7 Cooking ‘Rules’ Pro Chefs Are Begging You To Break - Well+Good

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7 Cooking ‘Rules’ Pro Chefs Are Begging You To Break - Well+Good

7 Cooking ‘Rules’ Pro Chefs Are Begging You To Break - Well+Good

Posted: 10 Jun 2021 06:10 AM PDT

If you're someone who follows a recipe to a T, there's a good chance you aren't exactly a rule breaker. It makes sense—especially if you don't quite feel like Ina Garten in the kitchen. Veer from a recipe and you risk ruining your entire dish. But as a recent viral Reddit thread is proving, there are times when cooking foods "wrong" ends up being so, so right.

In the thread, the Reddit community shares foods they prepare incorrectly on purpose, whether it's because they alone think it makes the dish taste better or they swear that everyone thinks the results are exceedingly more delicious that way. Inspired, I decided to reach out to reputable chefs to find out when they think it's best to break the rules in the kitchen. They certainly didn't hold back. From deliberately burning broccoli to using three times the amount of garlic a recipe calls for, these chefs aren't afraid to get creative in the kitchen. Breaking the rules never tasted so good.

7 cooking rules to break, recommended by chefs

1. Soaking rice way longer than you're "supposed" to

While many people use a rice cooker to make rice, The Mediterranean Dish creator Suzy Karadsheh says she always makes hers on the stove. But she her rice prep involves one more step that's typically frowned upon: she lets the grains soak for at least 20 minutes before cooking them. "Many people think it's wrong to soak your rice this long and that it may make the rice mushy. However, the opposite is actually true," she says. "When the grains are soaked and drained, you shorten the cooking time. This helps ensure that the interior of the grain actually cooks before the exterior loses its shape. Your rice will cook well and become nice and fluffy when you use less cooking water, too." She promises this is the secret to nailing the ideal, light and dense-free texture.

2. Making Southern greens without meat

As a soul food chef with Southern roots, Rene Johnson says many people have highly specific rules about how the cuisine she makes 'should' be crafted. Greens in particular, she says, can really rile folks up. "It always surprises my guests when they take their first bite of my vegan greens. As they're biting in, they're telling me how their mom or grandmother used to make greens, and about how much they miss it. They'll share with me that if greens do not have a pork shank or a smoked turkey wing in them it just won't be done right," she says. "Then they taste my vegan greens, which they would have sworn was done 'wrong,' and they have to eat their words. It always cracks me up!" Her secret to winning everyone over? A combination of fresh leeks, fresh fennel, and chili powder.

3. Underbaking cookies and cakes

You know how every recipe tells you exactly how long to leave something in the oven? Yeah, Food Network star and Institute of Culinary Education chef Palak Patel isn't really into that. "I almost always underbake my cookies and cakes," she says. Instead, she shaves a few minutes off the baking time—this, she promises, is the trick to giving baked treats that just-right gooey texture. "Underbaking also prevents cakes and cookies from drying out," she says. However, she points out that there's a fine line between underbaking and raw (you want to avoid the latter). If you stick a fork in and it comes out almost clean of the batter, you know you mastered it.

4. Going "too heavy" on the seasoning

Chef, cookbook author, and nutritionist Ariane Resnick, CN, is also a recipe rule breaker. Whatever amount of herbs or seasonings a recipe calls for, she says she uses more—a lot more. "When working with simple, whole-food ingredients, I find that more herbs and spices help better mimic the taste of 'commercial' food that many people love," she says. Resnick says she's also heavy-handed when it comes to vinegar, wine, mustard, and other flavorful, acidic condiments. "It makes the difference between food that reads as 'healthy' and food that tastes restaurant-quality, which is what both private chef clients and the home cooks who find recipes online are seeking," she says.

5. Cooking with "too much" garlic

Rainbow Plant Life creator Nisha Vora says she also likes to cook with more herbs than is considered 'standard.' In fact, there is one in particular she is especially liberal with. "I use way more garlic than most people. If I see a recipe that has one clove of garlic, I immediately don't trust it," she says. "I usually double—sometimes, triple!—the amount of garlic in recipes. Eight cloves of garlic in a soup? Seems right to me. It's an easy and cheap way to infuse a flavorful backbone into all kinds of savory recipes."

Watch the video below to see why consuming garlic is so good for you:

6. Undercooking oats

Similarly to how Chef Palak cuts a few minutes off the cook time for baked goods, cookbook author and restauranteur Dan Churchill says he does the same thing with oats. "[I undercook] oats to the point where they become almost like a batter, as opposed to a thin oatmeal," he says. This, he says, gives it a nuttier and chewier taste as well as a stronger flavor profile. So if you think oatmeal is bland, this cooking trick will likely change your mind.

7. Burning broccoli

Burning food tends to be the biggest cooking 'no,' but Post Punk Kitchen creator and cookbook author Isa Chandra Moskowitz says she purposely overcooks and burns her broccoli. "It's my favorite comfort food," she says. "I toss it with olive oil and sea salt and bake it in a super hot oven—like 450°F—and let the edges turn brown and crispy and even sometimes black. The inside gets tender and luscious. It's a whole thing." Um, suddenly burnt broccoli actually sounds…amazing.

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As these chefs show, there are times when breaking the rules definitely pays off. And sometimes, you end up with something really, really delicious. (If not, at least you got the adrenaline rush.)

Join Well+Good's Cook With Us Facebook group for more ways to get creative in the kitchen.

Fifth wheel catches fire after alleged cooking mishap - Today's News-Herald

Posted: 12 Jun 2021 05:24 PM PDT

A fifth wheel caught fire Saturday afternoon after an alleged cooking mishap set the vehicle ablaze.

In the afternoon on June 12 at Sam's Beachcomber RV Resort on the Island, a woman was cooking in her fifth wheel with her little dog when something near the stove, possibly a dish rag or towel, caught fire, according to her statements.

According to the woman, Lake Havasu City Fire Department Battalion Chief Michael Quijada said, she turned away to grab something to put the fire out, but by the time she turned back around to face the flames, they had engulfed the entire wall.

A nearby worker, Jesse Villarreal, and her neighbors came to her aid, making sure she and her dog got out safely. Villarreal then hooked the neighboring fifth wheel up to his trailer, quickly pulling it out of the way of the fire to keep the flames from spreading, he said. Quijada said while the jacks on that fifth wheel are bent, there was no other damage and they were successful in avoiding the flames.

Villarreal and her neighbors used garden hoses to try and put out the fire, Villarreal said. The woman and her dog were taken inside one of the resort's buildings to escape the heat.

LHCFD responded to the scene with four engines, one battalion chief, two other commanding officers and one fire investigator, for a total of 17 personnel on scene. Community Emergency Response Team also responded with seven personnel to help rehabilitate fire fighters as they fought to knock down the fire in 110 degree heat.

The woman was evaluated upon the fire department's arrival, as she was having trouble breathing, Quijada said. She suffered smoke inhalation, but refused treatment. Her dog was taken care of by a neighbor and had no reported injuries.

Villarreal also suffered smoke inhalation and was evaluated by paramedics, but he also refused treatment.

While the fire was being fought, an elderly woman who volunteers with CERT was getting out of her car and hit one of the parking lot curbs. She hit her head, causing a laceration that sent her to Havasu Regional Medical Center, Quijada said. She is in stable condition.

No other injuries to fire personnel or occupants were reported. The fire is still under investigation.

How Las Vegas nonprofit for the blind kept cooking during COVID - Las Vegas Review-Journal

Posted: 12 Jun 2021 07:50 PM PDT

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced Nevadans to shelter in place for an extended period of time, Raquel O'Neill knew she had to get creative to continue to serve the blind and visually impaired clientele of Blind Connect.

O'Neill, the executive director of the Las Vegas nonprofit, recalls suddenly fielding a multitude of calls asking for advice and resources. Blind Connect's usual programming at Angela's House had to be shuttered and people wanted to know how they could stay involved with the charity.

"It was like, 'We have to figure out a way,'" she said. "Blind people, their family members, they were like, 'We will do whatever it takes. We have time. We have nothing else to do. So, lets learn this together, and let's figure it out.'"

And so the charity pushed forward with programs that had never seemed possible before, including cooking and creative writing classes, a support group and even Braille classes, all adapted for online using the Zoom videoconferencing service.

Cooking with cameras

In 2011, Regina Mitchell learned that she was losing her eyesight.

A graduate of Seattle Culinary Institute, Mitchell knew she wanted to keep working as a chef. She quickly outfitted her kitchen and organized her pantry so she'd always know where everything was, even as her eyesight deteriorated.

She'd met O'Neill at UNLV and she started working with others who were losing their sight through Blind Connect. After the COVID pandemic shut things down, she pitched a virtual cooking class for the blind and low-sighted. O'Neill thought it was a great idea.

"It has been such an amazing journey," Mitchell said. "I can't believe how you can have an idea, right, and then put some shoes on it and it just runs. You take it to the track, and it just kicks off. And I'm just loving every moment of it."

Mitchell holds a twice-monthly virtual class, which now includes about 20 students, including some from around the country. And it's different than your normal cooking class.

Knowing the audience she's teaching, Mitchell focuses on using extremely descriptive language. Typical cooking class verbiage like "until the juices run dry," won't work, so she makes extra effort to describe everything she's doing.

She also places a second camera next to the stove so people on the Zoom call can hear whatever's cooking. She also has special equipment for blind and low-sighted people, like a double sided cooking board with a light and dark side and special cut resistant gloves.

She routinely drops in extra tips for people, like using a pizza cutter to cut peppers and onions in an effort to reduce the chance of accidental cuts.

Mitchell has big plans for the future, too. She wants to write a cookbook for blind and low-sighted people, with Braille, audio and large text formats. She hasn't seen another cookbook like that out there and wants to fill that void.

"Although I can have some vision, and the next person can have low vision, what about the next person that can't see anything?" she said. "I need to sell this onion and myself so that that person can have confidence when they turn this off, they'll be able to say, you know what, I think I can do that."

Learning Braille remotely

It's hard to even imagine teaching the Braille over Zoom, but that's exactly what Jean Peyton and Buddy Collier decided to do to replace Blind Connect's in-person instruction.

"I think for me, it's just being patient," Peyton said. "The other thing is I just really want people who want to learn Braille to learn Braille. So, I'm really committed to that process. It's not as easy as I thought it was going to be."

The classes to teach people to "read" patterns of raised dots with their fingertips often move at a slow pace because students are often different levels of comprehension. Class members take turns reciting passages from their own copies of the McDuffy Reader, a Braile primer for adults, as other students follow along at home.

It's helpful when there are more people in the class, because there are more opportunities to help each other out. Peyton and Collier recommend that if possible, students have a sighted person follow along with a non-Braille version of what they're reading. That way, they can help correct their mistakes and make sure they're on the right track.

Collier, who started losing his sight a few years ago, learned Braille before the pandemic, and he knows how difficult it can be. That's even before adding in the challenges of trying to teach a system that relies on touch and feel without being able to help guide their actions.

"I'm a pencil and paper person, and I have been my entire life," he said. "And I could not imagine a life without that. So, obviously, I learned Braille. I learned everything I could about it, and the one thing I kept running into is learning Braille is hard and it takes a long time. So, I thought, you've got no time to waste, let's go."

Though everyone is excited to get back to in-person events and trainings, they've learned a lot from the pandemic and are excited about the future.

"COVID has really taught us, 'Well, why not?' " O'Neill said. "I was really blown away how blind people really rose to the occasion."

Contact Jonah Dylan at jdylan@reviewjournal.com. Follow @TheJonahDylan on Twitter.


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