The 9 Most Important Things I Learned in Cooking School

Those crusty brown bits stuck to the bottom of your pan are the secret to making restaurant-quality sauces.

They are the key ingredient for a rich, savoury sauce.

Sugar can help to transform a lacklustre sauce into something balanced and bright.

If you find yourself with produce that tastes dull or underripe, or the sauce is bland, try adding a pinch of sugar to improve the flavour of a dish.

While you can use a paring knife, other tools work much quicker.

A mandoline makes the most consistent knife cuts in the least amount of time. Mandolines might seem intimidating but go slow, use the handguard, and you’ll be slicing like a pro in no time.

Y-shaped peelers can make thin ribbons of vegetables, cheeses, and other delicate items.

A brine is a solution of water, salt, and sometimes sugar used to keep proteins moist and tender.

You simply soak your meat in it (usually pork or chicken) for several hours, dry it off, and cook it as usual.

Cleaning as you go makes cooking easier and more enjoyable. It clears up workspace, makes it easier to focus on the task and prevents a mountain of dishes at the end.

The easiest way to adopt this practise is to simply wash your dishes as you’re cooking.

Ultra-high heat adds a distinct savoury flavour to dishes. This is because of the Maillard reaction, which occurs between amino acids and sugars when they come into contact with heat and make food turn golden-brown.

Let your pans heat up for a good amount of time. It might feel like a long time, but it will help you achieve a deep, flavorful sear. When you see small wafts of smoke coming from the pan, it’s ready to use.

Dull knives are prone to slipping and sliding off of vegetables, putting you at risk of cutting yourself.

Sharp knives make cooking more enjoyable, safer, and faster, so don’t neglect them. Sharpen your knives every six months to a year.