Not always on the cinnamon thing! I did the exact amount it said for a pear and cinnamon cake and it tasted awful, just cinnamon overpowering everything
I like to plan ahead; get out every dish I need, preheat anything, then fix. I learned that when I was a teenager because my mom would keep asking for dishes while she had dirty hands so I had to run up and down from the upstairs and being interrupted. She then started doing it just to try and show me what she was doing. Like... I don't care, learn how to game plan already.
6) Always taste the food while cooking! (Unless it's raw meat obviously.) I almost never measure spices because I just taste it and know what it needs. No it's not magic, it's experience.
Good point! With experience you learn what amount adds flavor but not so much that it becomes overwhelming. Which is why it's important to experiment with spices and herbs so that you know what effect they have on the food and what they go well with, as well as to understand your own taste. For example, I've learned that I absolutely cannot stand cilantro because of a rare gene that makes cilantro taste like soap to me so I know not to use it.
Ha! Good one, but actually it really is a gene that about 10% of people have. Or maybe everyone has it but for most people it's not strong enough to bother them, idk. It also doesn't help that I have a heightened sense of smell which also enhances certain tastes lol
Well any soap is in principle better than shower gels, for environmental reasons because solid soap usually doesn't involve plastic packaging.
According to Wikipedia, it's a variation of the OR6A2 gene which influences our sense of smell. The most prominent influence which has been observed is the cilantro thing. Interestingly enough the same chemical is also present in cinnamon but I haven't really noticed cinnamon tasting like soap (the citation at that point is not verified though so maybe that part is BS). Idk, apparently there are a bunch of variations of this gene and different people perceive cilantro differently. Some people even associate cilantro with worse things than soap, apparently to some people it even smells like stinkbugs or vomit. So it turns out I'm actually one of the luckier ones.
I cannot stress enough, clean as you go. Or as Alton Brown says, if you have time to lean, you have time to clean. It changes everything.
Another great rule: mise en place. You know how the cooking shows have all these ingredients in little dishes, ready to use? Actually do this. I use custard cups.
According to Wikipedia, it's a variation of the OR6A2 gene which influences our sense of smell. The most prominent influence which has been observed is the cilantro thing. Interestingly enough the same chemical is also present in cinnamon but I haven't really noticed cinnamon tasting like soap (the citation at that point is not verified though so maybe that part is BS). Idk, apparently there are a bunch of variations of this gene and different people perceive cilantro differently. Some people even associate cilantro with worse things than soap, apparently to some people it even smells like stinkbugs or vomit. So it turns out I'm actually one of the luckier ones.
Another great rule: mise en place. You know how the cooking shows have all these ingredients in little dishes, ready to use? Actually do this. I use custard cups.