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Most valuable cooking tips you learned from your mother and/or father?

radcen

radcen

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Most valuable cooking tips you learned from your mother and/or father?

From my mother...
1) When having pancakes or waffles or french toast... always heat the syrup. Makes a world of difference.
2) When having hamburger or brats or hot dogs... always toast the bun. Again, huge difference.
 
Father:

Keeping a woman barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen is easy, but eating well is another matter.

I learned to cook at a young age.
 
Neither my mother, nor my father, was big on cooking. It was utilitarian only. No frills, no thrills, no fun. :lol:

My best tip for cooking is excellent quality German-made kitchen knives, and always spring the extra cash for good utensils and cookware. It's worth the extra money spent.
 
Neither, these are my own.

Use butter when you're making scrambled eggs instead of oil.

Use plastic bags for mixing things. So if you're making schnitzel, you know you need the chicken, egg, flour and breadcrumbs. Put the egg into 1 plastic bag, the flour in the other and the bread crumbs in the other. Then what you do is you put the chicken in the bags orderly-> egg bag, shake it up to make sure all the chicken is covered in egg ; then take them and put them in the flour plastic bag, shake it up... then the breadcrumbs one, shake it up... then put it in the frying pan. (Ofc, I suggest you mix the egg with the flour, so not only do you use less plastic bags but the combination stick better).

Also, regarding chicken, always make sure you put condiments on long before you prepare it so that they mix in nicely.
 
The first, most important step of every recipe:

whiskey-pouring-glass-7605644.jpg


Now, I love cooking. I cook every chance I can get. Thanks, pops! :lol:
 
lizzie said:
Neither my mother, nor my father, was big on cooking. It was utilitarian only. No frills, no thrills, no fun. :lol:

My best tip for cooking is excellent quality German-made kitchen knives, and always spring the extra cash for good utensils and cookware. It's worth the extra money spent.
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If you buy poor quality tools for any purpose, cooking, fixing your car or whatever - you'll be sorry when you try to use them.
 
I don't really have any tips from my parents. Most everything I have either comes from friends, or elsewhere.

I have learned when cooking chicken, to salt and season every single layer. If you are going flour, egg, flour, make sure that the flour and the egg both are seasoned.

I have also learned the best trick when cooking hamburgers using fresh ground beef. Know how your burger always turns into a huge round "ball" when you are cooking it? Press your thumb down into the center of the burger, making it look like a donut with a very tiny hole (the size of your thumb). The burger won't swell up that way.
 
From on my own I discovered that when cooking a metal wire potato masher is great for breaking apart ground beef for tacos, hamburger helper, coney sauce or anything else requiring crumbled ground meat. From my mom and grandparents I learned to save bacon grease.Its good for cooking eggs,hash browns,re-fried beans and certain Mexican brands of pasta.Also if you got a lot bacon grease its a more flavorful alternative to lard when making tamales.
21NeQgQ9NCL.jpg
 
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So far the most consistently valuable advice/tips I've learned have come from reading Nigel Slater's books. At present I'm reading Real Food.
 
This sounds gross, but totally is not. When my mom is cooking ground beef for something like tacos or chili, something heavily seasoned? She boils the ground beef. I know. Ick, right? But it's not bad because the seasonings cover the blandness. She puts the ground beef in boiling water and stirs it constantly with a wire whisk until it's all broken up. By boiling it, you remove the fat (and yes, fat = flavor, but if you are adding flavors like taco seasonings or chili, you don't need the fat) and it's healthier, plus the meat is a lot softer.

Like I said, it sounds gross, but actually works.
 
shrubnose said:
If you buy poor quality tools for any purpose, cooking, fixing your car or whatever - you'll be sorry when you try to use them.
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So true! I am admittedly a tool snob. For electrical work, it is Klein tools. For power tools, usually DeWalt. If I could afford american made high dollar tools, i would buy them. My pastels that I paint with are high quality. I have always found it to be worth getting the best you can in anything that gets a job done. I will buy clothes from a thrift store in a heartbeat, but spend a small fortune on tools lol.
 
lizzie said:
So true! I am admittedly a tool snob. For electrical work, it is Klein tools. For power tools, usually DeWalt. If I could afford american made high dollar tools, i would buy them. My pastels that I paint with are high quality.
I have always found it to be worth getting the best you can in anything that gets a job done. I will buy clothes from a thrift store in a heartbeat, but spend a small fortune on tools lol.
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I learned a long time ago that money spent on poor quality tools is money wasted.

Always buy the best that you can reasonably afford, they'll do a better job, last longer , and you'll be happier to use them.
 
radcen said:
Most valuable cooking tips you learned from your mother and/or father?
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Pretty much nothing, my parents were spoiled rich kids so they never learned how to cook. By the time I was 13 I cooked better than them.
 
PoS said:
Pretty much nothing, my parents were spoiled rich kids so they never learned how to cook. By the time I was 13 I cooked better than them.
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Exact opposite here. My parents were dirt poor. My mom averaged very little for groceries, so we basically had the saaaaaaaaaaame thiiiiiiiiiiing every freaking week. EVERY week. Do I know how to cook lots of different things? No, but I can squeeze a dollar 'til it screams. :lol:
 
Superfly said:
Exact opposite here. My parents were dirt poor. My mom averaged very little for groceries, so we basically had the saaaaaaaaaaame thiiiiiiiiiiing every freaking week. EVERY week. Do I know how to cook lots of different things? No, but I can squeeze a dollar 'til it screams. :lol:
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Me too, I don't throw anything away, unless it's really old, my house just loves the freezer.
 
shrubnose said:
I learned a long time ago that money spent on poor quality tools is money wasted.

Always buy the best that you can reasonably afford, they'll do a better job, last longer , and you'll be happier to use them.
Click to expand...
Not intending to go too far off-topic here, but...

My dad taught me to buy quality tools without ever meaning to. He always bought the crappiest cheapest tools he could find. Well, he wasn't looking for crappy, just cheap, but he got both. Anyway, he was constantly running to the store to replace cheap crappy tools that broke with more cheap crappy tools. When I started using his tools, I did the same thing. After a couple years of that frustration I went out and bought my own tools. Quality tools. He said I was wasting my money. I just shrugged and said "Maybe.".

Fast forward 30 years later I have had exactly two ratchets that needed replacing due to breaking, and even then they were covered under a solid lifetime warranty so the replacement only cost me the time and gas to go get the replacement. I think my money was well-spent.

This does not include the time that my then pre-teen kids lost a bunch of sockets in the backyard and I had to replace those, but let's not go there.
 
radcen said:
This does not include the time that my then pre-teen kids lost a bunch of sockets in the backyard and I had to replace those, but let's not go there.
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Lol. I can identify with that. My 35 year old son is now living on my property, in a small house we built for him, and just a week ago, I was out watering some flowers. I noticed that he had left a couple of his tools and a battery charger lying out in the yard. I decided I should probably lock my tools up to keep him from "borrowing" them, when his get lost or broken. As anal as I am about taking care of my tools, and as anal as DH was about the same, I haven't a clue how my son escaped unscathed by the same disease. :lol:
 
lizzie said:
So true! I am admittedly a tool snob. For electrical work, it is Klein tools. For power tools, usually DeWalt. If I could afford american made high dollar tools, i would buy them. My pastels that I paint with are high quality. I have always found it to be worth getting the best you can in anything that gets a job done. I will buy clothes from a thrift store in a heartbeat, but spend a small fortune on tools lol.
Click to expand...

Now, I'm suffering from tool-envy. I have a girlfriend who makes beautiful furniture, and I am hopelessly incompetent but so admiring! Terrified of electric saws and stuff.
 
radcen said:
Most valuable cooking tips you learned from your mother and/or father?

From my mother...
1) When having pancakes or waffles or french toast... always heat the syrup. Makes a world of difference.
2) When having hamburger or brats or hot dogs... always toast the bun. Again, huge difference.
Click to expand...

1. Presentation matters.
2. When baking, let eggs come to room temp before using them.
3. When frying (can't even remember last decade I fried anything), test the oil's readiness not with a drop of water but with a eensy pinch of flour.
4. Adding a little white wine to a fruit salad will keep bananas from turning color.
5. Don't stick to a recipe; invent and improve!
 
radcen said:
Most valuable cooking tips you learned from your mother and/or father?

From my mother...
1) When having pancakes or waffles or french toast... always heat the syrup. Makes a world of difference.
2) When having hamburger or brats or hot dogs... always toast the bun. Again, huge difference.
Click to expand...

Mine would be how to cook a Thanksgiving turkey. I'd never cook it any other way:

On a rack. Put a couple of inches of chicken broth in the roaster, add chopped onions and celery, with the innards if you'd like. Cook regular way covering with foil if you need to. You end up with a gorgeous turkey (as always, many ways to do THAT), and BETTER!! You end up with a delicious broth with which to make gravy and store/reheat leftovers.

Bestest!
 
nota bene said:
1. Presentation matters.
2. When baking, let eggs come to room temp before using them.
3. When frying (can't even remember last decade I fried anything), test the oil's readiness not with a drop of water but with a eensy pinch of flour.
4. Adding a little white wine to a fruit salad will keep bananas from turning color.
5. Don't stick to a recipe; invent and improve!
Click to expand...
I do that a lot. Downside is that I never remember exactly what I did, so when I come up with something really good, I can never duplicate it.
 
shrubnose said:
If you buy poor quality tools for any purpose, cooking, fixing your car or whatever - you'll be sorry when you try to use them.
Click to expand...

so true when it comes to tools you expect to use over time: "buy once, cry once"

the best cooking tip i received was from my future Father in law. he noticed that i kept turning my steaks on the grill to make sure both sides were adequately cooked
wrong. never turn the beef more than once ... and even then, do NOT squeeze the juice [flavor]
out

went from grilling dry, flavorless steaks and burgers to now serve tasty, juicy beef


and yea, as a machinist, he, like my Dad, also recognized the value of buying good tools
 
radcen said:
Not intending to go too far off-topic here, but...
Click to expand...

My dad taught me to buy quality tools without ever meaning to. He always bought the crappiest cheapest tools he could find. Well, he wasn't looking for crappy, just cheap, but he got both. Anyway, he was constantly running to the store to replace cheap crappy tools that broke with more cheap crappy tools. When I started using his tools, I did the same thing. After a couple years of that frustration I went out and bought my own tools. Quality tools. He said I was wasting my money. I just shrugged and said "Maybe.".

Fast forward 30 years later I have had exactly two ratchets that needed replacing due to breaking, and even then they were covered under a solid lifetime warranty so the replacement only cost me the time and gas to go get the replacement. I think my money was well-spent.

This does not include the time that my then pre-teen kids lost a bunch of sockets in the backyard and I had to replace those, but let's not go there.
Click to expand...




"You can pay me now, or you can pay me later."
 
lizzie said:
Lol. I can identify with that. My 35 year old son is now living on my property, in a small house we built for him, and just a week ago, I was out watering some flowers. I noticed that he had left a couple of his tools and a battery charger lying out in the yard. I decided I should probably lock my tools up to keep him from "borrowing" them, when his get lost or broken.
As anal as I am about taking care of my tools, and as anal as DH was about the same, I haven't a clue how my son escaped unscathed by the same disease. :lol:
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It takes some people forever to learn and some people never learn.
 
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