The author of the viral thread opened up to Bored Panda that they've always liked cooking, even as a child. "Though, my parents weren’t that artistically inclined in the kitchen and unfortunately hardly cooked. Meaning no cooking knowledge was passed down to me," u/samgarita said.
The OP told us that they're currently 33 years old and that they feel like a few years ago, before the rise of YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok food videos, cooking wasn't very popular in their age group.
"But having just graduated from college, eating out at a restaurant or ordering got pretty pricey fast, at least in the US," the redditor told us. “One day, a friend taught me the proper way to cut an onion, and that was kind of an ‘aha!’ moment for me.”
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According to u/samgarita, it was at that moment that they realized that there is "a science and right way to do things in the kitchen." This inspired them to start watching videos on YouTube so that they could get better in the kitchen.
"Once you learn some tips and tricks, cooking becomes even more fun."
Though the OP doesn't consider themselves an expert in the kitchen, they still had a very practical piece of advice for new chefs. In their opinion, one mistake that many people make is not cleaning as they go.
"'Cooking is fun, but the cleaning after—ugh!' is probably what I hear the most," the redditor told Bored Panda. "Cleaning as you go makes a huge difference."
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Please don't use a knife block, it's a bacterial orgy in there.
Another piece of wisdom that u/samgarita shared with us has to do with peeling ginger. “Last year, I was cooking with my girlfriend, who taught me how to peel ginger with a spoon so you don’t slice your fingers with a knife, and I thought, ‘Hey, let’s ask the Reddit community what they learned and [to] share their ideas,’” they said.
“I never knew it was going to blow up the way it did, but it definitely made me really happy that there’s so much passion for cooking, and I loved the ideas.”
If you want to start your home cooking ‘career’ on the right foot, you need to be willing to follow instructions. When you’re first starting out, everything can seem overwhelming. It’s best to start slow and cook a handful of incredibly simple dishes to get a feel for your tools, the ingredients, and the techniques.
What’s important here is that you follow the recipe instructions as given. At least at first! Then, when you think you’ve got a handle on things, you can start experimenting a bit. It’s often said that cooking is an art, but baking is a science. So keep that in mind and allow yourself more flexibility or attentiveness as needed.
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Cooking is as much about having the right mindset as it is about technical skills. Of course, it matters that one can wield a knife with grace and that you can juggle doing many small tasks all at once. But that sort of flow comes over time, with experience.
Before you gain all of that gastronomic wisdom and unshakable confidence, you need to prepare yourself for years of ups and downs. That means developing a growth mindset where you believe that you can develop all of your skills with enough hard work and perseverance.
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Another aspect of embracing a growth-oriented mindset in the kitchen is looking at mistakes in a different light. Mess-ups are inevitable. No matter whether you’re a veteran or a complete newbie, things won’t always go your way. Though we can do our best to prepare for any potential disasters, we won’t avoid all of them.
How you react to things not going your way, then, becomes vital. There’s a massive difference between becoming disheartened and breaking down when you burn your dinner and laughing at the fact while making a mental note to use the appropriate amount of heat next time. Failure isn’t bad. It’s an opportunity to develop our skills. We could all be kinder to ourselves and not take our mistakes so personally.
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Which of the tips that we’ve featured in this list did you find the most useful, dear Pandas? Were there any that you personally rely on all the time at home? What cooking advice would you give someone who’s completely new to all of this? Feel free to share your wisdom in the comments! In the meantime, for some more advice from experienced chefs, take a look through Bored Panda’s earlier post. Though, be careful—you might get fired up to become a kitchen pro after that!
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