8 Kitchen Tips and Tricks for Newbie Cooks

Are you a budding home cook who finds the kitchen intimidating? Don’t let your fear get in the way of your culinary dreams! Check out these tips from global appliance leader Electrolux to help you find your way around the kitchen. You’ll be whipping up delicious dishes in no time!

1. Make your breakfast brighter
   Scrambled eggs and bacon are breakfast staples. They’re simple and easy to prepare but you can make yours even more delectable with these simple tricks.

   How can you make your scrambled eggs extra impressive? Add a tablespoon of mayonnaise to make it fluffier! The creaminess of mayonnaise adds extra texture to scrambled eggs without taking away its flavour—it even adds extra savour! Use a good amount of butter and cook it in medium to low heat. Stir continuously in a figure-eight motion. It’s a trick that even the Anthony Bourdain did as slowly stirring in a figure-eight motion gives the eggs a soft and smooth texture with just the right amount of air to make it fluffier.

   Pair your fluffy scrambled eggs with bacon strips made crispier thanks to a secret ingredient—flour. Sprinkle a good amount of flour on each piece of bacon before frying it in the pan or cooking it in the oven. Flour absorbs the excess grease from the bacon, so it doesn’t get drenched in its own oil, which is what often makes the bacon too curly and soggy. With flour, you retain the juiciness and flavor of the bacon while making it extra crispy. Plus, less grease means less oil spatters in the pan for easier cleaning.

2. Check the comment sections!
   There are a lot of recipes available online for newbie cooks – the challenge is separating the good recipes from the great ones. So, check the comments under the recipes you find online. Other people’s experiences will help you know what works or not—is the heat enough? Are measurements right? Do you have to sauté or just pan-sear? The comments section is really helpful in pointing out if any adjustments need to be made. If you’re lucky, you can even find alternative ingredients or some tricks to make the recipe even better.
3. Treat your meat right
   Cooking meat may sound tricky but it’s actually pretty simple. Just remember to treat it right. It’s a common mistake to cook meat straight out of the fridge – meat should be cooked at room temperature. Always give the meat enough time to thaw before cooking. If you’re in a rush, you can thaw frozen food quicker by putting it in a bowl of water for an hour or so.

   When cooking meat, especially when it’s beef, it’s best to use a thermometer so you have full control of the heat and you won’t end up with overcooked, tough meat. Don’t be tempted to flip it excessively as well. You only need to flip it once then you’ll have nicely cooked meat with a good sear. When you’re done cooking, give the meat a couple of minutes to rest before slicing it to lock the juices in.

4. Learn how to season correctly and taste as you go
   Do it just like how Salt Bae does! When seasoning your meat or vegetables, move a bit farther and sprinkle salt or pepper or whichever seasoning you’re using. – About a foot away from the dish is enough. This way, the seasoning will be evenly dispersed as opposed to a big chunk of seasoning dumped on one portion. Doing so will also help you prevent from over seasoning and over-stirring your dish, which gives you less risk of damaging the dish, especially if you’re cooking delicate meat like fish or soft vegetables.
   Don’t shy away from tasting your dish. As much as possible, taste your dish during every step in the recipe so you know when you have to adjust the seasoning. When you happen to over season your dish, don’t fret! Just throw in a couple of potato slices in your dish, let it boil for a while so it can seep in the excess seasoning and restore the flavour balance.
5. You don’t actually need oil when boiling pasta
   Most people add oil when cooking pasta to keep it from sticking together but good quality pasta doesn’t need oil. Good pasta gets silky and smooth when it’s fully cooked so it shouldn’t stick together. The oil tends to make pasta slippery so that the sauce will not mix well with your pasta. So, instead of putting oil, add salt in the pasta water to give your pasta a little flavour.

   Don’t throw away the pasta sauce too! Boiling dry pasta makes the water starchy. This starchy consistency is just right to thicken your sauce and help bind the pasta and sauce together.

6. Know your rice
   Filipinos are rice eaters; we love our meals with a hearty serving of good rice. Cooking rice is simple but there are a few things to remember. First, know the type of rice you’re cooking. Long grain, short grain, red, brown—various types of rice that requires different ways of cooking. So, it’s best to know what rice you’re dealing with before starting to prepare it.

   It is very important to wash rice but be careful not to rinse it too much. Rinse it about once or twice, – any more than that and you’ll eliminate rice’s natural starch which makes it sticky and soft. Then, once cooked, give it about 15 minutes to rest in the rice cooker or pot before serving it to keep the moisture.

7. Turn your pan handles to the side
   It’s okay to be clumsy in the kitchen, especially if you’re a newbie. Minor burns here and there, a few splatters—it’s all part of the experience. But these are kitchen accidents that you can definitely prevent from happening. One practical trick is to turn the pan handles to the side. If the handle is hanging in front of you, it can easily get knocked off, spilling everything. Turn the hands to the side and make sure you’re always wearing a potholder or kitchen mittens when you touch it.
8. Try using an induction cooktop
   An induction cooktop can be a newbie cooks best friend – it cooks faster than gas and is safer to use because it heats only the bottom of the pan, leaving the surrounding stove top cool to the touch. They’re also easy to clean as the glass ceramic surface allows you to just wipe off those spills as you cook and seamlessly get rid of grease with minimal effort. It’s also easy to check if your cookware is induction-friendly. If one of those quirky ref magnets you have sticks to your pan, that means it’s induction-compatible.

   The Electrolux Induction Cooking Range features an induction cooktop with multiple burners and a large oven, making it a flexible appliance to help newbie cooks whip up a variety of dishes.

   The Electrolux Induction cooktop is faster than other cooking technologies, boiling one litre of water in three minutes, allowing you to enjoy tasty meals in no time and there’s also enough space to accommodate 4 pots or pans. Meanwhile, the oven also comes with a 8 cooking functions like grilling, light cooking and even a pizza setting so you can cook your family’s favourites.

For newbie cooks, check out this video where a dad tried to prepare his kid’s favorite meal with the help of Electrolux at https://www.smartparenting.com.ph/life/food/dad-cooking-challenge-electrolux-adv-con. For more information about the Electrolux Induction Cooking Range and for cooking tips and recipes, please follow @ElectroluxPhilippines on Facebook and Instagram.