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The Mistake: You didn’t read the recipe all the way through before you started cooking. Most cooking mishaps happen when a crucial detail is overlooked. Add cold butter instead of room-temperature butter to the batter and you may end up with a dry and lumpy cake; add tomatoes to the sauce before the onions are fully cooked and you’ll have a crunchy, not smooth, spaghetti topper.
What to Do Next Time: Before picking up a spoon, take a minute to focus on the details.
The Mistake: You overcrowded the pan. Covering the entire surface of a pan traps heat and creates steam. And steam, is an enemy of browning, which locks in flavor and juices.
What to Do Next Time: To guard against overcrowding, use two pans or cook in batches. To prevent the first batch of food from getting cold while you cook the second, keep it on an ovenproof plate in an oven set at a low temperature.
The Mistake: You didn’t preheat the pan, and your fish fillets turned out soggy.
The cooking surface has to be hot enough to seal in the juices and brown the food. Food also tends to stick to a pan that’s too cold, which makes it harder to sauté everything, from onions to potatoes.
What to Do Next Time: Heat the cooking surface on high for several minutes before adding the oil. You’ll know that the pan is hot enough when a few drops of water thrown on the cooking surface skitter and evaporate quickly. Now you can add the oil. When it begins to shimmer and ripple slightly, or a few seconds later, add the meat or the fish. If you’re using a nonstick pan, put the oil in the pan before you turn on the heat, as nonstick pans may release toxins when they’re heated up empty.
The Mistake: You cooked pasta in a small pot and ended up with a pile of gummy noodles. When food is added to a boiling pot, it immediately lowers the temperature of the water. Add too much food to too little water and the water will stop boiling, which changes the cooking process and makes your spaghetti taste starchy. If you blanch beans or basil in water that isn’t hot enough, they’ll discolor and turn brown, says Mike Sheerin, chef de cuisine at Blackbird, a restaurant in Chicago.
What to Do Next Time: Use lots of water. You really want the food to swim,says How much water should you use? For a pound of pasta, use at least a five-quart pot, filled with rapidly boiling water.
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