MISTAKE #4: NOT TASTING AS YOU COOK
Cooking without tasting is like painting a picture without looking at it. If you don’t taste the dish in progress, you may end up with unbalanced flavors or lack of seasoning. Good cooks season and taste, cook some more, then season and taste, regardless of what the recipe says.
Recipes are not infallible. There are typos and editing mistakes, and then, there are personal preferences. What is too much garlic or jalapeño for one household is barely a hint to another.
MISTAKE #5: BLINDLY FOLLOWING RECIPES
Recipes are good guidelines, but they’re not the last word. Every oven and stove cooks differently; cold ingredients cook more slowly than those at room temperature.
A recipe may instruct you to cook a piece of fish for 15 minutes; but if you don’t look at it until the timer goes off, you may have woefully overcooked fish.
Cooking is not always an exact science, unless you’re baking, which is an exact science (and requires an oven thermometer to ensure your oven is cooking at the right temperature).
With stove top cooking, you have to find a balance between your recipe and reality. Oven strengths vary. An electric cook top may not heat your sauté pan as quickly or evenly as the gas range used by the recipe writer/tester.
Check your food periodically and if the food is starting to burn after 4 minutes in the pan, lower the heat and flip it, even if the recipe says cook for 5 minutes per side.
Cooking is an art requiring practice, common sense and skill. The more you cook the better you get. And don’t hesitate to ask for help from others who cook. Or throw your question to the winds of the Internet.
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