foodiewoodie

      Result: Flavors are dull, entire steps or ingredients get left out.

 Don’t taste as you go.
      Result: The flavors or textures of an otherwise excellent dish are out of balance or unappealing.

 Boil when you should simmer.
     Result: A hurried-up dish that’s cloudy, tough, or dry.

 Pop meat straight from the fridge into the oven or onto the grill.
     Result: Food cooks unevenly: The outside is overdone, the inside rare or raw.

 Put all the salt in the marinade or breading.
     Result: Fish, poultry, or meat that’s underseasoned.

 Don’t shock vegetables when they’ve reached the desired texture.
      Result: Mush.

 Neglect the nuts you’re toasting.
     Result: Burned nuts, with a sharp, bitter flavor.

 Try to rush the cooking of caramelized onions.
     Result: You end up with sautéed onions, which are nice but a far cry from the melt-in-your-mouth caramelized ideal.

Meat gets no chance to rest after cooking.
      Result: Delicious juices vacate the meat and run all over the cutting board, leaving steak or roast dry.

 Don’t use a meat thermometer.
     Result: Your roast chicken, leg of lamb, or beef tenderloin turns out over- or undercooked.

 Don’t get the pan hot enough before you add the food.
     Result: Food that sticks, scallops with no sear, pale meats.

 Turn the food too often.
      Result: You interfere with the sear, food sticks, or you lose the breading.

 Too casual about measuring ingredients.
      Result: Dry, tough cakes, rubbery brownies and a host of other textural mishaps.

 Don’t know your oven’s quirks and idiosyncrasies.
     Result: Food cooks too fast, too slow, or unevenly.

 Overheat chocolate.
     Result: Instead of having a smooth, creamy, luxurious consistency, your chocolate is grainy, separated, or scorched.

 Make unwise substitutions in baking.
     Result: You wreck the underlying chemistry of the dish.

Underbake cakes and breads.
     Result: Cakes, brownies, and breads turn out pallid and gummy.