As a trained chef, I know that even the smallest tweak can make the largest difference on your final plate.
Here are a few tips for preparing the foods everyone should know how to make:
Cook roast chicken along with hearty vegetables.
Turn a chicken into a one-pan meal by scattering chopped carrots, onions, potatoes, and any other hearty vegetables around the pan to roast with your bird.
As the meat cooks, it will release delicious juices, which those ingredients will then soak up. By the time your chicken is cooked through, you’ll also have some of the most flavorful veggies to serve with it.
Make the crispiest croutons by using your hands to rip apart bread.
Achieve really crunchy croutons — so loud that you can’t hear your dinner companion over your bite of Caesar salad — by hand-tearing slightly stale bread instead of slicing it with a knife.
Tearing creates wonderful nooks and crannies that absolutely soak up olive oil and other seasonings. Plus, more surface area means more room for browning in the oven, and ultimately, more crunch.
Give your eggs the low-and-slow treatment.
Turn down the heat on your scrambled eggs and stir them as little as possible for the creamiest, most tender texture.
Instead of jostling the mixture in the pan, gently pull the outer edges toward the center a few times as it cooks. And don’t forget to remove your scramble from the skillet before it looks fully cooked — done in the pan is dry on the plate.
Always peel celery before adding it to a tuna or pasta salad.
Next time you make tuna or pasta salad, run a vegetable peeler along the length of each celery stalk.
You’ll remove a thin but highly fibrous outer layer that can make eating celery chewy and quite unpleasant.
Keep puff pastry on hand to create a variety of impressive dishes.
With a box of puff pastry in your freezer, you’ll be able to whip up an impressive appetizer, dinner, or dessert with minimal effort.
You can make a one-crust chicken pot pie (no one will miss the soggy bottom, I promise), elegant twisted cheese sticks, or a stunning tarte tatin (a dessert baked with caramelized fruit) with just a few extra ingredients.
Chill your cookie dough before baking it.
To achieve the thickest, chewiest cookies, chill the raw dough mounds in the fridge or freezer before baking.
This tip is particularly relevant to doughs containing butter or oil — the cold will solidify those ingredients a bit, so the cookies don’t spread as much in the oven.
Add sweetness to your sandwiches with thinly sliced fruit.
Slide a thin slice of apple or pear between the bread and cheese for an easy and gourmet way to upgrade your next grilled cheese.
The fruit releases sugars that infuse the sandwich with a subtle sweetness — the perfect complement to umami-rich cheese.
The only thing that beats homemade ice cream is frozen custard.
To upgrade your dessert game, make a simple custard with egg yolks, sugar, cream, and vanilla (or your other favorite flavorings).
After churning and freezing, the result will be infinitely creamier, with a richer flavor that blows the store-bought stuff out of the water.
Homemade mayonnaise may be simpler to make than you think.
Discover the wonderful world of homemade mayonnaise with the help of a food processor or immersion blender.
Using one of those appliances, whip a high-quality neutral oil with egg yolks, salt, and a bit of Dijon mustard to make a mayo that can elevate your next sandwich, potato salad, or dressing.
For many recipes, you’ll want to soak your peeled potatoes.
Whether you’re making crispy fries or fluffy mashed potatoes, soak your spuds after peeling or slicing them.
Potatoes oxidize quickly, so their white flesh will start to turn brown soon after it’s exposed to the air — but plunging them into a water bath helps prevent this from happening.
Cook chicken in water to make a delicious homemade broth.
Make the most soul-warming chicken-noodle soup by cooking a whole bird in a pot of simmering water. This turns the mix into a broth while cooking the meat simultaneously.
Then remove the chicken, add veggies like carrots and celery, and shred the meat. Stir everything together at the end with noodles for a delectable homemade soup.
Salt the sweet stuff.
Add a sprinkle of flaky salt to cookies, brownies, cakes, and pies when they’re still warm and fresh out of the oven.
Salt naturally enhances flavors, including sweet ones. Plus, the flakes can add a nice textural component to your soft baked goods.
This story was originally published in September 2021 and most recently updated on December 19, 2025.
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