People Are Sharing Their Biggest Cooking No-No's And Everyone Needs To Read These
TBH, I've made some of these.
Whether you're a casual home cook or a professional chef, you've probably experienced a few kitchen mistakes and mishaps that you've learned from along the way.
So Reddit user u/MomosOnSale asked, "Redditors who cook, what's the biggest 'no no' thing in cooking?" Here are some of the responses. (If you have another kitchen mistake that other home cooks should avoid, share in the comments below!)
1. Pouring hot oil down the sink.
"Never pour your oil in the sink at all. It will clog up everything so fast." —u/munk_e_man
"Instead, I’ve been putting oil/fat in the fridge until it hardens and throwing it away when I take the trash out." —u/Acid_Monster
2. Using a glass cutting board.
3. Pouring spices directly from their container into a steaming hot pot on the stove.
"The spices will congeal in their containers from the moisture introduced. Instead put the spices in a separate side container then add to a steaming pot." —U/EatPrayShit
4. Forgetting to let your meat rest.
5. Not using the proper cooking oil.
"Olive oil is meant to be cooked at medium heat; anything higher will burn the oil." —u/tomel6517
"Most oils have higher smoke points — meaning hey can be heated to greater degrees before starting to break down and smoke up. Canola, corn, sunflower, etc. Just not extra virgin olive oil." —u/jasong222
6. Burning the garlic.
7. Forgetting to replace baking powder frequently.
"Letting your baking powder get clumpy. Tiny rocks of baking powder ruin anything you bake." —u/dzastrus
8. Rinsing your pasta.
9. Being afraid to experiment in the kitchen.
"Feeling like cooking is too hard or being afraid to experiment with stuff. Obviously don't try something totally new when you're cooking for guests, but don't feel like failing means you suck. If you mess up, learn from it and move on. It's not the end of the world. —u/DingleMyBarry
"I can't tell you how many dishes I've made that I had to hate-eat because they turned out poorly or bland, but each one teaches you something important if you are willing to learn. My success rate at making new dishes is very high now because of all the failures." —u/FuckShitSquadron
10. Using dull knives.
11. Undercooking poultry.
"Medium rare chicken. Works for steaks, but not for hen." —u/thermonuclearmuskrat
12. Cleaning your cast iron pan with soap.
13. Letting your fridge get unorganized.
"Label and date when you open stuff and keep it near the front. Keeping it near the front is most important as it helps encourage you to remember, 'Ah yes, I have this kale that I should use,' before you open something else. —u/bendingriver
14. Cooking over heat that's too high.
15. Buying way too many knives.
"I'm a chef for a living, and I have six knives. Your average home chef needs three at most. A standard length chef's knife, a paring knife (which most home chefs never use from what I've seen), and a medium-size blade for veggies." —u/bendingriver
"Those are probably the only three I ever use: chef's knife, paring knife, and a serrated knife. I would prefer to get rid of the rest because we really don't use them and they look cluttered." —u/Rdbjiy53wsvjo7
16. Only using your blender to make smoothies.
17. Not exercising caution when cooking hot peppers.
"Learned this the hard way: don't throw fresh chili peppers into a hot pan unless you want to basically pepper spray the whole house!" —u/sriracha_everything
18. Stirring and flipping your food too often while cooking.
19. Not being precise while baking.
20. Adding too much seasoning too quickly.
"Remember, you can't get some stuff back after you add it. Go slow with seasonings, and lightly. You can always add more, but you can't take it back." —u/powerlesshero111
21. Skimping on the butter and salt.
22. Omitting the onions.
23. Using metal on a non-stick skillet.
"Coming anywhere near my non-stick pan with metal. If you scratch my pan I will scratch your soul." —u/o0oO0o0Oo00oOoo00i
24. Forgetting to salt.
25. Panicking.
"Never, and I mean never, panic if you start a fire by accident. You need to be calm enough to know if you have to smother it (oil or grease fires) or grab the extinguisher. Panicking can get your house burned down." —u/nippynip345
26. Not cooking with the proper pans.
"Using a regular or nonstick pan for searing steaks. The temperature required to get a nice sear will ruin the special coating on them, rendering them useless. Use a well-seasoned cast iron skillet. If you have to use a stove, it only takes a couple minutes to get a good sear with a ripping hot pan." —u/odarien
27. Not letting your pans heat up all the way.
28. Not reading the full recipe before cooking.
"You should read and understand the entire recipe before you start cooking. You don't have time to boil water when you need to 'add boiling water.' And it's nice to have the rice ready when you arrive at 'serve with rice.' —u/mister-pi
29. Not prepping ingredients in advance.
30. Undervaluing fresh and seasonal ingredients.
"Fresh, fresh, fresh. And, if possible, local. It tastes better." —u/TheSpaceBetw
"Try to buy seasonal. Charts like this one will help you figure out what's ripe. Fruits and vegetables in peak season taste better. Try to shop local. Long shipping times require food be picked before they're ripe." —u/munk_e_man
31. Trying to catch a falling knife.
Note: Some answers have been lightly edited for length and/or clarity.