If you can cook well, you’ll always be in demand in the kitchen. If your food tastes good, all bets are off. Get ready to be an instant hit whenever you host dinner. Not everyone is a natural chef, though. And sometimes, bad cooking advice puts those poor kitchen flubs in very disastrous situations.
One thing especially intriguing about cooking? You can always learn more about the craft. And, certainly, nobody can nail every dish exactly. There are too many new culinary creations. For that reason, cooking is an educational hobby. Aside from learning about heat and ingredients, home chefs and professional ones learn a lot about different cultures. In a way, food is the one language all of us can understand. Indeed, a love and understanding of food is truly a gift.
But, one thing is painfully obvious. If you can’t cook, you won’t be able to fool anyone. Here is some bad cooking advice that even amateur cooks knew was wrong. Please don’t try anything below at home.
1. Using The Wrong Spices
idk if this falls under advice so much as it seems to be a habit, but a lot of yt food writers seem to think that spices are interchangeable if they are the same color (or approximations) i.e. sriracha to make kimchi, and ketchup + pepper on a mole sauce recipe
— Hands Full of Butt (@MementoDory) January 24, 2018
This seems like something I’d do as a very novice cook.
And I’m not claiming to be a master chef today. I do know, however, that every spice, seasoning, and herb has a unique purpose and a completely different flavor. If you’ve ever put sugar on your eggs at breakfast instead of salt or ever added a heaping spoonful of salt to your morning coffee before, you understand. Not all seasonings are interchangeable.
2. Using Soap On Your Food
Soap is good for cleaning your body, not your Thanksgiving turkey.
Usually, if you want to wash your food, you just need water. And some food professionals even consider washing whole turkeys a little counterproductive. Apparently, if you douse your bird in water (or suds) you’ll most likely spread around more bacteria. If you brine your Thanksgiving bird, though, it is okay to rinse it after.
3. Using Your Fingers To Gauge The Temperature
Ever been burned before?
You certainly will be if you try this piece of bad cooking advice. Thermometers exist for a reason. If you want to check your food’s temperature, you can even use certain visual clues. Please be careful, though. Bare skin and cooktops just do not go well together. You might gain a lasting reminder of that in the form of a scar if you make this mistake, or let anyone talk you into making it.
4. Subbing Out Ingredients So Much That The Dish Fundamentally Changes
If you ever look up recipes online, you probably come face-to-face with a lot of amateur chefs who put their own spins on recipes.
Some ingredients can be easily substituted. Others cannot be, because they make the entire dish. It’s tough to tell which food items are vital until you try the original dish, though. And it’s okay if certain recipes aren’t entirely healthy as long as you don’t make them every day. Trying to reduce the calorie count, on the other hand, may completely change everything.
5. Letting Food Thaw For Too Long
When it comes to your ingredients, refrigeration is key.
Seriously. Food experts warn that thawing meat on the counter is an incredibly dangerous practice. It can allow bacteria to grow on the food in question at a rapid rate. There are other, safer ways to thaw meat, though. Try using your refrigerator. And FYI, cooking the food doesn’t necessarily kill all of the bacteria. Bacteria growth may increase once you remove your meat from the stove.
6. Using The Wrong Equipment
Bacon in the microwave
— Karl Dobson (@Karl_UK_Raider) January 24, 2018
This may be a quick solution.
But it’s usually the wrong one. Some things just shouldn’t really be microwaved. And while you can cook bacon in the microwave, it just won’t taste as crispy and delicious. The traditional cooking methods (on the stove or in the real oven) are unbeatable. So if you really want to impress someone with a birthday brunch, take the time to cook your bacon appropriately.
7. The Higher The Flame, The Quicker Your Food Will Cook
You have to practice patience.
In fact, good chefs will tell you to treat your cooking fire like any other ingredient. If you have too much heat or too little of it, you can very well ruin your dish. Don’t try to speed through the process with higher flames. In fact, some recipes call for precise, low fire. Too much of the stuff, and the food may turn to rubber.
8. Using One Pan
You’ll cut down on cleanup, but you may not love the resulting dish.
Don’t be fooled by certain one-pan recipes. They look easy and appealing, but they’re not all reliable. Moreover, many foods need to cook at different temperatures. And sometimes, certain parts of a dish require spices that other parts don’t. If you only use one vessel to cook, you may end up with a hodgepodge of food that doesn’t taste exactly right.
9. Overusing Ranch Dressing
I’ve seen somebody use ranch dressing as chicken marinade
— CMARIE (@CiarraBaker) January 24, 2018
Listen, Ranch is delicious.
In fact, I felt adventurous and recently tried it in my mac and cheese. Unsurprisingly, I went mad over how delicious it was. The added creaminess was everything. Ranch dressing, however, cannot and should not be used as a sauce or dip for everything. Try branching out; there are other good sauces.
10. Cooking Food In The Dishwasher
This is an actual thing.
You may think a dishwasher is a cool, new device to use for cooking. But please, think again. The process is innovative, sure, but it’s also very gross. Dishwashers, in general, are pretty gross. Food residue might also be lurking in there. Who was the first to ever suggest this as a viable idea?
11. Using Dull Knives In The Name Of Safety
Nobody likes getting cut.
Most chefs have earned a nick or two, though. And usually, dull knives are responsible for the injuries. Reports note that dull knives encourage people to apply more force when chopping. When that happens, it’s a lot easier to lose control of the knife and accidentally hurt yourself. A sharp knife is more efficient and, shockingly, a lot safer.
12. Boiling The Flavor Out
Everyone has different tastes.
But it’s almost insulting to serve food that lost its flavor before it even hit the table. So, if your cooking method involves over-boiling and under-seasoning, no one will trust you to bring anything other than chips to the next neighborhood potluck. To remedy this piece of bad cooking advice, try adding a pinch of salt to certain dishes. The seasoning doesn’t just enhance flavor; it also adds a little sweetness to bitter foods.
13. Cooking, Then Refrigerating, Then Microwaving
The microwave has its benefits.
But, it really shouldn’t be used to prep the main Thanksgiving dish. And with cooking, you must be conscious about timing. In fact, most chefs prefer when every dish hits the table around the same time. To follow this bad cooking advice would be to make a rookie mistake. What was the father thinking?
14. Quick Recipe Hacks That Are Actually Kind Of Disgusting
This may not be the most terrible thing.
But it’s still not great advice. In fact, mayonnaise contains egg yolks, oil, seasonings, and sometimes vinegar. And bakers use those exact ingredients all the time to make yummy pastries and desserts. Glopping a ton of mayo into your cake mix, however, will likely just make your sweet treat even unhealthier.
15. Pressing Burgers
Everyone has their own way of prepping meat.
The Reluctant Gourmet explained it best, though. When you press a burger down on the grill, you’re going to cause grill flare-ups. You also get rid of all the juices, leaving the meat dry. But those burger drippings typically contain an abundance of flavor. Why eat dry and tasteless burgers when you don’t have to?
16. Watering Down Sauces
It’s almost like he didn’t realize the purpose of sauce.
Nobody wants to eat watery food unless it’s soup. And soup is supposed to have a liquid-like consistency. Consequently, no one should follow this tip. Would you really want to gross out all of your friends and future housemates with watery sauce? We don’t recommend it; just keep your flavors full-bodied.
