Cooking is both rewarding and challenging. Whether you're just starting out or have been honing your kitchen skills for a while, there are likely some mistakes you might still be making. 🔪
From throwing out the pasta water to buying the wrong cuts of meat, here are cooking and baking mistakes you should avoid if you want to get to the next level in the kitchen. (Plus, how to fix those mistakes for next time!)
1. You overcrowd the pan.

2. You undersalt the water.

3. When cooking pasta, you don't reserve any of the pasta water.
4. You rinse pasta after you drain it.

5. You only season food at the very end of cooking.
6. You forget that acid is often just as important as salt.

7. You use a nonstick pan no matter what.
8. You don't fully preheat the pan before adding ingredients.
9. You buy the wrong cut of meat.

10. You move your food around too much as it cooks.
11. You always default to using olive oil.

12. You never sharpen your knifes.
13. You put lots of hot food directly into a cold fridge.

14. You don't read the recipe all the way through before you start cooking.

15. You don't prep your ingredients ahead of time.

16. You don't deglaze your pan.
17. You don't use a food thermometer to see if your meat is ready.

18. You don't let your meat rest for a few minutes after cooking.

19. You don't use the "3-2-1" rule when making pie dough.

20. You don't use the "fluff, sprinkle, and scrape" method when measuring flour.

21. You don't use a scale to measure out your ingredients when baking.

22. You don't line your cake pans with parchment paper.

23. You prep your cake pan *after* making the batter, instead of before.

24. You don't cream the butter and sugar together long enough while preparing dough or batter.
25. You don't sift your dry ingredients — even when the recipe calls for it.

26. When baking, you don't scrape down the bowl.

27. You open the door of the oven while your cake is baking.

28. You start decorating your cake while it's still slightly warm.

29. When baking, you don't add a bit of salt to doughs and batters.

30. You use cold or melted butter when the recipe specifically calls for room temperature.

31. When grilling, you oil the grates instead of oiling what you're grilling.

32. You don't dry your protein before cooking it.
33. You don't preheat your oven.
34. You don't toast nuts and seeds.

35. The pot you use to make pasta is too small.
