Tips to improve your cooking skills

Mise en place means preparing everything beforehand before you cook.

You may be just starting out and learning how to cook. Or maybe you’ve already been cooking for family and friends for a long time. Either way, there are always new tips that you can pick up to improve how you do things in the kitchen. ― Compiled by Patsy Kam

1 You’d be surprised how adding a little salt to some of your baked products could change things up tremendously. For instance, a dash of salt to desserts like cookies and brownies gives them that extra edge and the sweetness doesn’t seem so cloying.

2 Rather than struggle to flip a sunny-side egg and see it all go south, there’s an easier way to get a beautiful soft, runny yolk. When your egg is cooking in the pan, cover it with a lid for a short while. Works every single time!

Eggs will overcook on the stove even if the fire has been turned off.

3 The next time you go shopping in the supermarket, skip the pre-grated cheese packs and buy a whole block instead. Only grate what you need, and you can keep the rest in the fridge for the next round. It takes a little more effort, but it works out to be cheaper and there’s actually a difference in flavour.

4 Store the link to your favourite recipes in a separate file or folder digitally, be it on your phone or laptop. So the next time you need to cook something, you’ll know exactly where it is, which version it is and it’s right there at your fingertips. Saves time so that you don’t have to go searching through a bunch of recipes again to find what you need.

Dash of salt on brownies does wonders.

5 Some people like to do things in stages. They take out all the ingredients, go through the whole cooking (and eating) process, then only do they clean up everything. It’s fine if you have a dish washer and can just fit everything inside. But otherwise, try cleaning as you go along and figure out your own pace. You’ll find that it’s less messy and you don’t feel so stressed out at the thought of having to complete the chore of washing the mountain of dishes in the sink.

6 You may have turned off the fire on your stove, but meat and eggs still continue to cook as the stove is still hot and your pan usually retains heat for a short while. To prevent this, remove the food from the heat source once you’re done and let the dish rest so that it doesn’t overcook.

Buy a block of cheese to grate instead of pre-packed grated cheese.

7 Read up different versions of the same recipe first before you start cooking, to fully understand what’s required. It’s not always a case of one-size-fits-all as you may want to add changes to the recipe to suit your palate. Reading another version for comparison gives you a better idea of what can be adjusted, and how the cake or dish evolves without affecting the outcome.

8 French chefs practise mise en place, which means “putting everything in place before cooking”. They prepare everything they need first, from utensils to plates, and lay out all the ingredients, properly measured. It’s a sensible practice to adopt as you won’t have to go looking for some missing condiment and find out at the last moment you’ve run out. This way you can pay full attention to your cooking without getting distracted.

Tackling a mountain of dishes can be stressful, so it’s better to clean as you go.