A lot of cooking comes from the heart.
So, naturally, a lot of people won’t let others dictate how they cook in the kitchen. If a recipe calls for two cloves of garlic , you better bet what we’re using six! And we will take whatever shortcuts necessary if it means fewer dishes to clean.
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Read on for more cooking rules people love to ignore (sorry, Gordon !).
Cooking with a nice bottle of wine
Drinking wine is one thing. Cooking with it is entirely another. It shouldn’t matter if you cook with a $5 bottle of wine, when the flavor won’t be noticed anyways, or the alcohol content is burned off!
The times for cooking meat on the stovetop
“‘Cook the chicken for 2 minutes, then turn and cook for 2 minutes more….’ What kind of stove do you have, guy? My burners at home certainly aren’t going to cook a breast all the way through in 4 minutes.” – u/9_of_wands
Don’t thaw meat in water
Some believe that the water will ruin the flavor, much like freezer burn tampers with a meat’s flavor. But when you need your salmon, like yesterday, you will do whatever defrosting method is necessary!
Don’t add too many spices to a recipe
“I hate when I go to eat at someone’s house and the food is just bland. They say ‘oh the recipe only called for a pinch of salt and that’s all the spice it needed.’ No, ten chicken breasts need more than a pinch of salt.” – u/atombomb1945
Always drain the fat from beef
A lot of recipe makers ask you to drain the fat from ground beef before adding another ingredient into the same pan.
Some Redditors scoff at this, as they believe that fat is flavor! When one person makes chili, for example, they always cook celery and onions in beef fat.
The type of salt you use matters
“I have kosher, sea, iodized, fleur de sel, and Himalayan pink salt at my house and I will use whichever one is within arms reach for any application.” – u/longdognoodle
It’s better to make your own stock
This Redditor rarely bothers to make his own stock, mainly because it’s impractical. Two, they don’t have the freezer space for big batches. And three, they find that stock cubes work fine.
Don’t salt eggs before cooking them
“Despite what Gordon Ramsay says about it*, I add salt to eggs before cooking them because, not only does it not toughen eggs and make them runny, it actually does the opposite, making the finished eggs more tender.” – u/McDaddyos
Throw out cheese that has mold on it
A little mold never hurt anybody, right? Regardless, some Redditors can’t bear to waste cheese, even if there’s mold on it. Instead, they will chop off the chunk of mold and carry on.
Simple syrup should be made on the stove
“I never make simple syrup on the stovetop. Just microwave some water then swish in the sugar until dissolved. Bonus points if your microwave vessel is also your storage container– I hate extra dirty dishes.” – u/snarkyarchimedes
Add garlic to the pan the same time as onions
A lot of recipe makers call for this, but some say it’s wrong. Apparently, you’re only supposed to saute the garlic for about 30 seconds. Any longer will cook off the flavor.
Use unsalted butter when baking
“I make cookies at Christmas time and always get compliments even on simple chocolate chip cookies with comments like ‘I can’t put my finger on it but there’s a deeper or richer flavor.’ Yea, it’s called using salted butter and I don’t cut back on the salt in the recipe either.” – u/secretsloth
Measure out water when cooking pasta
“You’re supposed to measure out the water?” one Redditor asked. Our thoughts exactly! We take these instructions as mere suggestions when making pasta. The same goes for the ingredients for Kraft Dinner.
Don’t rinse your mushrooms with water
A woman on TikTok went viral for this , thus proving that we’ve all been cooking mushrooms wrong. She believes that washing mushrooms will rid them of their flavor. But some people can’t stand to skip this step out of fear of dirt.
The instructions for how much vanilla extract to use
“Always use more vanilla extract that what a recipe calls for. People writing recipes normally have higher quality ingredients than the average person. A teaspoon of one dollar vanilla flavoring isn’t going to do much compared to a teaspoon of high quality vanilla.” – u/gleamblossom1021
How much garlic to use
Don’t you know that you’re supposed to measure garlic with your heart! If a recipe calls for two cloves, you better bet that we’re using six! Everything tastes better with more garlic.
Separate wet and dry ingredients
“When they say mix dry ingredients in one bowl and mix wet ingredients in another bowl and slowly combine, it’s a nope. I mix dry ingredients and then plop in everything else. I’m not dirtying an extra bowl.” – u/itchimae
Never cook shirtless
While this one makes sense, some people like to bend the rules. This Redditor burned himself badly from cooking steak shirtless. Once his wife saw the scars, she banned him from doing it again. So, naturally, he cooks shirtless when she’s not around.
“Let your baked goods cool” or “let dish stand in microwave for one minute”
“Baked rolls- let cool for 4 minutes. [Expletive] that, I’m burning my fingers breaking them open so I can melt butter all into them.” – u/fredinNH
H/T: Reddit
