Just learning to cook? We have some tips

Everybody started somewhere. When they first began, people who became the most famous chefs in the world added a tablespoon of salt instead of a teaspoon. Your friend whose pies are better than any you’ve ever had from a bakery once made a crust that was so tough it could almost break your teeth. Your friendly neighborhood food writer once tried to bake cookies without remembering to add flour.

It happens. It will be fine. You’ll get better.

 The French call it mise en place, and it is essential. Countless meals have been ruined because food was overcooking on the stove while the cook furiously chopped onions, a step that invariably takes longer than you think.

It also is a foolproof way to avoid a mad dash to a store for a forgotten ingredient while a delicate and time-sensitive dish shrivels in the oven. And don’t worry: We’ve all been there, too.

Virtually every recipe for a dish that goes in the oven calls for the oven to be preheated. Do it, and make sure the oven is at the target temperature before you put in the food.

If the oven is cold, which is to say room temperature, your meat or poultry will not brown as it cooks and the cooking process will take much longer. If you are baking with yeast, the dough will not rise properly because the yeast reacts to heat.

High heat on a stove is usually too hot. It is more for burning than for cooking. Medium-high or lower is almost always what you want.

So why is high heat even available if it is too hot? Well, it does have its uses. If you are boiling water or other liquids, go ahead and turn it on high; it will come to a boil faster that way. High heat is the way to go when you are stir-frying because the ingredients are cut into small enough pieces that they will cook quickly and be done on the inside before they have a chance to burn on the outside.

 The internet will tell you that searing meat “locks in the juices.” That is nonsense. Don’t always trust the internet.

Juices (which are not the animal’s blood, by the way. Just so you know) will escape from seared meat just as much as they will from unseared meat. So why bother searing?

 The internet will tell you that sharp knives are less dangerous than dull ones. That is nonsense. Don’t always trust the internet.

Of course sharp knives are more dangerous than dull ones. They are sharp. They can cut you. That is what sharpness means.

Sharp knives make all the difference in the world. Life is measurably better with sharp knives. And it is so much easier and faster to cut everything with a sharp knife.

You can buy a honing steel for about 20 bucks from a restaurant supply store or a little more from fancy kitchen stores. Learn how to use it. You can find out how on the internet. Sometimes, you can trust the internet.

 As much as possible, keep your oven door closed when using the oven. Every time you open it, a significant amount of heat escapes. The oven temperature can drop as much as 30 degrees in a short time, which means the food will take that much longer to cook.

If you are sautéing or stir-frying, it is a good idea (though not necessary) to cut the meat and vegetables approximately the same size. That way, they will generally cook in the same amount of time and you can add them to the pan at the same time. But there are a couple of exceptions:

When cooking with onions, cook them first. Not only do they take a little longer than some other ingredients (notably garlic, which should be added to onions after the onions are translucent, about three to five minutes), but they helpfully flavor the oil or butter in which they are cooking. That will form a nice base for the other ingredients.

Potatoes take a long time to cook. If you are sautéing potatoes, cut them into small pieces and cook them first, maybe even before the onions.

You may know that measuring cups with a spout are meant for measuring liquids and those with an unbroken rim are for measuring dry ingredients. But are they the same measurements? In other words, does a liquid cup have the same volume as a dry-ingredient cup?

Yes. Yes it does. If you need to measure a cup of water and you don’t have a liquid measuring cup handy, you can safely use a dry-ingredient cup. The only difference between the two types of cups is that it is easier to pour liquids from the spout and easier to measure dry ingredients with a simple rim.

No.