Become a Better Cook With These 25 Expert Tips From Food & Wine Editors
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Prep, roast, organize, store, and more with expert advice from Food & Wine editors
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The team at Food & Wine has picked up all kinds of cooking advice over the years. We want to help everyone cook and eat better by sharing some of the best tips and tricks we've learned from talking with chefs and working in restaurant and catering kitchens. Don't worry: We aren’t going to tell you to change everything you do or buy a ton of fancy equipment. Instead, we're sharing our favorite cooking tips, kitchen hacks, and suggestions for how to make your cooking life and meals easier, more flavorful, and more delicious.
We’re sharing our favorite way to make scrambled eggs feel special, even on a busy weekday morning. We’ll tell you how to toast nuts so they are evenly browned (and not half-burnt, half raw). We’ll let you in on techniques to make salads so interesting they are the star of the meal, the chef tips we’ve picked up to turn a piece of celery or a raisin into the most sought-after morsel on the plate, and how we turn leftover nubs of cheese and charcuterie into craveable snacks and meals. These are the small, doable moves that turn good meals into memorable bites. Best of all, they are small things that leave all of us feeling like we just made our everyday a little bit better.
Organize Your Kitchen Like a Chef
"When it comes to cooking, two major qualities separate the pros from the amateurs," says F&W editor in chief Hunter Lewis. "The first is seasoning; pro cooks season assertively while many home cooks are sodium shy. The second differentiator is kitchen organization." He shares his top kitchen organization tips to help get your drawers and cabinets in shape.
Use Up Your Cheese Scraps Like Jacques Pépin
One of our favorite chefs to hit up for cooking tips is Jacques Pépin. "Fromage fort is the ultimate way of using leftover cheese," he says. "My father used to combine pieces of Camembert, Brie, Swiss, blue cheese and goat cheese together with my mother’s leek broth, some white wine and crushed garlic. These ingredients marinated in a cold cellar for a week to a week-and-a-half (he liked it really strong)." Pépin told Food & Wine that his late wife, Gloria, made a milder version in a food processor that takes only seconds. "It is delicious with crackers or melted onto toasts," he noted. "It also freezes well."
3 Simple Ways to Make a Better Salad
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Assistant food editor Andee Gosnell says one of the easiest ways to upgrade your salad’s texture is to focus on the 3 Cs: Crunchy, Crispy, and Creamy. Take your greens to the next level with her tips and ingredient suggestions.
Repurpose Leftover Meat Like a Chef
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"Reheating meat can be tricky — it’s easy to overcook the meat and make it tough the second time around, and eating it cold isn’t always the best experience," says assistant editor Lucy Simon. "When faced with what to do with leftover roasts and braises, we turn to this editor and chef-approved trick: Turn leftover meat into rillettes."
Simple Ways to Make Your Herbs Last Longer
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If you’re not careful, fresh herbs can spoil quickly, and waste food, money, and time — not to mention flavor. Take a little bit of extra care with them with these storing suggestions, and you'll have fresh herbs on hand for weeks.
Why You Should Store Nuts in the Freezer
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"These nutrient-packed morsels are expensive, so proper storage is key to keep them tasting sweet and nutty until you’re ready to whip up a pie, brittle, pesto, cookie or snack," advises food editor Paige Grandjean.
The Best Way to Peel Ginger
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Former food editor Kelsey Youngman notes that not only is this clever trick the most efficient way to deal with the tedious task of peeling ginger; it's also the safest.
Preserved Lemons Amp Up Everything
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"Preserved lemons are one of our favorite ways to cook and eat better, not to mention enjoy more out of lemons," says Andee Gosnell. "Grab a jar, water, and salt and you can give your cooking a pop of acidity and salty goodness."
Brown Butter Makes Everything Better — Including Scrambled Eggs
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Executive editor Karen Shimizu adds a little bit of low-effort luxury to this morning staple by taking just an extra few minutes to brown butter while she's making her coffee.
Roasted Vegetables Are Even More Appealing With a Simple Shift
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Lucy Simon shares that the secret to achieving restaurant-quality roasted vegetables is ridiculously simple, and just takes a little readjustment in your oven.
A Raisin to Love Again
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Associate editorial director Chandra Ram knows that plenty of people have a complicated relationship with raisins, but chef Cheetie Kumar taught her a trick that just might make them everyone's BFF.
Get a Boost From Buttermilk
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No matter how you might want to add oomph to your cooking, buttermilk can help. Here's how to bake, cook, store, and sub in for the tangy dairy dynamo.
Skip the Knife, Rip Your Croutons
Matt Taylor-Gross / Food Styling by Ali Domrongchai
"Because they have a lot of craggy surface area, torn croutons have plenty of crevices to catch bits of chopped anchovy, cheese, and tiny pools of dressing from the rest of the salad," says Lucy Simon. Learn how she makes hers at home.
Tap Tapioca for Better Frying, Baking, Boba, and Beyond
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"Once you realize that you can use it as a simple thickening agent and coating, tapioca can be as much a part of your everyday cooking as cornstarch or flour," says Andee Gosnell.
Roast Nuts Like a Pro
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Hunter Lewis believes that no other pantry staple can be fried, ground, candied, milked, pickled, confited, or smoked, or roasted quite like nuts, and he's happy to lend his expertise on that last one.
When to Preheat Your Skillet — and When Not To
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Knowing when to preheat your skillet can be "the difference between golden brown, perfectly tender sautéed mushrooms or oil-laden, pale and flabby fungi," says Paige Grandjean. But there a few times when starting cold is key.
This Quick Solution Makes Celery Sing
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Once Chandra Ram learned this comically easy way to superpower her celery, it made every salad, lobster roll, and garnish extra special.
No-Waste Bolognese Will Bowl You Over
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Post-party charcuterie platter leftovers are the key to Kelsey Youngman's ultra flavorful sauce — and they keep you from wasting tasty food.
Air-Drying Meat Helps You Get Those Extra Crispy Crusts
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"Achieving the perfect, golden brown crust on a thick and juicy ribeye steak, a crispy and lacquered skin on a whole roast duck, or a smoky and juicy side of salmon is easier than you think," says Paige Grandjean. You just have to chill a little.
Related: Here’s the Chef Trick to Getting Restaurant-Quality Results When Cooking Meat
For Extra Chocolate Flavor, Just Add Coffee
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You know what's better than chocolate flavor? More chocolate flavor. This is how coffee can crank it up to 11 for everyday brownies and decadent cakes.
Keep that Cutting Board Anchored in Place
Matt Taylor-Gross
Kelsey Youngman is a stickler for safety. Follow her five second trick to make all the difference when you are chopping and slicing.
You Can Always Bet on Black Garlic
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It's sweet, it's sticky, it's tangy, it's ... garlic? Carefully fermented black garlic tastes like it's pre-caramelized and using it in soups, stews, sandwiches, spreads easily adds deep layers of flavor.
Meal Prep Is a Gift to Future You
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You can't buy an extra hour to tack on to a busy day when you get home late and just don't have it in you to cook. But you can plan ahead and lend a little bit of your downtime in the form of shopping, chopping, par-cooking, batching, freezing, and other tasks to feed future you. (You're welcome.)
Get Behind the Parm Rind
Matt Taylor-Gross / Food Styling Ali Domrongchai
"So, you’ve slowly whittled down a block of Parmigiano-Reggiano, showering it over bowls of pasta and salads, and now you’re left with the hard, dry outer rind. Don’t throw away this golden, letter-stamped nugget," advises Paige Grandjean. "Parmesan rinds, an often discarded scrap, are a chefs and savvy home cook’s best friend, lending a savory and nutty depth to broths, beans or soups."
Squash Safely
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Do you really think Kelsey Youngman would let you go without one more safety tip? Butternut squash — and other winter squash on the hard-skinned side — can easily go skidding, and a knife along with it. This easy trick removes the risk so you can enjoy cucurbits to your heart's content.
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