27 “Cheats” That Took These People’s Cooking Game To A Whole New Level

Vanilla and garlic are measured with your heart, not a spoon

If you can't put your finger on what's missing from a dish no matter how many seasonings you add, it's probably acid. Add the tiniest splash of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice. You will not regret it!

Also, salt is the most important thing for seasoning food. Salt alone is better than 100 spices and no salt.

If a meat recipe calls for water don't use water, use the same amount of unsalted stock of the meat you're cooking. Chicken Curry, use chicken stock, Beef stew, beef stock. Adds a lot more flavour to these dishes

Getting and using a stick blender. I thought they were gimmicks until I got one (nearly 20 years ago). I've reached for that thing at least 20 times for every time I even thought about getting the full-sized blender out.

Butter. A lot of butter. It's the difference between the food you have at home, and the same dish you have at the restaurant that magically tastes way better. I've seen whole sticks of butter disappear into sauces at restaurants.

Spend a little time once a week doing prep work such as chopping onions, carrots, celery, whatever, then store these ingredients in separate containers in the fridge. Cook and chop up a couple of chicken breasts while you're at it. Mustering up the energy to cook is so much easier when the ingredients just need to be thrown together.

If you are really new to cooking here are some red meat tips to remember: meat continues to cook when you remove it from the oven. Since most people like their beef a little pink remember to take it out before it hits the temp you want. Also, let it stand, don't cut it up right away, you will lose juices. Invest in decent quality sharp knives, you are far more likely to cut yourself using dull ones.

Big cutting board

Cook your rice in broth instead of plain water. Total game changer.

Sliced peppers and onions can go straight into the freezer fresh and come straight out and into the hot pan, no need for thawing.

I keep frozen ginger, but never thought about grating it. Cool tip, OP.

Heavier seasoning and learning (or looking up) good seasoning blends. Also making my own salad dressing (so much better!)

For me it was making the same dish over and over until you perfect it. You’ll understand how the seasonings, temperatures, sauces, and meats will change as you make mistakes and do things slightly different. After like 5x making a dish you’ll feel like you can do it in your sleep.

After you learn like 10 dishes like that you can just whip up meals based on the ingredients you have in your kitchen.

I’m also single so I don’t have anyone to complain about repeat meals.

I hate jarred garlic but every dish can always use more garlic, so I go through a lot. I buy the big bag of whole peeled garlic from Sam's club and chop it all up in my food processor to a fine mince. Then I put it in a freezer ziploc bag and spread it in a thin layer and press the air out, then just break off chunks when I need fresh garlic. Started this when a friend and I were doing a lot of batch cooking large portions and we needed over 40 cloves of garlic for various recipes one session.

Also take several knobs of ginger and do the same, but almost puree it. I don't even bother to peel it. So convenient.

Almost always put protein in an already hot pan rather than a cold one.

1. I now freeze my left over tomato paste. I can cut off the amount I need for a recipe and throw it back in the freezer.

2. If you store asparagus in a mason jar of water, standing up with the heads out of the water, it can stay fresh for weeks.

Knife skills in general, but learning how to chop onions properly was a game-changer.

This is something I tried on a whim, but it turned out so well I think it's going to become my new go-to method of making tomato sauce.

(For context, I make _large_ batches of tomato sauce at a time so that I can just portion out what I need later.)

My normal recipe calls for three 28-oz cans of crushed tomatoes. What I did this time was cook down two of them until the flavor was rich and the sauce was super thick, then add the last can and leave it on the heat just long enough to ensure it was all heated through. Combines that developed tomato flavor with the brighter freshness of uncooked.

For snacking on veggies instead of spending all that time chopping, getting a Mandolin slicer and cutting up cucumber, bell peppers, carrots etc is so much easier and they look great too.
Also, baking bacon on foil in the oven instead of standing stove side the entire time.

Keeping a lemon in fridge, adds freshness to many things. A little acid into soups, gravy, on veggies...