8 Cooking Tips That Can Make the Process So Simple, You Won’t Need to Go to a Restaurant

We all love different delicious foods, and some of us even like the process of cooking. According to studies, on average, people spend 6.5 hours a week in the kitchen. And only 1 in 3 people enjoys cooking. Thanks to such people, we learn more about how to make ordinary meals perfect.

We at Bright Side know a few secrets like these. And now, we can make regular pasta much better than many restaurants.

1. Making pasta like Italians

It might seem like there’s no simpler meal than pasta, but there are some things you should know. It’s better to use a pot of at least 6-liters. Pour enough water into it so that the water takes 3/4 of the entire space or the pasta will be sticky and soft. And if you serve pasta with a sauce, don’t add oil to the water. It will cover the pasta with a film and prevent the sauce from getting onto it.

And most importantly, boil the pasta 1-2 minutes less than the pack says. Then put it into boiling sauce and finish cooking. Don’t be afraid of such experiments. For example, the famous chef, Michael Chiarello, recommends getting pasta out 4 minutes early to let it soak in more sauce.

2. Getting crispy fish crust is easy.

Making crust crunchy is easy to achieve, even for non-professional chefs. It’s not difficult at all, you just need to be attentive and patient. Choosing the right pan also matters. Don’t use non-stick surfaces: the fish will never get dry enough there. Cast iron is not the right choice either because it will give the food some foreign smells and tastes. Stainless steel is a perfect choice.

Heat oil at a medium temperature until it starts making a little smoke. Put the fish with the skin down into the center of the pan and press it. It will stick, which is perfectly normal. Wait for 3-4 minutes. All the moisture will leave and the skin will become the right color. Turn the piece and finish cooking it from the other side at a low temperature.

3. There are even tips for making eggs.

It’s recommended to make fried eggs at a low temperature with oil or butter. The eggs should be cracked very close to the surface so that the yolk doesn’t break. Then cut the whites for them to spread. Just touch the whites with the tip of a knife.

4. There’s a good way to clean a frying pan and cook sauce.

After frying meat or vegetables, or after baking them in the oven, there are food and grease leftovers on the surface. Few people know that it’s possible to make good sauce from that. There’s a simple cooking technique called deglazing. Pour some flavored liquid into the pan you’ve just used. It might be meat or vegetable broth. You need to use around 1 cup of the liquid, bring it to a boil, and stew it until the sauce moisture evaporates a little.

5. You can make hot chocolate taste even better.

A Reddit user shared this non-obvious secret: “Add salt to hot chocolate. It doesn’t make it salty at all, but it makes it somehow more chocolatey. Everyone always says my hot chocolate is the best, but I just use prepackaged powder with milk and a dash of salt!” The thing is, there’s sodium in salt that makes our taste receptors work more actively, so the sweet taste intensifies.

6. The secret ingredient in tomato sauce

It seems that we now know the recipe for the perfect tomato sauce. Fry garlic and onion in olive oil, add some tomatoes, and stew them for 20 minutes. The secret ingredient is butter. It makes the tomatoes less acidic and the sauce more tender. You need 1-2 small pieces and the meal will get so much better.

7. A couple of tips on cooking poached eggs

Making poached eggs is not that simple. You need to be fast, and experience is necessary. Chef Jamie Oliver recommends that amateur chefs use food film. Put it at the bottom of a small bowl, rub it with butter and break eggs into it. Then boil some water in a pot and remove it from the stove so that the bubbles disappear. After that, put the pot back over the low temperature and put the eggs inside for 3-4 minutes. The shape will be perfect.

8. Soak chicken to make the meat more tender.

Fried chicken is one of Chef Marcus Samuelsson’s favorite meals. He definitely knows all the secrets to cooking it perfectly. One of the best tips is soaking it in advance. Boil 1 cup of salt in 2 cups of water to make the salt dissolve. Then add 6 more cups of cold water, put the chicken into it, and then put it all into the fridge for 90 minutes. You can find the whole recipe here.

Do you have meals that you cook perfectly? Can you share any cooking tips?