Whether you're moving out on your own, planning to start a diet, or just looking for a new hobby, cooking is an awesome activity that can benefit you in many ways. You get to take control of how tasty or nutritious your meal will be while saving on dine-outs and deliveries.
But, of course, getting started in the kitchen can be a messy process. No matter how many cookbooks you read or tutorials you watch, you might not get the exact results you're looking for, which makes sense. Some so many ingredients and steps go into preparing most dishes that it can be impossible to do everything perfectly without practice. Mistakes are part of the experience as long as we learn from them.
So, let's take a look at some of the common mistakes beginners can make in the kitchen and how you can work your way around these cooking problems. Everyone has their special ingredient for success, so we'll show you our secret sauce that you can use to better learn your way around the kitchen and enhance your cheap cooking skills.
How to Become a Better Cook?
Once you start learning your way around the kitchen and practicing a few easy recipes, you'll evaluate your process repeatedly to figure out where you're falling behind and where you need to improve. Whether or not you want to take your culinary skills to a professional level, you'll naturally want to become a better cook, so you can have more control over what you make and enhance the quality of the final product.
For some areas, you simply need the right guidance and tons of practice to strengthen your grip, while for others, there's a quick fix that can make your process ten times more convenient. Let's look at some common cooking problems that you may be struggling with and how you can solve them to improve your meals and dishes:
- Try out new recipes. We all need some inspiration now and then, especially for creative activities like cooking. So, to keep your skills fresh and your motivation energized, you can take the leap by following some recipes that play with new ingredients you've never tried before. This'll also help you expand your expertise as a cook.
- Explore your options by trying out different pairings of herbs and spices. It can be tempting to stick to what you're used to, but that flavor won't work with every type of dish. So, try out new combinations to insert new mixes of flavors into your meals.
- Some knives are sharper than others, and you'll soon find yourself throwing them around if they're not properly chopping the ingredients. Aside from testing everything beforehand, the best practice is to sharpen all your knives, or at least the most commonly used ones regularly, so they can efficiently cut down all your carrots and cucumbers on the first strike.
These are only a few tips that can help you become a better cook. You'll learn many cooking hacks and tricks as you grow your reach, which brings us to the secret sauce we mentioned earlier. The worst way to learn cooking is all by yourself, so you always need an experienced mentor by your side to guide you wherever you slip up.
You can find hundreds of such professionals at Superprof, the home for the top cooking tutors. They'll introduce you to every aspect of the kitchen and show you how to take your culinary skills to the pro level. Make your next breakfast with your own hands by learning from Superprof's cooking lessons.
What Common Cooking Mistakes Should You Avoid In the Kitchen?
As mentioned earlier, mistakes are part of the learning experience, no matter what you do. What matters is that you learn to avoid those errors as you go on. You're bound to slip up somewhere when making a new dish for the first time. Those blunders can only be avoided once you've made them and faced the consequences.
Being Unprepared With Your Ingredients
Staying prepared with the cooking recipe also involves staying prepared with the ingredients. First, you should understand all the specified ingredients and have them stored in your kitchen. Don't confuse yeast for baking soda or olive oil for avocado or sesame oil. Each ingredient has distinct properties, so you must be aware of each mixture and condiment before using them.
Secondly, once you have the right ingredients ready, you must prepare them for the process before you start cooking. Have everything peeled and proportioned before you begin.
Lack of Caution or Food Safety
This next tip isn't as important for your recipe as it is for your safety and your food's hygiene. It's no secret that a kitchen can be a dangerous place prone to all sorts of accidents, from minor slips and trips to alarming burns and cuts. In fact, common cooking mistakes were responsible for 48% of housefires between 2012 and 2016. So, you need to know how to navigate your way around and carry out potentially dangerous tasks without hurting yourself.
Don’t look at your phone while you’re cutting vegetables. Keep a safe distance between the hand holding the vegetable in its position and the one cutting it. When you’re moving hot pots of dishes to the table, don’t risk using a towel or some piece of cloth. Just get a couple of pot holders to make your life easier. Keep a sharp eye wherever you go and don’t get distracted.
Another thing you need to look out for is food safety. Your kitchen is full of germs and bacteria that can easily get around. Make sure your meal isn’t contaminated by these hazards by washing your hands with soap regularly. Keep the raw meat distant from the ingredients and try to use separate utensils for each item. Finally, keep all kitchen surfaces and appliances neat and clean.
Cooking By Yourself
We mentioned this before, but learning to cook on your own through cooking apps can easily lead to a disaster. This is why having an experienced friend or family member by your side never hurts to take care of some of the more delicate tasks and slowly show you the ropes.
If you don't have any such assets but you still need a lot of guidance and practice around the kitchen, why not ask a professional trainer? Superprof offers over 2000 cooking tutors who can start your chef training from the basics, so you can learn to set your own table. Sign up to Superprof for affordable cooking lessons so that you can make fewer messes and more meals.
What Cheap Student Meals Can You Try?
Once you’ve built your grip around the key steps of cooking and learned everything you need to be careful about, you’ll need to build your cooking expertise through practice, which you can gain by trying out beginner-friendly recipes.
People in the uS spend an average of 53 minutes per day cooking, which makes sense when you have other priorities to attend to and don't have time to build your culinary skills. That's why we've compiled a handy list of cheap student meals that you can whip up with a few ingredients and little effort.
| Acoustic Guitar | Electric Guitar |
|---|---|
| Easy to play | Complex |
| Easy to learn | Challenging to learn |
| Delicate and pleasant sound | Distortion and loud sound |
| Maintains the rhythm throughout the song | Sometimes the rhythm is lost, and the listener does not know whether it is being played correctly |
| It can be used for solo performances | It cannot be played without a band |
| No need for an amplifier | You need an amplifier |
If you're struggling with any of these, don't fret. An extra hand is all you need, and Superprof has thousands of them. Their library of cooking experts can get you up to speed with all of these recipes and many more advanced ones as well. Set the table with Superprof's cooking lessons today.
Turn Up the Grill With Superprof
Now, you're ready to turn up the stove and fill that stomach with whatever you want. Just keep in mind that learning cooking can be a long, tedious process with many trials and errors, so stay patient, expect failure, and learn vigilantly, and after all, if your broth still doesn't taste the way you want, we're happy to help. Superprof's over 2000 expert cooks collection can take you from your first PB&J to your favorite soups and salads. So, get started with Superprof today and enjoy a meal made with your own two hands.
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