Today’s Post
It has been a while since we last shared a blog post about cooking or baking tips for you, our audience. While we are by no means professionals, we would like to think that we have a good grasp of both basic and advanced cooking methods. In our experience, what helps the most is experimentation in the kitchen, as well as following tips and tricks from other food bloggers and chefs. Genuinely, if you check out either of our personal social media feeds on Instagram or TikTok, you will find that most of it is cooking or baking-related. So, it is undoubtedly our number one hobby, and we think that makes us somewhat qualified to tell you some lessons we have learned over the years! Enjoy reading through today’s post, and of course leave us a comment if you want to share a tip, ask a question, or start a conversation.
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1. Use “mise en place” to be as organized as possible!
“Mise en place” is French for “everything in its place.” What does this mean in the context of cooking? Well, it is much easier to follow a recipe and stay organized if you prep your ingredients before you start cooking. Otherwise, you run the risk of burning things while you are busy doing something else. Or, you realize way too late that you forgot an ingredient. Initially, we would recommend preparing all your ingredients – whether that means washing, chopping, marinating, or seasoning them, before you turn on the stovetop. Then, cooking becomes a much calmer process, and you can even enjoy it! As you become more experienced, “mise en place” may become less intense for you. For example, I now like to only prep the veggies that need the longest to cook, like onions, carrots, celery, peppers, etc., and then I chop the rest while they are cooking. This is a really useful tip to make you feel more relaxed and put together in the kitchen!
2. Don’t be afraid to change the recipe!
Now, I believe there are two types of people in this world: those that like to follow recipes as closely as possible and those that simply are unable to do that. I think I would categorize myself as the latter, because I just prefer doing my own thing when cooking, sometimes with a recipe as a guide and sometimes not. But rest assured, there is absolutely nothing wrong with following a recipe. That is why they are written, after all, and we obviously want you to try to follow our recipes as closely as possible. And certainly for baking, we do recommend following the recipe as it’s much more of a science and the ratios of ingredients matter.
However, when it comes to cooking, making small changes won’t really matter too much! What is most important is that you are using the groceries you have on hand. For example, don’t go out of your way to get ingredients for a recipe if you have something at home that you can use as a substitute. Next time you’re following a recipe and feel the inspiration to do something a little different, go for it!
3. Season as you go
If you’ve watched a lot of cooking shows, you may have heard this advice before: to season as you are cooking and not just at the very end! For a lot of ingredients, salting before the cooking process can help draw out moisture and speed up the Maillard reaction/browning process (think steaks/meats you are searing at high heat!). For other ingredients, seasoning as you go ensures that the flavor has time to get absorbed into the ingredients, instead of just on the exterior. The only time we don’t fully salt when we are cooking is with soups and sauces. Whenever we cook things that will reduce in liquid, we hold off with most of the salt until the end, so it doesn’t end up being too salty.
4. Know your cookware: nonstick vs. stainless steel vs. cast-iron
If you like to cook, chances are you have an assortment of pots and pans for different applications. If you’re just beginning to get into cooking, it’s typical to just start with a nonstick skillet. While that is a great start, you become limited by only being able to use most nonstick cookware (if not all) on medium to low heat. We love to use nonstick pans for pancakes, eggs, wilting down spinach, and cooking vegetables that don’t need to be seared.
For higher heat applications, we use stainless steel or cast iron! Stainless steel pans are generally easier to care for than cast iron. However, we have found that it can be tough to preheat them to the right temperature to prevent sticking. We usually use stainless steel for searing meat and fish, as well as cooking vegetables that you would want a good sear on (such as mushrooms). Stainless steel pans are also great for pan sauces, as you can use a metal whisk to incorporate ingredients.
Cast iron is a favorite as well, but we know that it can be harder to care for and keep seasoned. There are plenty of tips on the internet for seasoning/re-seasoning cast iron pans, so we won’t get into too much detail here! We like to use cast iron for cooking meatballs, vegetables, frittatas, risotto, and fillings (fillings for stuffed peppers, for example). Some people say that you shouldn’t wash your cast iron with soap, but we’ve never had a problem washing it with regular dish soap. As long as you take proper care of it, cast iron is a great tool to add to your kitchen!
As far as stock pots/sauce pans go, we stick to stainless steel for these. Nonstick just doesn’t have that long of a lifespan, so it’s nice to have a solid set of stainless steel pots that you can use for years.
5. Get a digital thermometer to cook meat
This has probably been one of the best tools we’ve added to our kitchen – a digital thermometer! It can be quite difficult to tell when meat is fully cooked if you’re just going by look and feel. With a thermometer, you can check exactly when it reaches the safe internal temperature for the specific meat/product you are cooking. We’ve also not had great luck with the thermometers that have the dial on them; they never seem to work well after the first use! The digital ones give you an accurate reading so there’s no guessing where the needle is. Some ovens these days even have a built in thermometer that you can use when roasting or braising meat in the oven! Here’s a link to a thermometer* you can get on Amazon!
Thank you for reading this post – we hope you got some useful tips out of this where ever you are on your cooking journey! Like we mentioned before, if you have any tips you would like to share, feel free to leave them in the comments below! We are always looking for ways to improve our cooking!
