22 hours Ago
To help everyone out, we recently asked the Tasty Community about the cooking lessons they had to learn the hard way, and people shared their wildest cooking stories and most insightful culinary tips. We've rounded up the 25 best responses below: 2. "When I was a young woman not yet married but living on my own, I offered to bring the pumpkin pies to my parents' house for Thanksgiving.
I prepared the pies the night before but did not bake them until Thanksgiving day." "Letting the filling sit in the crust overnight, it soaked into the crust, and on Thanksgiving, the crust was so tough it couldn't be cut, and mostly my pies ended up in the trash. I learned that it's OK to prepare ahead, but you should know what you are doing before you try it.
" –FloatingMug521 4. "I was making buttercream frosting for a cake I had the urge to bake. Hear me out: I wanted it to be a strawberry flavor, so I added some strawberry emulsion to the frosting.
I was also baking the cake at the moment, and I used a box mix because I had, like, no time, and I wanted to bake. I was getting the water for the boxed mix while I was adding the strawberry flavor to the frosting. I lost my mind and put the water in the frosting, henceforth ruining it.
I cried very much." –Anonymous 6. "Years ago, I was tasked with making Easter dinner for my then boyfriend's family.
They traditionally had ham, which I had never made before, but I felt confident in the kitchen." "I read the instructions: 'Preheat oven to 350oF and bake for 20 minutes,' but I stopped reading there, not realizing the rest of the sentence was 'per pound.' It was a nine-pound ham, and they were expecting dinner in less than an hour.
Always read your instructions thoroughly before you cook!" –MatchWolf 8. "I just want to say to remember to put the water in the pot when you’re making any sort of pasta or noodles. If you don’t, the end product will be quite disastrous.
Had a friend who did this once." –Anonymous 10. "I was making my first Thanksgiving dinner for my parents and new in-laws.
Being from the South, we make cornbread stuffing. Well, I kept adding sage because it didn't smell strong enough. My stuffing came out green.
I wanted to die on the spot. I've been very careful with sage ever since." –Joanna 12.
"Don't mix ground beef with crushed pineapple and make it into burgers. The acid from the pineapple breaks down the beef, and you'll have really mushy beef." –Rachel R.
, Instagram 14. "It was during the 'how hard can it be' part of my cooking journey. I heard (just that, only heard) that there was such a thing as a 'wine' sauce.
So, I figured it was just wine, butter, onion, and salt. A) it's not, b) it matters which wine you use, and c) NEVER USE SPARKLING WINE." –orenlevko1 16.
"That every oven, every stove, and every microwave works differently, and you need to learn how much time each needs to do the things you want." –Mariana M., Instagram 18.
"There's a difference between wax paper and parchment paper." –Cherice S., Instagram 20.
"Check BOTH ends of a turkey for the neck and giblets!" –Patty O., Instagram 22. "Don't experiment too much with baking recipes! That amount of sugar or fat is in there for a reason.
" –Laura F., Instagram 24. "Checking the oven is empty before turning it on.
" –Emily V., Instagram Do you have any cooking tips that belong on this list? Let us know in the comments! Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity..
