Gordon Ramsay Tastes The Most Expensive Sandwiches Made for Him (ft Owen Han & H Woo)

Here are 10 mistakes every beginner cook makes when they begin their journey in the kitchen. I've been to culinary school and spent 15 years in the restaurant industry, which addressed all the issues novices make, like not patting their protein dry before searing. This is one of the most fundamental techniques you can do to ensure all the protein you're searing, broiling, or even grilling achieves that beautiful dark brown crust. This applies to beef, chicken, pork, and especially fish. When the outside of the meat has moisture on it, you end up steaming your meat instead of browning it, which can also cause sticking. This browning is also known as the Maillard reaction, which is an interaction between sugar and amino acids in the meat when heated to 285 and 350 F over high heat, browning the meat to greatly enhance the flavor and add more crispiness. So in the end, be sure to take a few extra seconds and pat everything dry on all Next up, so many cooks never account for carryover cooking. This is the rise in internal temperature as meat or vegetables sit for a period of time immediately following the removal from cooking and sitting before being served. It can result in way overcooked steak, mushy vegetables, dried out chicken, or way past al dente pasta. When you start to hone your cooking craft, it's always important to plan that things don't instantly stop cooking once removed from the heat. No, they keep going. So to counter this, it's wise to pull off your fish from the grill a few minutes earlier or shock your vegetables in an ice bath before reheating at a later time, or take the steak out of the pan a few degrees before your desired internal temperature before resting, which we'll get to in a minute. But first, number three, the oil you're cooking in is not hot enough. The number one cause for breaded food like steak or calamari completely falling off when cooking is because the oil just isn't hot enough. Not only can it cause the breading to immediately remove from whatever it is you're cooking, it can also cause food to stick to the cooking surface. When the oil is too cold, the food ends up absorbing it, which can also cause it to be soggy rather than crisping and browning up. For frying in a good amount of oil, it should be between 350 and 375 degrees F. If you don't have a thermometer, place the end of the wooden spoon into the oil while it's heating. When you start to see so many bubbles forming around the outside, the oil is good to go. For searing in a smaller amount of oil, it should be between 400 and 450 degrees F, and you'll usually know when the oil begins to lightly smoke. Okay, onto the next one, number four. Far too many times, beginner cooks crowd the pan because they're either too impatient to cook in batches or the pan is simply too small. To achieve browned food especially before the braising process or just when roasting vegetables, it's essential that things are in a single layer and have a small amount of space between one another in the pan. When things are stacked too high or the pan is completely jammed, the food ends up steaming and not searing. Now steaming may be the goal, but that's an entirely different cooking technique than pan roasting. And to ensure it's done correctly, cook half of it at a time or ball out and get the biggest pan you can find. Because if you don't, you could end up with flavorless food. Which immediately brings me to my next mistake of not seasoning throughout the process. The number one reason food is often labeled as bland is because it's terribly under seasoned with salt. To remedy this, you gently season throughout the entire cooking process. Whether you are doing it the beginning stage of roasting onions or getting your braised liquid to a whole new flavor bomb of deliciousness, start seasoning. Don't wait until the end when you gently season throughout the process. You actually end up using less salt because as things cook down, they become more concentrated in flavor and that includes the salt. So season the meat before searing, season the vegetables after, season the stock before braising. Do it and I promise it'll lead to more delicious food. Which actually is the perfect segue into number six, not tasting your food throughout the entire cooking process. First and foremost for beginner cooks and chefs, this allows you to know what things taste like and their texture at every single stage of every procedure. Insanely important to getting better in the kitchen and often so overlooked. Don't believe me? Just watch Gordon Ramsey on Kitchen Nightmares when he's constantly hollering at the cooks to just taste the food. If not, you're simply guessing on how the food will turn out in the end and after all that time prepping and cooking, it's so easy to quickly cook a small amount of something to ensure it's flavorful or to dip a spoon in a sauce to see where it's at. This is the quickest way to understand cooking and how to get better along with timing. Which we'll get to in a second but first number seven, new cooks so often forget to rest their beef, chicken and pork and it ends up draining out all their juiciness resulting in dried out flavorless meat. Nope, no good. Resting the meat allows for the muscle fibers to relax and for the juices to rush back in and redistribute throughout the entire thing which ends up creating a more tender juicier cut of meat. A very general rule of thumb is four to five minutes of resting per one inch thick of meat and more like 10 to 20 minutes for bigger cuts and 30 minutes to an hour for gigantic roasts like a turkey. Here's what happens when you cut directly into meat after cooking compared to when you let it rest before slicing. Minimal loss of moisture. Don't skip this. It's the difference between dried out food and amazing delicious food. Alright next up, not understanding timing when it comes to preparing an entire meal. Finishing up the amazing sauce and then cooking the pasta making you wait another 20 minutes. Cooking the chicken all the way through and then starting on the potatoes. Obviously this results in cold dried out food. Now without question this takes practice and gets easier over time but the most important aspect to factor in is figuring out what takes the longest to cook and starting there followed up with cooking things that require less time in between so that everything finishes together and is ready for serving. Assuming everything is already prepped up and meased out, baking the potatoes and in the meantime searing the steak and roasting the veggies or resting meat which can take five minutes where you can then quickly glaze some carrots and butter to finish up. In addition it's also good to understand how long things can hold for. A sauce can easily be reconstituted if you do that first. Cook and keep the rice before making the stir fry and I can't say it enough practice makes perfect but I believe in you and I promise you can do it. Now before we get to one of the most crucial mistakes we have to talk about when to add and to cook garlic. So often newbie cooks add garlic in the beginning of the cooking process which can immediately cause it to burn or brown too quickly which can end up making your food bitter. Now I'm Italian and I absolutely love garlic and I believe one of my old chefs Matt Templeton taught it to me the best. Once you can smell it in the pan while it's cooking it's done. I mean what is that maybe 30 seconds? So consider adding it in after a long pan roast of something like onions before deglazing or adding in other ingredients. This is such a foolproof way to ensure your garlic sings in each dish instead of ruining it. Now last but not least number 10. So often people look to add more ingredients and garnishes instead of implementing good cooking techniques from the start. Quick the dish needs something more herbs more toppings a more unique sauce when in the end it just ends up confusing the flavors that oftentimes don't belong. When a lot of the classical dishes we know today like cacciatore or schnitzel or even sudalo de pollo were invented it was based on what was available and how can I cook it to make it delicious. There was no quick run to the store to get more of this or that. No they knew proper cooking would bring out the most flavor. Easy delicious and more times than not simplicity is elegant. Not the over complicated 45 ingredient dish except for things like mole of course but that's for another time. Don't overdo it master the art of the technique and gesture and you'll find that your food is far better. And there you go 10 mistakes cooks and chefs often make when they begin their cooking quest and how to avoid them. And as always use what you have on hand and can afford and apply it to good cooking because the result is always amazing food. And if you're looking for more inspiration on how to hone those kitchen skills check out my 10 insider tips that I learned from professional chefs.