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7 Huge Mistakes You're Making in the Kitchen

These chef-approved tips will instantly make you a better cook. 

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Food, Dish, Cookware and bakeware, Condiment, Ingredient, Kitchen utensil, Cuisine, Marinara sauce, Recipe, Whisk,
Christopher Hope-Fitch

Restaurant chefs have years and years of training, so they definitely know a thing or two when it comes to navigating a kitchen. A Reddit user recently turned to the social platform to ask "Chefs of Reddit, what mistake are we laypeople all making in the kitchen?" He received over 2,000 comments—here's what we think are the seven best tips for home cooks.

1

Lemon juice can rescue too-sweet dishes.

Yellow, Citrus, Fruit, Meyer lemon, Food, Natural foods, Lemon, Sweet lemon, Lemon peel, Sharing,

It happens—you go overboard on one ingredient, and the resulting recipe suffers. Luckily, there are ways to fix that. If it's too spicy, sugar or butter should help the situation. Too sweet? Add lemon juice. Dish tasting off? Add a touch of salt.

2

Finish cooking pasta in the sauce.

Food, Dish, Cookware and bakeware, Condiment, Ingredient, Kitchen utensil, Cuisine, Marinara sauce, Recipe, Whisk,
Christopher Hope-Fitch

To make your pasta dish extra flavorful, boil pasta until it's about 90 percent cooked and remove it from the pot, reserving a cup of the water it was cooked in. Then add your pasta to a separate pan with your sauce and pour in a little of the reserved water.

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3

Do all your measuring before you start to cook.

Kitchen utensil, Dishware, Cutlery, Metal, Spoon, Serveware, Household silver, Chemical substance, Silver, Natural material,
Inti St. Clair

This may seem obvious, but it's a step that's often overlooked. Chopping ingredients and measuring spices ahead of time will result in less-stressful cooking experience and better overall results.

4

Water will NOT put out an oil fire.

Stove, Gas stove, Cookware and bakeware, Kitchen stove, Cooktop, Cooking, Gas, Smoke, Kitchen appliance accessory, Flame,
Adam Gault

It won't work, ever. The key is to smother the fire, which you can do with baking soda or salt. If you don't have either of those items on hand, simply turn off the heat and put the lid back on.

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5

Always cook with a sharpened knife.

Ingredient, Kitchen utensil, Herb, Feather, Cutlery, Natural material, Animal product, Recipe, Seed,
Matthew Leete

How often do you sharpen your knives? Probably not very often, right? Reddit user WArslett thinks you should change that. "A honing steel is designed to be used every time you use the knife, six strokes each side before you use it is sufficient."

6

You don't need to stir so much.

Cuisine, Food, Noodle, Spaghetti, Ingredient, Chinese noodles, Al dente, Instant noodles, Tableware, Pancit,

Unless you're making a stir fry, there's no need to keep stirring the pot, unless the recipe specifically calls for it.

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7

Don't try to pick up a falling knife.

Cable, Wire, Silver, Still life photography, Steel, Electronics accessory,
Adam Gault

As Redditor i8yourpinkcrayon puts it: "...a falling knife has no handle." While it may seem like common sense to step back from a falling knive, it never hurts to reemphasize this point to your family! If your knife is about to hit the floor, stand back and let it fall.

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