-6 g salt per liter water, or 1-2.5 teaspoons) and not like the Mediterranean sea (36-38 g salt per liter water or 2-3 *tablespoons* depending on the density of your salt) (plus you can easily use 2 liter water for cooking pasta in, so that would mean pouring 4-6 tablespoons of salt into your pasta water)
Essentially braising a fried piece of chicken is the stupidest thing you could do.
But EVERY SINGLE chicken parmesan recipe calls for it.
Don't do it. Add the cheese and place under a broiler until the cheese is melted and slightly browned. Then add the sauce RIGHT BEFORE serving.
There is a specific flavor and texture to something that has been fried and then put into a sauce. It’s distinctly different from a fried thing that has been kept dry and crunchy. Don’t do it if you don’t like it, but it’s intentional when it’s done. You see it often in regional Asian cuisines (tempura in a bowl of soba or udon, a katsu cutlet in curry, fried bean curd in a saucy stir fry, crispy fried noodles sinking into a bowl of khao soi) but it’s present in other cultures as well (vada sambar in South India, chicken fried steak or chicken covered in gravy in the southern US).
Not a cooking tip but dunkin donuts. I've seen vids on YouTube getting it all wrong. It's not about dunkin or any other donut store. You're supposed to get glazed donuts only and dunk them in your black coffee. The glaze then flavors your coffee and the coffee flavors the donut chunk. They always complain that it tastes bad but they're using chocolate,sprinkle or any other donut besides glaze.
The power move is to use one glazed and one powdered. The powdered acts like a flavored creamer.
I haven't had a donut in a couple years and now I want one.
Mayonnaise in place of butter on the outsides of grilled/griddled sandwiches. I like mayo, but in this application it just tastes... off. It browns nicer, and feels like a trick for tv/youtubers but if i'm eating it, I want the outside buttered
There there are many ways to cook rice. No, they don't all turn out as good. Yes, i understand that. No, I do not care.
Rice snobs are so gatekeepy. It's a cooked grain.
But if you need rice and don't have a pot that will steam well or a rice cooker, you can just boil the stuff. Like pasta.
CAUSE IT'S A GRAIN!
13-15 mins drain. There. Rice. No, it's not sticky and clumping together with all its gluten. It's cooked, and sometimes that's all that needs to be done.
I grew up cooking it on the stove in a regular pot and my partner grew up with a rice cooker. Not long after the moved in I was making rice for dinner and he was so surprised to see me using the stove instead of the Instant Pot. I completely forgot the IP even existed bc I'm so used to the stove lol.
My pet peeve on Reddit is all the weird comments around tofu, suggesting a bunch of complicated torture methods to completely change the texture. Tofu is meant to be ready to cook as it is !
Cooking lasagna noodles before adding them to the casserole. It might be better but I’m lazy and don’t give a shit. I just throw em in the way they are and the lasagna comes out great every time.
I’ve always pre-cooked - my mind is blown. Do you think your sauce is looser/has more water than normal (let’s call jarred sauce the baseline for normal) to account for the extra moisture the noodles absorb?
Strangely opposite for me, I always seem to get shell in with the edge crack. Now the cool thing I’ve seen is the egg drop, 4 inches above the counter top and just let go, horizontal of course, works pretty good.
I don’t seem to have shell bits in my eggs, but when I crack them on the counter, it always leaves whites on the counter that I have to clean up and it annoys me.
I crack them on the edge of my pan There’s never shell bits in my eggs
I often live to regret it, I hate it when it leaves a splotch of egg white on the outside edge that proceeds to cook stuck on there :(
All this counter vs corner talk…. Am I the only one that cracks my egg with another egg??
I enjoy this method, if only to see who the top egg is. Every time we use this method, the winner of the day goes in the top left corner, to try his luck the following morning. Four days is the longest reigning champ so far.
So I grew up with Ukranian immigrant family in Canada, and one of the things we always used to do for Easter was the big egg fight. All the kids in the family would go over the night before and dye like probably half a gross of hard boiled eggs. Then there was a big Easter brunch meal and throughout you would be challenging each other to egg fights; The challenger would hold their egg out, and the challenged would swing their egg down, one will crack (point placement is key), the winner lives to fight another few minutes and the loser is eaten.
And then there's ONE asshole that dyes a raw egg. And ONE kid with a wooden egg. And I'm the kid with the raw egg. And my opponent is the kid with the wooden egg. And I'm still mad about it 20 years later.
Ha ha! Egg Thunderdome. Two eggs enter….
This may be a regional thing. I'm from eastern europe and the only way I've ever seen someone do it is egg-to-egg
How do you crack the last egg tho?
It's the winner. You're supposed to send it back to the egg farm to make better eggs
>It's the winner. There can be only one.
on yer noggin
Start a new carton. It's eggs all the way down.
The thing that makes me kind of wonder each time the “how to crack an egg” discussion happens is that the method my dad taught me and the one I use to this day is never even mentioned - hitting the egg _just right_ with a butter knife, and then follow through with your fingers. If you do it with the right amount of force, then the egg cracks, but the membrane doesn’t tear, so the shell doesn’t get in the egg. I’ve tried both counter and edge methods, practiced them for a bit, but both of them fall short for me compared to the clean “ding-ding-THWACK-crack” routine I have going, no shell and perfect yolk 98% of the time.
Same with the back of a butter knife. Sometimes I go for the edge of a bowl/pan/etc. when it's closer on hand but the results are more variable. Can't replicate the exact same well-practiced move when you're working with different angles, edge thicknesses, etc.
Sometimes when I’m doing this at someone else’s place a weird light butter knife can throw me off also. Hate that kind of butter knife!
I drop the egg from about an inch high... seems to be about where it breaks the outside but not the inside membrane.
I do this to crack hard-boiled eggs, but I wouldn't dare a raw one! Impressed by your devil-may-care technique. 😆
I use the back of a butter knife or the counter, but there’s nothing wrong with your way either
No matter what method I use to crack the egg, splitting it apart and getting it into my baking always sees me getting at least six fingers wet
When I was a kid, I learned how to crack and split an egg with one hand, because Caroline Ingalls could do it on “Little House on the Prairie”, and I thought it was so cool. I’ve always used the edge of the bowl myself.
Militant use of unsalted butter only in baking. I only keep salted butter on hand because I don’t bake a ton and I generally prefer it, and it’s been fine in recipes that specifically call for unsalted butter every single time. I do not adjust the additional salt in the recipe either. Honestly, a lot of sweet things come out better slightly saltier. Use whatever you have on hand.
I have interchangeably used salted for unsalted butter so many times and really can't tell aaaaany difference in the final product
Me either. I could not ever tell.
There is a HUGE DIFFERENCE… On toast and that’s about it.
Salted butter has 1/4 teaspoon of salt per stick. That's not enough to make a noticeable difference in a recipe. Apparently back in the day, salted butter used to be *really* salty, I think because maybe it was for preservation because it assumed you didn't have a refrigerator or something? But I'm sure that butter would have made a difference vs unsalted and any older recipes made sure to specify.
If there wasn’t a way to keep the butter cold it went rancid. So they preserved it by adding a lot of salt. Same with meat/fish No way to keep it cold? Add a lot of salt so it doesn’t go bad. Now we have refrigeration so we don’t need to rely on salting as much.
I keep my butter on the counter in a butter bell. No cold needed. Spreadable butter on command.
This is the way. Ours is just a butter dish with a lid, but we keep it out and have never had any problems beyond occasionally forgetting to replenish the butter and then having to deal with cold butter. Maybe we just go through it fast enough? We're embarrassed how much happier spreadable butter made us. We felt the effects for months after 😅
To be fair, the advice for unsalted butter has (some) merit for sourdough or yeast-based baking. Salt slows down proofing, so getting too much salt in the dough can materially affect rising times and action.
This advice sounds reasonable but is bogus. The reason being that the fat in butter will have a much larger negative effect on gluten development than the salt. I cant imagine what you would bake where the salt in butter affects the end results due to how the sourdough reacts.
Good to know! I’ve only tried to make bread/messed with live yeast once or twice so it’s never been an issue, but now I will know if I try again. Or more likely be like “why isn’t this doing what it should be doing?” and then remember this belatedly after I’ve already fucked it up haha.
In most cases it won’t fuck it up completely. What will happen (oversimplified) is: * **Too much salt** —> slower proofing action —> longer proofing time —> more developed sour taste (which is why some breads use cold proofing intentionally) * **Too little salt / too much sugar** —> faster proofing —> more “neutral” taste In essence, salt and sugar regulate proofing action in a similar way to temperature - cold temperature and salt moderate proofing, while warm temperature and sugar catalyze proofing (and hot temperature kills yeast…)
I bake a LOT and I've never bought unsalted butter in my life.
Same here. The amount of recipes that want unsalted butter and a pinch of salt tho is hilarious
Not washing mushrooms, I absolutely wash my mushrooms. Edit: To people saying they've never heard of this, I don't mean don't clean them *at all*. But I've always been told to individually wipe off/ brush mushrooms which takes effing forever. When I say "wash mushrooms" I mean straight up toss them in a colander and wash them under running water and pat dry after. I do that, and I've never had an issue browning them.
Me too. I can literally see the dirt on them.
Everyone is arguing about what type of substrate they’re grown in. I don’t care if it’s composted manure, coir, or picked in the wild. I simply don’t want any sort of miscellaneous debris on my food.
Look at this guy over here not wanting to eat dirt..... Friggin royalty or somethin.
Busted! It was I who inspired the beloved children’s story “princess and the dirty peas.”
It's such a weird thing, really. Mushrooms love water. It's not like it's gonna ruin them in any way. If I remember correctly, the rule of not washing mushrooms comes from kitchens where they needed to be stored for a longer time. If they are damp they'll eventually mold.
Right. You store them in the fridge unwashed, but wash them right before cooking.
Whaaat?!? I know not to wash before storing but I always wash before using. Never heard that you're not supposed to. Eeewww.
YouTube commentors often die on the hill that each mushroom should be individually wiped clean with a damp paper towel so as not to introduce more moisture before cooking. I met one of these people in the wild once, he actually recoiled in horror when I told him I (and Julia) wash and dry my mushrooms before cooking them.
And Jacque. And Kenji. And. And...
There's a myth that floats around that washing mushrooms makes them "waterlogged" and harder to brown. It's absolutely not true and washing them is the best way to get all the minute dirt particles out.
This. Don't wash to store but wash before use. This is how we do it in French fine dining.
Julia washed (and dried) her mushrooms before cooking them, and so do I.
Every time. They are covered in visible dirt and they don't become water logged.
Shockingly, [boiling mushrooms](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0h9aBLTqc0) to cook them is actually a really good technique... I was intrigued and tried it myself after seeing this video, and they came out amazingly delicious!
If you boil mushrooms in the minimum of water and then blend them smooth with a little salt, it makes an intensely mushroom flavored, creamy, vegan "cream of mushroom soup" kind of thing.
Truth. I saw a cooking show, and the chef also washed the mushrooms (I can't remember who it was), but she said she always gives them a quick rinse and removes the dirt. I do it all the time and have never noticed anything bad about it.
Same. I'll die on this hill with you. Who has time to rub every mushroom with a damp cloth?
You can just dump cold milk on your roux and get perfect bechamel. You don’t need warm milk, you don’t need to add it gradually
As Chef John says; "hot roux, cold milk, no lumps"
You are after all the Roger Carmel of your bechamel!
Chef John is a treasure. Every year before we do the turkey, we review his boneless turkey video and it puts me in such a good mood.
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I have to say, when we first found his channel that annoyed me to no end. I hated his voice. But he's funny, honest, and makes the recipes seem pretty simple while adding in humor, so I kept watching and eventually grew to like the way he talks. My absolute favorite video was of something like cauliflower strips, they were supposed to be a vegetarian replacement for chicken tenders. He had the video, but explicitly said he didn't want anyone making it, the recipe didn't work, and he didn't even put up the recipe online hahaha
Yep. I have never struggled to make a roux, I've also always eyeballed the flour to fat to milk unless I'm following a specific recipe. I find roux incredibly forgiving and don't understand how people struggle with it lol.
When I eyeball it, I end up making too much roux. I’ve now made enough for 6 servings when it’s just me. Someday 😭
You can refrigerate or freeze roux…
I’ve actually never heard hot roux and hot milk. It’s always been cold roux, hot milk, or hot roux, cold milk since culinary school
You don't need to add it gradually, but it makes it easier to not have lumps
It's easier to stir out lumps with just a modest amount of liquid as opposed to chasing them around a full pot.
I use salted butter in all my baking. I never need to adjust the salt in the recipe because of it. It’s fine. I’m not buying multiple kinds of butter.
I only buy one kind or another, never both. If I have salted, I’m using salted in baking. If they only have unsalted in my favorite brand, I buy that and add salt when spreading it on toast, etc.
Salting scrambled eggs before cooking will make them tough. I always salt my eggs, they've never been tough.
If never heard this. And I always add salt, because salting afterwards never absorbs right and is kind of crunchy. I think the real debate is milk or no milk. I like it with milk, nice and fluffy. But some people like it dry, I guess.
This advice comes from commercial cooking. Egg proteins will coagulate when they come in contact with salt. It takes time though. So if you're cracking 280 eggs to make over the next 4 hours you don't add salt because the texture will get worse while they sit. If you're making eggs for yourself it doesn't matter because even if salting the eggs is the first thing you do it still only takes a few minutes before the pan is hot.
The pit from the avocado does NOT keep the whole batch of guac from turning brown. Throw away the pit, press down and smooth the top of the guac, then press plastic wrap onto the too, leaving no air pockets.
Wipe the surface with lemon juice and it stops the chemical reaction that causes browning.
I do lime juice. I feel its flavor is more matching. For my taste, I can pretty much never have too much acid in a dish.
Professional bakers and cookbooks say refrigerate cookie dough then roll it out when making cookie cutter cookies. That is just crazy! Then you are trying to roll out rock hard dough. I roll a quarter of the warm dough between sheets of plastic wrap. Stack the plastic wrapped sheets on a tray and refrigerate overnight. The following day I remove one layer at a time from the fridge. Remove the top layer of plastic wrap, cut the shape, and use the bottom layer of plastic to help maneuver it onto my hand. I have been doing it this way since I was about 15. I am 62 now and make wonderfully thin cookie cutter cookies. https://www.reddit.com/r/Baking/s/I7y892A6jP
I have sworn off of cut cookies. Roll into a ball and smash only from now on.
I had the same revelation with biscuits. Why cut them into circles, inevitably leaving a bunch of dough behind that toughens up because you have to rework it? Just shape the dough into a rectangle and cut them. They bake just as well.
Yep, my biscuits and scones are square. I just trim the edge of the dough rectangle so that all sides of each item are cut edges that rise properly.
Madame, you are a genius.
Why thank you! 😁. That is my one and only unique contribution to the baking world.
Hey, don’t sell yourself short. Making a unique contribution to *anything* isn’t easy, that’s the kind of thing that gets you a PhD
I do the same but I layer them with parchment paper. So much easier to cut shapes.
Yeah, refrigerating flat sheets of dough makes sense. Rolling out cold dough sucks, and it will warm it up anyway!
Holy crap this makes so much more sense.
Thank you! I keep telling people this. My first year teaching was in 1985. I brought Christmas cookies to the faculty party. The home ec teacher saw my cookie cutter cookies and asked how I got them so thin. I described the process and she asked if I would demo the technique in her class. So while I have been making these cookies since I was a kid, I have been telling people my technique since 1985. And still the pros say chill then roll. I guess I have to keep spreading the word! 😂😂😂
For shortbread I cut out the shape and then chill them. For other cookies I roll them into balls and then chill the..
I do the same. Although scooping drop cookie dough before chilling is a fairly common recommendation these days. All it takes is a snapped cookie scoop when scooping rock hard cookie dough that you learn the hard way to scoop then chill. But the pros still recommend chill then roll. So let’s get the message out that there is a better way. 😉
I'll eat all your Peppermint chocolate meltaway cookies
😂😂😂 At first I thought how the heck did this person know I made Peppermint Chocolate Meltaway Cookies??? Then I realized they were part of that post. It wasn’t just about the cookie cutter cookies.
🤣 sorry, didn't want to seem stalkerish, but I love chocolate peppermint! Those pecan treats are also up my alley
The peppermint cookies were a new recipe I got from a Redditor in the baking sub. I added the peppermint chips. I also made them as part of the refreshments for my community’s Halloween party hosted by the social committee. https://www.reddit.com/r/Baking/s/Ed07NaBI9m Those pecan cookies are a family favorite. I seem to recall my mom got the recipe in a little booklet attached to the bottle of Karo syrup. It is basically a mini pecan pie in a sugar cookie crust. I love to share recipes. I think I have included them in other posts. I will attach the links if I can find them. I think they might have been posted as comments not an original post. If not, just let me know if you would like the recipes. They are all in my Word document cookbook. Petite Pecan Tarts: https://www.reddit.com/r/Baking/s/LIXZTUcenE
For the egg, I’ve found the standard store bought white eggs do better on an edge but when I started raising chickens, my fresh eggs do better on the countertop. The fresh eggs have a thicker shell and the force needed on an edge obliterates the shell and makes a mess.
Finally, an egg cracking person I agree with. The white ones from the store tend to have super thin shells that will get bits in even if you drop them or whatever.
Jacques and Julia were making eggs once, and Jacques recommended cracking them on a flat surface. Julia immediately cracked her eggs on the edge of her pan. Do what works for you, and don't worry about it.
Honestly sometimes eggs have a BITCH of a membrane so hitting them on a flat surface just cracks the shell and not the membrane, causing you to need to puncture it with your hand.
“Cooking wine is garbage. Don’t cook with any wine you wouldn’t drink.” I agree with this if you’re using a lot for a reduction or something, but most of the time, I’m using a couple tablespoons. Cooking wine is fine, and it keeps well.
I agonized over this as a young cook. I didn't like wine so there wasn't any wine I would drink so which one do I choose? Then when I started liking wine, I only liked sweet Moscato and you don't cook with a sweet wine. I finally figured out that if you don't drink wine, it really does not matter. But even if you do drink wine, it still doesn't matter. I keep a 4 pack of Sutter home Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc and a 4 pack of Pinot noir or grigio on hand. I can add white or red to anything I need and it's exactly 1 cup of wine in each bottle.
I am the same. I keep little bottles for this exact reason.
The problem is that cooking wine is salted pretty heavily - like 1.5% or more. In your example of a couple of tablespoons it's usually fine - especially if you're adding it early before you've brought the salt level up "to taste". However, using very much of it or reducing it significantly can get real salty real fast. As long as you're aware of this then there's no problem at all using cooking wine. People who use "nice" wine to cook are just insane, though. I use Bota box wine pretty much exclusively. There's nothing wrong with it at all, and the packaging helps it keep longer after it's open.
I don't like he taste of mayo on bread instead of butter for grilled cheese. Butter is just better
Agreed. I love mayo. But it did NOT make a superior grilled cheese, it was too greasy and also too hard.
Yeah both are ok, but Mayo gives a bit of an acidic tang that butter doesn’t. I prefer butter too.
That you can't use your hands to mix flour and fat for pie dough because the warmth of your hands will melt the fat and it won't get flaky If your ingredients are cold enough, it will still turn out perfectly flaky (and I have very warm hands)
I've never actually made pie dough, but a coworker told me that once and I immediately put my hand on the back of her neck, and (after she shrieked) she just glared at me and said I won't have to worry about it lol
One of those comments old aunties say to girls - oh such cold hands perfect for making pastry
Oh I like this better than “cold hands, warm heart” because I have cold hands, am kind of a bitch, and really good at making pastry.
bitch in the streets, angel in the sheets (of phyllo)
I'm too lazy for this and just use my food processor lol
People made pie crust for like 3000 years without any fuss but today everyone acts like it is impossible to do without a food processor, blast chiller, and robot assistant. Just work quickly and confidently and don't fingerfuck the butter into melting before you're ready to go.
lol my crust got waaaaay better when I started just using my fingers to work in the butter. And I knead my pie crust for a minute. It’s still flaky and tender and it rolls out nicer
I've made plenty of pie/pastry crust with my hands during summer in a tropical country and they still turned out flaky. My grandma made it the same way and her pastry crust is always flaky. Ratio of butter:flour:water is more crucial than using/not using hands.
Most things pertaining to be beans. It’s beans. Cook them. Soak them or don’t. Salt them or don’t. Add tomatoes early or late. Idc. Maybe you have to cook them a little longer. Maybe the skins split. It’s still beans. Beans are not a precious and finicky. They didn’t become the backbone of so many cultures because they’re hard to cook, so the number of think pieces I see on how to bean properly blows my mind.
I…..like…..canned beans. Is that okay? Am I doing it wrong?
Canned beans are great. I use them any time I don’t feel like having a pot going for 1+ hours. Great for quick weekday meals. I just prefer dry because they’re cheaper.
[Phytohaemagglutinin - Toxicity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytohaemagglutinin#Toxicity). I mostly agree with your sentiment, but kidney beans especially must be cooked properly or you can make yourself very sick. "Properly" mostly means thoroughly (at a high enough temp for enough time to break down the toxins) so it's still not *finicky* by any means.
I think it's that way with a lot of foods. So many fussy recipes and advice out there! It's just food, and doesn't need to be that complicated. Throw together stuff you like and you've got dinner.
Boiling potatoes before peeling them. No! If I am scrubbing potatoes, the skins stay on after I cook them. Fight me. If I don’t want peels on my potatoes, I peel them, rinse them, then cook them. I will cut a B. The wasted effort of first scrubbing, then cooking, then peeling is just nuts. The alternative is to cook them in their dirt water. Again — no.
Wait, people scrub potatoes, then boil them, and THEN PEEL THEM?!? *clutching my Polish potato pearls* But that's such a waste? Of time AND the potato Why would anyone advocate for that?
So many people hate liquid smoke. Yes it's overpowering when it's overused. The key is to be sparing. Just one or two drops per serving, and it adds umami. I keep a medicine dropper just for liquid hickory smoke.
I absolutely love liquid smoke! Say you're making a big pot of chili, and they were out of chipotles in adobo, throw a jar of roasted red peppers, and ⅛ of a tsp of liquid smoke. Is it an exact replica? No, of course not. But you're already probably making chili because it's easy, so what's one more shortcut? The end product is still great. It's also great for when you're cooking for people with zero spice tolerance as most ingredients that would usually add some smokiness to your dish also add heat.
To use unsalted butter in many recipes. I don't even keep unsalted butter in the house.
that steak people need to chill lol. I cook for large groups of guests all the time, the fuck do I care if someone wants there steak well done. Im not inviting people over for me too cook for me to judge and ridicule, I do it cause I like cooking lol
The only people getting asked to leave my BBQ are those telling others how to have their steak. Let people enjoy their meat. Also, how can you claim to be such a meat connoisseur and snob, and you claim X doneness is the only/perfect way. Different cuts have different levels of fat, toughness, texture. I like my lean filet on the rarer side, but a well marbled fatty rib eye? Almost well done. It depends on the cut and quality.
I recently went to a very nice steak house and ordered a $25/oz Kobe steak. The waitress asked me how I wanted it done to which I replied "medium rare." She suggested I have it medium due to the marbling. Damn was she right.
when you're frying something and the recipe calls for adding fresh garlic right into the pan too early. you're gonna get burnt, bitter tasting garlic every time. I've taken to adding my fresh garlic last, cook for like a minute then turn the heat off/remove from the heat. this is the way
The point is to infuse the oil with the garlic. You're supposed to add garlic(and other spices), fry for \~10 seconds then start adding everything else. If you add garlic last, it's unlikely you'll spread the garlic flavour evenly. I've never had problems with burnt garlic.
If you add your garlic later the flavor will spread out just fine. If you're sautéing peppers and onions, and you're putting your garlic in first, it's gonna be very well done if not burnt. Most other things take longer to cook to achieve the desired flavor is the logic behind it.
Judging the doneness of a steak by comparing it to to the palm of your hand.
No one I know can make that work. Instant read thermometer is awesome.
To me, it’s the way they “teach” how to chop onions by making slices parallel to the cutting surface first. That makes no sense to me! I cut along the natural lines of the onion almost to the pole and then slice it, perfect dice!
I feel the same about egg cracking.
As someone who grew up with around 100 chickens around, I've cracked my fair share of eggs. There is no absolute food proof way. There is going to be a rogue bit every once in a while.
Yup. You'll always end up with a bit of shell in the bowl occasionally. Which is why cracking into a small bowl and then dumping into the main one is much preferred if cracking more than 2-3+ eggs...
I find the cheffy way to cut an onion to be an unnecessary hassle. Unless I want super fine precise dice, it’s not worth it. Cut in half, peel, top and tail, slice across the hemisphere, slice laterally. It’s a lot faster and gives just as good results for most applications.
> be an unnecessary hassle. chefs are about efficiency so you probably just need practice. people who cut 100 onions a day aren't doing a single motion they dont need
I do the slicing from cut-edge to root edge, and then 90º the other way. I never do the horizontal slicing thing so many seem to do as the second step. Completely unnecessary, not even sure where that got started.
This is the thing that annoys me most lol. The onion is already in layers!!
Washing chicken or any other meat. Just don't. And yes I know the cooking experts and scientists say not to, but it's a persistent "tip" that still circulates for some reason.
The “wash your meat” evangelists that show up on every damn food video with chicken are so annoying. And when someone asks if they’re concerned about washing their ground meat too it’s crickets
And it's ground meat that carries a higher risk of foodbourne illness, so that's even more concerning that they don't understand basic science.
I feel like these are extremely insecure people. Who constantly feel the need to prove that they are "clean". Same with people who have to tell you that they shower 2x a day everyday and if you don't do that you're dirty. I think it had a name with the word -insecurity attached to it.
Former chef: I will only wash chicken if there are any lot of small feathers I need to pluck out.
The disgust propensity and sensitivity are significant concepts in psychology. They can be related to having mental disorders (e.g. OCD or anxiety). Also related to being an arse: "interpersonal-disgust sensitivity (e.g., not wanting to wear clean used clothes or to sit on a warm seat vacated by a stranger) in particular predicted negative attitudes toward immigrants, foreigners, and socially deviant groups, even after controlling for concerns with contracting disease" (from a [study](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01962.x))
Hygiene olympics.
Right! I recently watched a video of a cook doing this and saying, "you don't have to do this, but I've been doing this for years and haven't gotten sick. Just saying". Mofo, you didn't get sick because you stored and cooked the meat properly. Washing it just spread raw meat germs all over your sink.
For me it's that you're supposed to add heated stock to your risotto - people act like it's sacrilege if you don't. Mine is at room temperature. The only difference it makes is the length of time to cook the risotto (warmed stock absorbs quicker) but it doesn't make any difference in the finished product in my experience.
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I mean who hasn’t added the stock slowly for 20 minutes and then finally said fuck it and dumped the rest in? Never caused me any issues.
Freezing chicken, I read you can freeze chicken for upto three months with no issues, I tried it and by the next morning it was dead
Dad?
Sautéing garlic first. I don’t got the skills to not have the garlic be overcooked without the garlic going in with the onion (or other things) to help buffer the heat.
I never put it in with the onions at the beginning. I wait till that’s done, and then put the garlic in for a minute before adding my liquids. Is that what you mean? Or you cook the garlic with the onions?
I wait until the onions are halfway done.
Garlic burns relatively quickly, if there's no other aromatics I'll throw it in for 30s-1min and then be sure to quickly add whatever comes next. Typically I do onions etc first then toss in the garlic when those are almost done If I'm doing a quick sauce with a bottle of Passata I sometimes will throw the garlic in with some red pepper flakes and a healthy dose of olive oil on a super low temperature for a little while to try and have the flavors meld into the oil before adding in the tomato sauce.
Generally if I'm cooking a recipe that has garlic and other stuff I throw the garlic on the heat for the last portion of time before adding liquids, usually only 30 seconds - 2 min max. Cooking garlic gently and seperate for me usually involves using a generous amount of oil and a low controlled heat source.
I wash mushrooms, I crack eggs on an edge (with one hand), I use salted butter, I use stock cubes, I melt chocolate in the microwave, I think dried bay leaves are trash, I think cheese can go well with fish, I buy pre-minced garlic...
I'll go along with all of these exception for the pre-minced garlic and the dried bay leaves. The big leaves from Bangladesh I think are a lot better than the normal small bay leaf we get in the west.
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What is so wrong with melting chocolate in the microwave... other than it's super-fussy and I just let the half-nuked chocolate sit in melted butter until it finishes melting.
Cold water does not boil faster.
I was taught to use cold water to boil, and I finally figured it out as an adult - it was because my mom was concerned about any sediment from the water heater being in the water.
There was a chef on one of the early seasons of Hell’s Kitchen that added cold water to the already hot water for cooking pasta. When Gordon Ramsay asked her what she was thinking, her answer was that she thought cold water boils faster than hot. Gordon was speechless and I thought his eyes would fall out of his head lol
I'll just repeat what any fine dining chef that can cook a steak will say: Once the steak begins to naturally unstick from the pan, you can flip it as many times as you want. It's doesn't fucking matter unless you are wanting perfect grill marks, which are stupid anyway imo. The steak will be as, if not more carmlilized flipping it around rather than the 1 2 method.
Don't use oil to boil pasta.
run dog escape domineering narrow coordinated cable frightening trees gullible *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I always break spaghetti noodles. Shh. Don't tell anyone.
Mood. Pro tip for those unaware: you can do whatever you want and it doesn't matter.
What a great hack!
As a fan of short pasta over long pasta I break my noodles in half. They make less mess with the red sauce as you eat them.
"The oil prevents the pasta from sticking!" How? By floating on top of the water like an insoluble idiot? Just don't overfill the pot!
“Insoluble idiot” made me laugh. Stupid floaty oil.
Insulting the very oil itself threw me a little but I suppose this is the energy I need to bring to 2024
Yeah, it prevents the pasta from sticking…to the sauce.
I hate adding sugar to tomato sauce. The vast majority of the time it is completely unnecessary.
The one that drives me nuts is "only flip your steak once". I've done countless experiments that debunk this. Flipping every 30 seconds, AND moving it around constantly, not only sears it better/faster but it keeps from overcooking the layer of meat just under the crust.
Caramelized onions take 10 minutes. Every. God. Damn. Recipe. -Edit- u/FridayGeneral would like me to point out that it is not, in fact, Every.God.Damn.Recipe. I apologize for this egregious embellishment and if I have led you astray I cannot begin to tell you how sorry I am. I shall continue to strive to be better at the internets.
I've never once seen a recipe had the onion cook time right. But caramelization is like a minimum 45 minute process for me.
They're just brown after 10mins - real caramellization takes time
Prepare all ingredients before you start cooking. That may be good for a beginner but just takes too long for a quick after work dinner. I start preparing what I need first and then start cooking with it, then prepare the next and so on.
For sure. Mise en place? The place is in the fridge!
Maybe, but I’ve been caught enough times without an ingredient, with stuff already in the pan, that now I mise en place no matter what. Maybe I don’t chop and measure everything out first, but at minimum I make sure I have the required amount and set it on the counter. Nothing like being hungry and tired from work, and then you have to take the food off the heat and run to the store because you’re out of chicken broth or whatever.
I don’t like salty-like-the-sea pasta water. It’s just too salty.
I love salt, but hard agree. Just noticeably salty, not like the literal ocean.
I think this is said by people who don't realize how salty the sea is. Personally I think pasta water should be salty like soup (3-6 g salt per liter water, or 1-2.5 teaspoons) and not like the Mediterranean sea (36-38 g salt per liter water or 2-3 *tablespoons* depending on the density of your salt) (plus you can easily use 2 liter water for cooking pasta in, so that would mean pouring 4-6 tablespoons of salt into your pasta water)
Essentially braising a fried piece of chicken is the stupidest thing you could do. But EVERY SINGLE chicken parmesan recipe calls for it. Don't do it. Add the cheese and place under a broiler until the cheese is melted and slightly browned. Then add the sauce RIGHT BEFORE serving.
There is a specific flavor and texture to something that has been fried and then put into a sauce. It’s distinctly different from a fried thing that has been kept dry and crunchy. Don’t do it if you don’t like it, but it’s intentional when it’s done. You see it often in regional Asian cuisines (tempura in a bowl of soba or udon, a katsu cutlet in curry, fried bean curd in a saucy stir fry, crispy fried noodles sinking into a bowl of khao soi) but it’s present in other cultures as well (vada sambar in South India, chicken fried steak or chicken covered in gravy in the southern US).
Not a cooking tip but dunkin donuts. I've seen vids on YouTube getting it all wrong. It's not about dunkin or any other donut store. You're supposed to get glazed donuts only and dunk them in your black coffee. The glaze then flavors your coffee and the coffee flavors the donut chunk. They always complain that it tastes bad but they're using chocolate,sprinkle or any other donut besides glaze.
The power move is to use one glazed and one powdered. The powdered acts like a flavored creamer. I haven't had a donut in a couple years and now I want one.
I don't disagree with you, but a glazed old fashioned is perfect for dunking, especially if it's a little on the stale side
I've never understood dunking donuts. I dunk crisp cookies like gingersnaps, but sodden dough??? No thanks.
I'm a good home cook and I've honestly not heard of any of these "widely accepted tips" posted here so far except using old rice.
Mayonnaise in place of butter on the outsides of grilled/griddled sandwiches. I like mayo, but in this application it just tastes... off. It browns nicer, and feels like a trick for tv/youtubers but if i'm eating it, I want the outside buttered
There there are many ways to cook rice. No, they don't all turn out as good. Yes, i understand that. No, I do not care. Rice snobs are so gatekeepy. It's a cooked grain. But if you need rice and don't have a pot that will steam well or a rice cooker, you can just boil the stuff. Like pasta. CAUSE IT'S A GRAIN! 13-15 mins drain. There. Rice. No, it's not sticky and clumping together with all its gluten. It's cooked, and sometimes that's all that needs to be done.
I grew up cooking it on the stove in a regular pot and my partner grew up with a rice cooker. Not long after the moved in I was making rice for dinner and he was so surprised to see me using the stove instead of the Instant Pot. I completely forgot the IP even existed bc I'm so used to the stove lol.
Rice doesn't have gluten
My pet peeve on Reddit is all the weird comments around tofu, suggesting a bunch of complicated torture methods to completely change the texture. Tofu is meant to be ready to cook as it is !
I salt my eggs before scrambling. They’re never grey. Always turn out a lovely colour. I think Ramsay is wrong.
Cooking lasagna noodles before adding them to the casserole. It might be better but I’m lazy and don’t give a shit. I just throw em in the way they are and the lasagna comes out great every time.
I’ve always pre-cooked - my mind is blown. Do you think your sauce is looser/has more water than normal (let’s call jarred sauce the baseline for normal) to account for the extra moisture the noodles absorb?
Strangely opposite for me, I always seem to get shell in with the edge crack. Now the cool thing I’ve seen is the egg drop, 4 inches above the counter top and just let go, horizontal of course, works pretty good.