“The Difference Is Insane”: People Reveal Their Best Cooking Hacks

Pie artist Jessica is the author of ‘Pies Are Awesome’ and has launched a series of online baking courses at ‘The Pie Savvy.’ She told us that when it comes to holiday cooking and baking, you should go into the whole process knowing for certain whether it is a ‘must not fail’ or an ‘it’s all in good fun’ type of situation.

There’s a world of difference between being responsible for only a single course or the entire meal. "If you’re just heading over to your buddy’s movie night and you thought it would be fun to bring some cookies, you can approach things in a much more spontaneous fashion,” the baking expert told Bored Panda via email.

“But for the ‘must not fail’ situations, there is one extra critical ingredient you cannot do without: time. Time to experiment, time to practice, time to fail, and time to do something about the fails! With extra time, you eliminate the stress of that pressure to perform under a ticking clock. Mistakes are inevitable. Disasters are optional!”

All of us have been complete newbies in the kitchen at some point in time—and nothing is embarrassing about that! But we all remember how lost we were at first. Bored Panda turned to pie artist Jessica for some practical advice that could help beginners find their culinary confidence.

“Cooking and baking success for novices in the kitchen is all about preparation. And attitude. Having a good one, that is. Find the humor in the unexpected, learn from your mistakes, and enjoy the ride!”

Doing everything in a neat and orderly way is going to minimize the number of mistakes you’ll make, no matter what you’re baking or cooking. Jessica urged everyone to check all of their ingredients before heading to the kitchen to begin baking. “That yellow-colored box at the back of the cupboard that you thought was cornstarch? Guess what, it’s actually a four-year-old jar of Vegemite. Those packets of yeast you’re excited to finally put to use? They expired last year. The dozen eggs you thought you had left in the fridge? Your partner used three of them to make an omelet this morning and didn't tell you. You get the idea.”

The pie artist said that by double-checking whether you have everything that you need for your recipe, you’ll end up saving yourself a lot of grief. On top of that, you’ll save a lot of time because you won’t need to rush to the store.

Meanwhile, make sure that you’ve actually read the recipe thoroughly, at least the night before your big culinary project. There might be some time-sensitive steps that you need to prep for well in advance. “Does your dough need to rest for 24 hours before you can use it? Do your eggs need to be room temperature? Does your butter need to be frozen? While there are hacks to help deal with many of these oversights, it’s much less of a pain in the butt if you get it right from the start!” the baking expert warned!

Something else to consider is adopting the practice of working mise en place. “That’s just a fancy French way of saying that you should set out all of your cooking/baking supplies and have all your ingredients measured and portioned out before you begin any of the steps in the recipe,” Jessica shared with Bored Panda.

“This not only makes the whole cooking and baking process really chill and pleasant, but it cuts way down on accidents and mistakes such as missed steps, spills, and overcooked dishes caused by distraction while prepping other ingredients.”

We have plenty of cooking secrets, too. However, we feel that the most important one is (drumroll, please)—having fun, no matter what you do. Yes, it might sound a tad cheesy, but it’s true. Cooking can be incredibly stressful if you don’t know what you’re doing. Or if you’ve got a whole bunch of people you care about to impress with your gorgeous dishes.

So we find that it helps if we slow down, take a step back, and remember to enjoy the entire process. That way, instead of (just) worrying about what everyone else thinks, we also think about our role. If you feel like you’re ‘forced’ to cook or bake for everyone all the time, the results might not be as good. 

Yours truly tends to oversalt dishes. One thing that I chronically forget is that when you’re cooking, you constantly have to taste, taste, TASTE! everything, all the time. You cannot rely purely on luck. And you can’t assume, like some people do (hi!), that just because something looks gorgeous it’ll taste the same, too. You should try to get comfortable with making small adjustments as you cook.

If your food is bland, that’s quite easy to fix. Add some salt, pepper, and spices, and see how the taste develops from there. But even if you oversalt your food, it’s not the end of the world. You won’t have to throw the dish out and start from scratch!

In our experience, adding some potatoes or something tomato-y helps neutralize the overwhelming saltiness. That’s because potatoes absorb all the saltiness while tomatoes are acidic.

You could chop up a tomato and throw it into the stew or just add some tomato sauce and stir it in. However, other acids work, too! Squeeze in some lemon, lime, or apple vinegar the next time you’ve (accidentally) added too much salt to your dinner.

As MasterClass points out, it’s not just acid that can save your dish. You add some condiments, from sour cream and avocado to ricotta cheese if you’re making a stew or a casserole. The idea is that the creaminess of these ingredients will dilute the salt. 

You can also add dairy with a high(er) sugar content to balance out the saltiness. So, for instance, you could add a splash of milk or heavy cream. But oat and coconut milk work, too. However, in a pinch, adding some sugar or even syrup can help.