Cooking

the actual technique of using stainless steel pens changed everything for me. Proper pre-heating with minimal oiling and knowing to wait until SS cookware "lets go" of food, followed up by using liquids to separate "stuck" pieces and turning them into delicious sauces. I can fry a sunny side up egg on SS pan in a pinch, but prefer cast iron for that.

Buy a proper instant read meat thermometer and learn about carryover heat. Seriously, just cooking meat to where it needs to be and no more makes such a difference when cooking.

Along with that, learning when things need to be cooked to higher temps for structural reasons.

Finally, learning how to get good browning or crust formation. Its all prep and heat control but damn a steak with a good crust is life changing.

Making a proper (?) French omelette. Watched Julia Child do it on TV. Changed my Sunday morning breakfast game big time. Beat two eggs. Heat a 10" non stick pan over medium heat. Throw in a tbsp of butter. When the butter bubbles up, the pan is hot enough. Dump in the eggs. Shake the pan over the flame to move the eggs around. I also use a set of chopsticks to help stir it up good. The eggs set in about a minute or so. Once set, I use a spatula to flip (roll) the egg from the edge of the pan, 2 times. Then plate. Watching a video of her doing it probably makes more sense than my description. Multiple new techniques for me. It's fast. They are light. Everyone likes them.

Mise en place makes things soooo easy. When I meal prep I chop up all my veg on Saturday and stick it in the fridge, then cook on Sunday. Makes the whole process less overwhelming than doing everything in one sitting.

Smash garlic cloves with the side of a big knife to make the skin much easier to remove

Canned tomatoes usually taste way better than fresh tomatoes

When cooking pasta, save some of the pasta water to add to the sauce if it's too thick, thins it out but the starch keeps it nice and saucy or something - acts as an emulsifier or something

Adding the same ingredient twice, for two different roles. A few examples:

• Tomato sauce: a single tomato, diced small, to add near the end, to improve the texture.
• Curry: half of the onion gets grated and goes in the roux, with a bit of baking soda (so it melts down). The other half is diced larger, and gets added near the end as a plain veg. As a result I get a thicker and tastier curry.
• Farofa: whatever filling I'm adding (pork rinds, bacon, banana, scrambled eggs...), I reserve some bits to add near the end as garnish. It's both more pleasing to look and it allows people to pick a bit more of the filling if they so desire.
• Breaded anything: seasoning goes both in the marinade and the flour / breadcrumbs.

When sauteeing onions and mushrooms, when they're almost done, pour a little red wine into the pan and boil it out. Makes them amazing.

marinate your veggies before grilling. (onions, squash/zucchini.) 1-1 mix of oil and vinegar (or some other acid.) and salt. maybe garlic, herbs. whatever. brush on just a bit of a coating, it doesn't take much.

also for grilled onions, get poultry skewers. before slicing the onion (so as to create rings,) run the skewers through, then just remove before serving. The skewer will keep them together. Perfect for burgers.

knife skills. This isn't really a single technique, and it's pretty freaking basic, but, work on your knife skills. Focus on being neat, the speed will come with practice.

Not a technique but changed my cooking. I tried whole grain pasta for reasons of both health benefits and curiosity. I love it so much I can't go back. The regular one feels now disappointingly lacking in taste and texture to me. It takes slightly longer to cook, but it's almost impossible to overcook - it' just always al dente!

Salt meats the night before you cook them. Especially tougher cuts, but salt is good for all cuts.

Browning ground beef really means getting a sear on part of it, not just making it not pink. And split it into batches so that you don't have all the water coming out and boiling the meat instead of searing it.

When baking, weigh ingredients. Most of cooking is art; baking is science.

Brine chicken, especially chicken breasts for a few hours or overnight for much more succulent meat.

Specifically for tactile techniques, I'd say wok movement and flipping. High heat and constant movement are key to good wok fried foods, and flipping in the wok is almost the only way to ensure multiple sides of ingredients will make contact with the pan. Wide spatulas generally only move things around.

Not sure if this counts, but the way I chop my onions and garlic changed after watching a Joshua Weissman video on it. Leaving the end on to hold it all together while I chop was so genius I don’t even remember how I chopped them before. Especially easier to thinly slice onions. Also learning my spices so I can spice mostly by smell. Makes it easier when I’m experimenting to just smell the pan and know which spice I should add to make it taste better.

You can balance flavors if you add the right counter flavor, like something that tastes too much like fat can be balanced with more salt, sugar with more acid, tbh I dont remember the combos as I dont really do things intentionally when I cook anymore but it blew my mind when I first learned about this.

You don't need to wash rice, you can just leave it to soak in water for 30 minutes and it works just as well without the assload of effort.

Learning how to properly sear food them let it cook the rest of the way over low heat. Potatoes, chicken, etc.

Kind of the opposite of that, sous vide steak then sear with a screaming hot cast iron pan.

The broiler in your oven is fantastic for toasting buns and melting cheese on top of stuff. Also good for putting some char on your food if you need that.

The most recent one for me was learning how to backslice when cutting certain things, like green onions or herbs. You typically get a cleaner cut that way, even if your knife needs sharpening.

Starting scrambled eggs (3) in a cold pot or pan with at least a tablespoon of unsalted butter (a little more or less doesn't seem to hurt the recipe). Bring up to medium heat (alternating between on the heat and totally off the heat if you have to to keep the eggs from cooking too quickly). Near constant stirring with a spatula to keep the eggs off the bottom. Adding salt/pepper and a half a spoonful of creme fresh, Greek yogurt, or sour cream at the end just before the eggs completely set. Delicious flavorful creamy scrambled eggs. Gordon Ramsey did a short video guide and fancies them up with some tomatoes and mushrooms browned in a lightly oiled pan on the side and putting the eggs over a thick slice of toasted sourdough bread, and fresh chopped chives sprinkled over it all. So much more of the flavor of the yolk comes through when I cook eggs this way compared to other methods. I've used this dish to great effect to impress the (non-vegan) guests that I've brought home the night before. Paired with a French press of coffee and suddenly even a broke college student can feel fancy. If you prefer iced coffee, you can prepare it with cold water the night before and let it sit on the counter overnight before pressing it.