When it comes to cooking, there are tons of useful tips and tricks that can make things a lot easier (and tastier!) in the kitchen. But there are ALSO some less-than-great habits you should try to avoid. 🔪🔪
Earlier this week, a Reddit thread in /r/Cooking spelled out some of the most common offenders. Here are several:
1. Overcrowding the pan.
2. Using a glass cutting board.
"I lack the words to explain the torture of using a glass cutting board."
3. Adding garlic too early — then inevitably burning it.
4. Seasoning with salt after you're done cooking, instead of throughout.
"You can't expect the saltshaker at the table to do the job. Nothing seasoned at the table with a saltshaker will ever even approach the flavor of something that was seasoned throughout the cooking process."
5. Plating plain pasta with a pool of sauce on top, instead of finishing the pasta *in* the sauce.
6. Cutting everything with a steak knife.
"An apple? Steak knife. Onion? Steak knife. Watermelon? A cooked steak?? Butter knife. WHY?"
7. Letting your knives get dull.
8. Seasoning the pan instead of seasoning the food.
"My husband sprinkles salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning into a hot pan and then adds plain, unseasoned protein on top. He seems to think this accomplishes the same thing as seasoning the meat directly. It does not."
9. Using the highest heat setting to cook *everything.*
10. Using metal utensils with Teflon or nonstick pans.
"It makes them wear down SO easily. My mother does this. Even after I've explained that you never use metal in the pans, she does it anyway and says she forgot. We've gone through three nonstick pans so far."
11. Putting noodles into water before the water is boiling.
12. Using the sharp side of your knife to scrape the cutting board.
"Fastest way to ruin your knives."
13. Cooking meat in nonstick pans.
14. Steaming veggies without seasoning them.
"Especially parents who only steam vegetables and barely use salt or pepper on them — and then act shocked when their kids don't like it. Of course they won't like that! Most adults would be peeved getting something like that too."
15. Wasting zest or fond.
16. Smashing things down into the pan.
"I can't stand when people press down hard on everything they’re cooking. I'm thinking of one person in particular who is an absolute mess in the kitchen. Making pancakes? She flips them and then mashes them down with the spatula. Fried eggs? Smash them!"
17. Not cleaning as you cook.
18. Moving a screaming-hot pan to the sink and dumping cold water all over it.
"I had to explain to a friend why she couldn't do this to her roommate's brand-new Le Creuset braiser."
19. Opening the oven while it's in use.
20. Waiting until you've finished cooking before you actually taste the food.
"I've had to teach so many of my friends to taste their food as they cook it. It's shocking to me that this is apparently not obvious to some people."
21. When other people touch the stove — even though *you're* the one cooking.
Note: Some responses have been lightly edited for length and/or clarity.