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
Why Add Lemon Juice or Citric Acid to Canned Tomatoes?
Tomatoes were long considered high-acid fruit, but their pH is right at the borderline and can exceed the threshold depending on the variety and ripeness. That...
Can You Cook Frozen Meat Without Thawing It First?
Frozen meat can be cooked without thawing; this is a safe method, but it takes longer. A common rule of thumb is to allow about 1.5 times the cooking time for t...
Where Should You Measure the Internal Temperature of a Stuffed Chicken?
For a stuffed chicken, measure two separate points: the thickest part of the meat and the exact center of the stuffing. Both must reach 74 °C / 165 °F. The stuf...
What Is the Difference Between a Pressure Canner and a Pressure Cooker?
The 2 devices work with pressure, but they serve different purposes: a pressure cooker is designed to cook food quickly, while a pressure canner is designed to...
Why Should Babies Not Have Honey Before Age One?
Do not give honey to babies younger than 12 months. The reason is not that honey has spoiled: honey can naturally carry Clostridium botulinum spores, and a baby...
How to Safely Make Recipes with Raw Eggs at Home
Mayonnaise, tiramisu, homemade ice cream, and some creams use eggs without cooking them; the safest approach for these recipes is to buy pasteurized eggs. If yo...
Which Foods Should Not Be Home-Canned?
There is no tested method for safely home-canning some foods, and without a method, they should not be canned. These include eggplant except when pickled, zucch...
How Often and How Should You Clean a Refrigerator?
Refrigerator cleaning follows two separate schedules. Wipe up anything that spills or leaks as soon as you see it; do not leave it. Empty and wash the shelves a...
How Many Days Do You Have to Cook Food Thawed in the Refrigerator?
Ground meat, offal, and whole poultry thawed in the refrigerator should be cooked within 1–2 days; for whole or cut red meat, this period extends to 3–5 days. F...
What Should You Avoid Touching After Handling Raw Meat?
Clean the cutting board and counter that touched raw meat, but contamination can spread through the places your hands touch afterward: the faucet handle, refrig...
How to Store Takeout from a Restaurant
The storage clock for takeout starts when the food is packaged at the restaurant, not when it reaches your kitchen; time spent in transit counts as part of the...
When and How to Defrost a Freezer
In a conventional freezer, defrost the ice that builds up on the walls when it is more than five to six millimeters thick; this layer acts like insulation, make...