Cooking Tips — little secrets from the pros
Why does rice turn out fluffy, why won’t dough rise, why does meat get tough? 2163 tips tested by chefs and the community — sorted into categories and explained one by one.
All Tips
2,163 tips listed
At What Temperature and For How Long Do Chicken Thighs and Drumsticks Bake?
Chicken thighs and drumsticks bake in a preheated oven at 200–220°C / 390–430°F for 35 to 45 minutes, which browns the skin while cooking the inside safely thro...
How Many Calories Are in a Serving of Pesto Pasta?
One serving (about 250 g of cooked pasta with two tablespoons of pesto) contains around 420 calories. This value can vary noticeably depending on the amounts of...
What Goes Well with Bazlama (Turkish Flatbread)?
Classic accompaniments for Turkish flatbread include honey with clotted cream, fresh cheese, and olives. The soft, porous bread easily absorbs the honey and cre...
How to Tell When a Kitchen Knife Needs Replacing
The clearest sign that a kitchen knife needs replacing is an edge that goes dull again soon after sharpening. A sound knife stays sharp for weeks when sharpened...
How to Steam Vegetables
To steam vegetables, place them in a steamer basket or insert above boiling water. The vegetables soften from the steam without touching the water directly. Thi...
How Do You Fix Pickles That Have Gone Soft?
Once pickles have gone soft there's usually no bringing back their original crunch, but tracking down what went wrong and mixing a properly balanced brine in a...
Why Do Mushrooms Release Water When Cooked?
Mushrooms release a lot of water while cooking in a pan because they are about 90% water. As heat causes the cell walls to collapse, the water is released and f...
Why Should Red Meat Rest After Cooking, and for How Long?
Red meat needs to rest after cooking because the muscle fibers that tighten and push juice toward the center while cooking need time to relax and let that liqui...
Why Does Melted Cheese Split and Release Its Oil?
Melted cheese splits and releases oil because its protein network breaks down under too much heat and can no longer hold the fat and water together. As cheese h...
How to Stop Fruit From Sinking to the Bottom of a Cake
If pieces of fruit sink to the bottom in a fruit cake, the fix is tossing the fruit in a thin coating of flour before adding it to the batter; the flour clings...
How Does Baking Pan Material Affect the Result?
The material of a baking pan affects how quickly it conducts and retains heat, so the same recipe can turn out differently in different pans. The baking time ma...
How Can You Tell if Squid or Octopus Has Spoiled?
Fresh squid flesh is translucent and nearly white with a pinkish tint. As it starts to spoil, the color may shift first to purplish pink, then to a dull yellowi...