10 Kitchen Tips I Learned In Culinary School

PHOTO: Aubergine Stew With Chickpeas, Apricots + Mint

Before I went to culinary school (back in 2015) I really didn’t know how to cook. I was still super passionate about healthy eating, and making most of my meals at home, but I had never learned the foundations of how to cook.

These tips make getting into the kitchen all that much easier, and promise a smoother experience, no matter the level of recipe you’re doing!

Place a damp towel underneath your cutting board. It’ll prevent the board from sliding out from underneath you as you work. You can also use wet paper towel for this! This makes it safer when you cut, and makes chopping herbs way less annoying.
Use sharp knives. The most dangerous thing in a kitchen is a dull knife–they slide around. You can sharpen your knives with a wet stone and a steel, and they’re usually found wherever knives can be bought. How do you know if your knife is dull? Try slicing through a tomato! A dull knife will get caught and just tear it, and a sharp knife will give you the perfect slice!
Do all your prep first. Save time by washing, peeling, and cutting everything before you start. That way, you can just grab it and go. (You can even do this prep the day before!)
Read the recipe all the way through before you start. Ever find yourself midway through a recipe and realize you probably should’ve used a bigger pot/waited on cooking something/etc. Read and then cook. Repeat after me: read and then cook.
Keep a towel around you. Use it to wipe your hands off, keep your cutting board clean and hold onto hot pots and pans.
Clean as you go. Actually, my mom taught me this. But it’s a real life saver in the kitchen.
Add another pinch of salt. Seriously, you’re probably under seasoning it.
Weigh out your ingredients. I had never done this before this year. Boy oh boy, what a difference it makes! Especially with baking–a cup is not a cup is not a cup. If you often find your baked goods going awry, and you have no idea what happened, I urge you: get a scale.
Feel it out. Cooking is all about intuition. You can’t teach someone to love food, or to experience cooking. Be present and really feel out your dish–what’s missing? What could you add?
Taste your food! If you’ve ever worked in the fast food industry, you were told to never (ever) snack on the food you make. A lot of us are ingrained to not taste the food until we sit down and serve it. But by then, it’s too late to know if you added too much spice or not enough salt (you didn’t; check tip #7). So make sure to taste as you go, and always have a tasting spoon near you.