TIPS & TRICKS

General

• Taste as you go!
• Clean as you go!
• Cooking shouldn’t be stressful. Take your shoes off, turn some music on, grab your favorite drink and enjoy your time in the kitchen!
• Actually take the time to read through a recipe before you begin cooking.
• I always prep before I start cooking by cutting anything that needs to be cut and making any sauces first. That way, once it’s time for them to be added to the pot or pan, I just have to toss them in and nothing gets burned or overcooked while waiting for me to prep it.
• Invest in a high quality olive oil. Usually if it comes from Spain, it’s a good one. Even the smallest drizzle of olive oil can bring out the yummiest flavor in tomatoes, pizza, mozzarella, fish, pasta, meat, etc.
• Season all of your food from start to finish. Seasoning in stages brings the most out of your ingredients and gives you the most flavor.
• Taste what you make before you serve it. I’m amazed that people will follow a recipe but not taste the dish at the end to see if it needs more salt, pepper or spices.
• Use good oil when cooking. Smell and taste it: If it doesn’t taste good alone, it won’t taste good in your food.
• Don’t be scared of flavor! Most home cooks oftentimes make things with little to no salt or seasonings. Taste and adjust. If it tastes bland, it is bland.

Cupcakes

•  Use an ice cream scoop to place your batter in your cupcake tins–this helps ensure that each cupcake will be the same size
• Turn on your oven light to keep you from peeking!
• Most of my cupcakes cook for 18-20 minutes. If a recipe tells you they take 30 minutes, DON’T TRUST IT!
• Always use a piping bag and frosting tip when frosting your cupcakes! They are super inexpensive and It takes your cupcakes from amateur to professional.

Meats

• Use a meat thermometer!
• When you’re browning meat, you should blot the surface dry with a paper towel so the meat doesn’t release moisture when it hits the hot oil. Too much moisture makes the meat steam instead of sear, and you will lose that rich brown crust.
• Don’t overcrowd your pan. Ex. If grilling a couple chicken breasts, they shouldn’t be touching each other in the pan or they won’t properly brown. If necessary, cook the chicken in batches or in two separate pans. The same goes for other meats.
• Marinating meat with citrus for too long (lemon, lime, orange) can give it a mealy texture and the acid can even sometimes start cooking your meat. If using a citrus in your marinade, don’t let it marinade for more than a couple hours or wait until right before serving to squeeze some juice over the meat or use zest in your marinade instead of juice.
• Always let your meat rest for a few minutes after cooking!
• If you don’t have time to brine your chicken, use this simple trick: Heavily salt the chicken (inside and out) about an hour before you cook it. Then pat it dry and roast. This ensures crispy skin and juicy meat.

Vegetables

• When sauteeing mushrooms or zucchini in a pan, do not salt them until the end. The salt will cause them to release liquid and they will simmer in that rather than get that nice golden crust.
• If you’re boiling or steaming cauliflower, add a bit of milk to the water with salt to keep the cauliflower bright white. Shock it in cold water to stop the cooking and then serve. 
• To help keep an onion together while dicing, don’t remove the root until the end.

Cakes

• One of the most important steps in cake baking is prepping your pans so the cake doesn’t stick to the pan! I use this method every time and it has never failed me: Prepare round pans by tracing the shape of the pan on parchment paper and cutting them out. Use a stick of softened butter and rub on the bottom of your pans, then place the parchment paper cutout on top. Now coat the top of the paper and the sides of the pan in more butter and place a spoonful of flour on top. Shake flour all over the pan and toss excess. Set aside.
• I always set my timer for at least 10 minutes less than the instructions tell me to bake it for, and then I turn on my oven light so I won’t be tempted to peek at it until the end (opening the oven too soon can cause your cake to sink). I don’t always take it out when the timer goes off, but I look in at it to see how it looks.
• Signs it is done: the edges are pulling away from the sides, the top looks golden, there is little to no movement. If you can still see lots of movement on the top of your cake (bubbles popping, places sinking/rising, etc.) it probably isn’t quite done yet.
• Once your timer goes off and it is showing signs of being done, take a raw spaghetti noodle or long skewer and insert it into the center of your cake. If it comes out with batter stuck to it, it isn’t done. Add 3-5 minutes to your timer and test again.
• If your skewer comes out with just a few crumbs clinging to it, your cake is done! You don’t want to wait until the skewer comes out perfectly clean! A few clinging crumbs is a good sign you haven’t overbaked your cake. 
• Let pans cool on wire racks for 10 minutes, then flip cakes out onto wire racks to finish cooling.
• If waiting to frost, wrap cakes completely in saran wrap and aluminum foil, and freeze.
• Remove from freezer about 1 hour before you want to frost your cake. 
• Serve at room temperature. 
• Don’t “pre-slice” cake more than 20 minutes in advance. It dries out too quickly.

Instant Pot

• As a general rule of thumb, you need to add a little extra time if your meat is frozen, but not for every meat! See the link  below.
• Be careful with the charts that tell you how long to cook your meat, because you usually need to adjust the cooking time based on the thickness of your cut of meat! For instance, for pork cooks for about 18 minutes per inch of meat (so a 4 inch thick rump roast is going to need to be set for 72 minutes). The link below has a chart that helps with this!
• Hip Pressure Cooking has some awesome charts that tell you how long to cook different types of meat, beans, etc. Check them out here! 

Pie Crusts

• The trick to pie crusts is ICE WATER and COLD BUTTER.
• Don’t over mix your crust–it is very delicate and you need to handle it gently.
• Another tip is to roll out your dough in between two sheets of saran wrap or waxed paper.
• Don’t roll out your dough too thin.
• Cover your crust with foil until the last 15-20 minutes of baking to keep it from getting too brown and overcooked.

Herbs/Garlic

• Fresh basil keeps much better and longer at room temperature with the stems in water.
• Always buy the freshest garlic you can find; the fresher it is, the sweeter it will be. The best garlic has firm tissue-like skin and should not be bruised, sprouted, soft or shriveled. If you find cloves that have green shoots, discard the shoots — they will only add bitterness.
• Prolong the lifespan of greens by wrapping them loosely in a damp paper towel and placing in a resealable plastic bag. That local arugula will last about four days longer.
• Store spices in a cool, dark place, not above your stove. Humidity, light and heat will cause herbs and spices to lose their flavor.