These Stovetop Mistakes Could be Ruining your Meals
The right stovetop, the perfect recipe, and even the ideal cookware can all contribute to an incredible meal. However, if you don’t know how to use all of those things properly together, then you could find that your gourmet food turns into a disaster.
More often than not, homeowners have a hard time actually understanding how to use their stovetop to their advantage. Fortunately, these tips could help you to overcome your common mistakes once and for all.
Mistake 1: Putting Cold Food in the Pan
One of the major mistakes that homeowners make when cooking on a stovetop is pulling food out of the fridge and putting it directly into the pan. You need to make sure that the foods that you’re using for your meal are room temperature. Pull everything out of the fridge around 20 minutes before you start cooking to avoid any adverse temperature reactions.
Mistake 2: You are Crowding the Pan
When you’re trying to feed your entire family at once, you might try to add all of your ingredients to the pan at the same time. However, this could seriously harm the outcomes of your meal. Overcrowding your pan could mean that your food doesn’t cook properly. If necessary, use two pans at once so you can make sure that you’re spreading your food evenly over the heat.
Mistake 3: You never move the pan from the heat
One of the biggest mistakes that amateur stovetop chefs make is failing to remove the pan from the heat when their recipe tells them to do so. Removing your pan from the heat is sometimes crucial, which means that you can’t just turn the heat down slightly. If your recipe asks you to remove the pan from the heat, do so completely – this means turning the heat off and moving the pan to one side.
Mistake 4: Not Using the Range Hood
Most people with a gas stove have a range hood to help them avoid steaming up their kitchen while they cook. However, these people rarely turn the hood on. This means that all the smoke and fumes that should be exiting your kitchen are lingering around the food and changing its flavor. Turn the hood on the next time you cook.
Mistake 5: You Flip Meats too Fast
Perfectly cooking your meat isn’t easy, particularly when you don’t know when you should be flipping a piece of chicken or steak. A lot of people end up moving the meat around in the pan until they nervously flip it. However, when you’re cooking meat, the best thing you can do is leave it as untouched as possible. Wait until the bottom is golden brown before you start flipping.
Mistake 6: Not Drying your Food
Even if you have an amazing stove and the best pans, you’re not going to get great results if you don’t know how to properly prep your food. This means making sure that certain meats and vegetables have been dried before they are seasoned and cooked. Throwing everything into the pan when it’s still slightly moist will cause soggy and slightly steamed foods.
Mistake 7: You’re Not Using the Right Burner
Another common mistake is for people to end up misusing the burners on their gas stove. There are different sizes of burner available for different sizes of the pan – and you’ll need to keep that in mind when you’re cooking. If you’re using a pan that’s too small for your chosen burner, you’ll end up scorching the food.
Mistake 8: You’re Using Cheaper Pans
Cheap pans can be detrimental to your meals in a lot of different ways. The cheaper and poor quality your pan is, the less likely it will be to pick up and distribute the heat properly. Additionally, you could find that cheap non-stick pans have chemicals that end up leaking into your food. While spending more on pots and pans might not appeal to you at first – it will lead to better meals in the long-term.
Mistake 9: You’re not using the right kind of Pan
Just as using the wrong burner can be dangerous when it comes to getting the most out of your food, using the wrong pan is problematic too. Remember, you shouldn’t stick to the same pot or pan for every meal just because you feel comfortable with it. Find out what kind of pans are actually best for the foods that you’re creating.
Mistake 10: You Don’t Know Your Stove Well Enough
Electric stoves take time to change the temperature while gas stoves are a lot more adaptable when it comes to switching from one heat to another. It’s important to keep factors like this in mind when you’re cooking. Find out how your stovetop works so you can make sure that you’re getting the most out of its unique features.