Like all skills, cooking takes time and practice. Some techniques require a lot of time and practice to perfect, but there are a few tips and tricks that require little to no extra effort and will significantly improve your cooking.
This is the first list in a collection of ways to level up your skills in the kitchen in small, accessible ways. (And no, I’m not sorry for all the puns.)
Building Texture
After flavor, texture is arguably the best part of eating. Texture variance and contrast is part of what keeps us coming back for more and prevents our brains and mouths from getting bored.
Feeling crumb-y
Breadcrumbs are one of the quickest and easiest ways to add texture. Panko is the gold-standard, offering a light and crispy crunch, and the opportunity to add seasonings yourself. Toast in a dry pan or with a drizzle of butter or olive oil over medium heat for 3-5 minutes until browned. Sprinkle over pasta, grain salads, roasted vegetables, or anything else that needs a little boost.
If you’re coating something in breadcrumbs such as chicken Parmesan, firmly press the breadcrumbs in with your hands to ensure even coating and proper stickage.
Say cheese
Because cheese has a high fat content, it is a prime candidate for developing texture. Next time you make a grilled cheese, add an extra sprinkle of cheese around or even on top of the sandwich before you flip to create those lacy, crispy edges.
When you roast vegetables are done, grate over Parmesan or scatter a handful of shredded sharp cheddar at the end and pop it back under the broiler for 3-5 minutes. This can also be done in a pan!
And of course, everyone loves the edge pieces of a lasagna or pasta bake. A layer of mozzarella followed by the aforementioned breadcrumbs before baking will ensure equal coverage for all diners. Like with roasted vegetables, a 5-minute blast under the broiler will caramelize the cheese to bubbly perfection.
Rice crisp-y
Fluffy rice is delightful, but there is something extra special about the occasional crispy spoonful. Dishes across the world use various techniques to achieve this, including Colombian arroz con coco, Persian tahdig, Korean dolsot bibimbap, modern Japanese pan-fried sushi rice, Spanish paella’s socarrat — and more!
Bonus: finishing your rice this way is easier than you may think!
Fluffy rice, crispy bottom
Add 1 part jasmine rice, 1.5 parts water or stock to a pot or pan, ideally with a wide surface area like a Dutch oven, cast iron pan, or a sauté pan with high sides.
Turn heat to high until it comes to a boil, then cover with a lid and turn heat to low.
Steam the rice for 15-20 minutes, then turn the heat off and let rest with the lid on for 5 minutes.
Fluff with a fork and taste for texture. If you’re happy with it, use a spoon or spatula to press the rice down in an even layer without packing it too tightly.
Drizzle 2 TBS of fat (olive oil, vegetable oil, ghee, chicken fat, etc.) evenly over the rice. Turn the heat to high and cover with a lid for 3 minutes.
After 3 minutes, turn the heat off and let it sit for an additional 2 minutes. The residual steam will help the rice release.
Use your utensil of choice to scrape up the crispy rice and enjoy!
For a demonstration, check out Carla Lalli Music’s one-pot chicken and rice.
Roast Battle
Roasting is one of my favorite cooking methods, but there are a few common pitfalls. Here’s how to avoid them and achieve a consistent cook every time.
Mix it up
Dredging ingredients in oil can lead to a greasy, unpleasant mouthful in one bite and an anemic one in the next.
Use oil sparingly — a spoonful at a time — and toss everything together in a bowl before adding to a lined baking sheet. The ingredients will be evenly coated, leaving excess oil at the bottom of the bowl.
Hands off
After your food is appropriately moisturized, lay it out in a single layer on a baking sheet to encourage air circulation and prevent steaming.
Pop your tray in the oven and don’t open the door to check on or mix it — just leave it alone for half the amount of total cook time (for me, this is usually 15 minutes at 425F, no matter what I’m roasting). After the halfway mark, flip things over to develop caramelization on the other side.
Potato head
My favorite way of roasting potatoes is the double-cook method, developed by J. Kenji López-Alt.
Peel potatoes and cut into 2-inch pieces. (You can go larger if you wish, but any smaller and they are more likely to fall apart.) Add to a pot filled with cold water.
Once all the potatoes are in, put the pot over high heat.
Salt your water as you would with pasta and ½ tsp of baking soda. (Kenji explains why this matters and how it works in this Serious Eats article.)
Note: I have done this step both before and after the water boils and it doesn’t seem to make a huge difference either way.
Bring the water to a boil and cook for 8-10 minutes until a knife is inserted with little to no resistance, without the potato losing its structure.
Drain the potatoes and agitate in a colander to create craggy edges. Let them sit for 5 minutes to dry out a little and allow the steam to evaporate.
Toss in oil and lay out on a sheet tray as above and roast at 425F for 20-30 minutes, turning halfway through.
After the potatoes are crispy on all sides and still hot, toss them in your flavorings of choice to maintain freshness and prevent burning.
Note: If this is too strong for your palette, turn oven down to 350F and let the potatoes hang out in there for another 10 minutes, turning halfway through.
Pastabilities
Pasta was one of the first meals I learned to cook on my own. During the last decade, I’ve learned that for nearly every pasta dish, the following are universal constants.
Al dente or bust
Al dente or “to the tooth” in Italian refers to the slightly firm tackiness you get when you bite into pasta. Most boxed pasta will say how much time this takes to achieve, but I actually tend to keep it in the water for a minute or so less than that.
I also finish pasta in the sauce, tossing it around the pot or pan on low heat for a couple minutes. Not only do I have more control over the finished texture, but it allows the pasta to cook the rest of the way while absorbing the flavor of the sauce.
This lesson holds true for baked pasta like lasagna, stuffed shells, and ziti. As they sit in the oven surrounded by sauce, the pasta will soak it up slowly and you will avoid floppy, mushy pasta, maintaining the desired texture contrast.
You can always cook something more, but you absolutely cannot un-cook a soggy bowl of spaghetti.
Say cheese (reprise)
Finishing pasta with grated Parmesan is an excellent way to add extra umami and a little extra creaminess. However, it is important to incorporate the cheese with the heat turned off — otherwise it will split and become greasy. Carbonara is a great way to practice this technique!
If you are making a cheese sauce, such as for mac and cheese, keep the heat quite low to control the consistency.
Just keep stirring
Emulsification is one of those cooking buzzwords you’ll hear often and pasta is one of the most common applications.
A few guidelines for a silky-smooth sauce every time:
Use less water — just enough to cover the pasta — to concentrate the starch.
At the end of boiling the pasta, scoop out a few cups of pasta water before draining and set it to the side.
On low heat (or off if using cheese), shake the pan with one hand and stir with tongs in the other to incorporate as much air as possible.
Add in a splash of pasta water (about ⅓ cup at a time) if you start to hear sizzling — this means that things are frying too rapidly instead of becoming creamy.
The pasta water and sauce (whether oil, tomato, white wine, cream, etc.) should be incorporated into a smooth, homogenous mixture rather than congregating in seperate puddles, such as drops of oil suspended in pasta water.
Alex Ainouz has a wonderful tutorial cooking aglio e olio, which requires significant emulsification to achieve. It only requires five ingredients and I highly recommend you give it a try!
Ethan Chlebowski also has a great guide for emulsifying pasta sauces.
Seasons’ Greetings
Food without seasoning, no matter the quality, is simply bland and boring.
You’ve likely already heard the advice to season at every step, which simply means to taste each element as you cook to ensure that the flavors are right and no one thing is out of balance.
These are some simple ways to put this into practice.
Butter me up
Butter tastes and feels different at different points in the cooking process. It also has a much lower smoking point than oils and thus is more liable to burn.
A handy cheat sheet:
Cold - smooth, creamy, mildly salty, slightly slippery mouthfeel, milky aftertaste
This is the best stage to add to sauces, gravies, and pasta and to emulsify as it melts.
Just melted - a deeper flavor that brings out the salt more, leaves greasier mouthfeel
The white milk solids will be visible and clearly identifiable. This is the best stage for sauteing.
Browned - deeply nutty and savory, a hint of sweetness, grainy aftertaste
The milk solids are browned (hence the name) and excellent for baked goods, drizzling over rice or pasta right before serving, or added to a salad dressing.
Get fresh
Acids like vinegar and citrus go a long way if you have a limited pantry. Smart use of acid can rescue a monotonous, over-salted, or overly spicy dish; a splash of white wine vinegar can help lift a particularly saline chicken stock and a squeeze of lemon juice can brighten up an oily pasta. (For more on this, check out my soup post!)
Acids are crucial for vinaigrettes and black vinegar is perfect for a quick dumpling dipping sauce or dressing to accompany chili oil noodles.
Fresh herbs, even if you just have one or two on hand, can add that extra layer of sophistication. A typical rule of thumb is hard, woody herbs like rosemary, thyme, sage, and bay leaves can hold up to higher heat and longer cooking times while continuing to develop their flavors. They are also excellent for making infused olive oils!
Softer herbs like parsley, basil, and mint require a corresponding softer touch and are best served in a fragrant sauce or dressing like pesto or chimichurri, folded in at the end of cooking, or homemade herb butter.
Proposing a toast
To make the most of whole spices like cumin, coriander seeds, mustard seeds, carraway, and cardamom, give them a quick toast in a dry pan on medium heat for just a few minutes. This will help release their natural oils and fragrances, and unlock those deeper flavors. After toasting, you can also crush them in a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder if you’re not using them whole.
South Asian cooking also commonly uses a technique called tadka to bloom spices in oil and to finish off the dish:
Tadka Dal by Chetna Makan
Dal Tadka by Chitra Agrawal
Dal Makhani by Rainbow Plant Life
Final (Tasting) Notes
Next week’s newsletter will be focused on cooking proteins (plant-based friends, feel free to sit that one out!). It will be followed by my top kitchen techniques, both widely applicable skills that come with the all-important time and practice, and non-cooking recommendations to make your life a little easier.
Lastly, I’m starting a Recipe Rescue series soon, so send me your kitchen conundrums and I will Sherlock Holmes my way through them with you — and share some of my own plentiful mishaps along the way!