Today I’m going to show you my best cooking tips for beginners. We’ll be going over things to keep in mind before, during and after you turn on that stove.

This is Cooking Tips 101. While we talk about my tips, I’m going to prepare a carbonara.

Let’s get started with the tips.

Tip #1

The most important tip I have is before you do anything…

Read the recipe

With this simple tip, a lot of mistakes can be prevented and avoided.

So many times in my life, people have read the recipe, quote unquote. They start cooking and they miss something.

Save your pasta water. They’ve thrown their pasta water out. Alright, give me a few minutes so I can read my recipe, excuse me.

Most recipes are written the same exact way. A title with the amount of servings, a list of ingredients, and then a list of instructions. Usually in a recipe, the first ingredient is the first thing you’ll use in the instructions.

The second ingredient is the second thing you’ll use in the instructions. If a recipe is written well, the ingredients go along with the instructions.

Read through it all. and then start your recipe. So after you read your recipe, the next thing you want to do is…

Tip #2

Gather your ingredients

Get them together before you start cooking. That doesn’t just mean your food, that means your equipment and everything you need to execute this recipe.

So on the tray next to me, I have my mise en place. You can see that I have my equipment around me as well.

Everything’s within arm’s reach. So I don’t have to run around the kitchen like my hair’s on fire. First thing I’m going to do is grate my cheese.

I’m going to put all this on the side. And if there is an instruction that you need to grate your cheese, make sure that’s part of your mise en place. I’m going to grate a fair amount of cheese for my carbonara.

Carbonara is basically bacon, eggs, and cheese. So we grate a bunch, right? There’s my Pecorino Romano. I’m going to do my Parmigiano.

I like to use a box grater on its side like this. I’m not doing it granny style. I like to use my body weight because it’s considerable. I always crack on a flat surface. Look at how beautiful that egg is.

Eggs are cracked. I’m just going to give them a quick whisk. Next thing I want to do is cut our guanciale. Guanciale is a cured pork jowl. And that brings me to my next tip

Tip #3

Have sharp knives

There’s a common misconception that sharp knives are dangerous. When the fact is that dull knives are even more dangerous than sharp knives.

You have to put more pressure on the knife and you have a bigger tendency to slip and cut yourself. If your knife isn’t sharp, you can learn about sharpening your knives.

Try and find a knife that is comfortable in your hand. It should be. super sharp so you don’t really have to put a lot of pressure.

You see if I do a little sawing here, it’s a nice smooth cut. I am not having to struggle with this, just whispers through. If it isn’t sharp, sometimes you’ll do a lot of sawing, you can ruin your ingredients because you’re crushing them or tearing them.

So having a sharp knife saves you time, saves you ingredients, and saves your fingers from getting cut.

Now that I have all my mise en place ready to go, we can cook. So my next tip is…

Tip #4

Keep an open mind.

We’re using guanciale. It sounds weird, maybe it looks a little weird, and it’s strange to you. But at the end of the day, it’s really just a type of bacon.

Push yourself, stretch yourself, try new things. You’d be surprised on how many times they’re actually really delicious.

So I got a little oil in my pan, guanciale goes in. And what we’re gonna do with this is we’re gonna cook it. Lightly brown, but not crisp. One of the other tips I give people is be present, be in the moment, and…

Tip #5

Use all of your senses. A lot of times you’re going to smell things that are burning before they actually burn, and you might be able to catch it and save it.

A lot of times when you’re listening, you can hear something is way too high because it’s really too loud, and it shouldn’t be that loud.

But listen to what’s going on. Taste what’s going on. Smell what’s going on. So not only can I hear the guanciale sizzling away, but I can see that it’s browning.

I’m going to shut it off here and wait until we’re ready to use it.

Tip #6

Another tip for beginner cooks is comfort, right?

We want to be comfortable when we’re cooking. That’s one thing we really don’t talk about a lot is comfort. I like to stand straight up. I like for my shoulders to be loose. I try not to tighten up too much.

If you’ve been hunching over the stove for hours and your feet hurt cause your shoes are uncomfortable, or you’re wearing that tight turtleneck in the kitchen.

At the day, we want cooking to be enjoyable and fun. And if you’re not comfortable, it’s just going to make it a less enjoyable experience. One of the other tips I like to talk about is…

Tip #7

Buy the best ingredients you can afford

Buy the best cheese you can afford, the best pork, the best pasta, the best eggs.

And the end product is always going to be better. Good ingredients equals good food. So for the carbonara, I have my eggs beaten. I’m going to beat in some cheese.

Good quality eggs always have really bright orange yolks and these eggs are wonderful. And basically what I’m going to do with this is make kind of a paste out of my cheese and eggs.

I’m going to hit it with some salt and lots of black pepper. Again, good quality black pepper is always ground to order, right? So grind your own pepper.

There is a point in almost every recipe where everything collides at once. It’s the time when action is required. If you’re prepared, you have your mise en place, you’ve read your recipe.

When this point comes, you’re not going to freak out. You’re going to be chill. Everything’s going to come together beautifully.

Okay. Let’s use our senses and see where our pasta is at. I can see that my pasta is a little floppy. Right? And now I can taste. My pasta is perfect. Al dente. Shut my water off, and I am going to use my tongs.

And if I’ve read my recipe right, I need to save some of that pasta water, right? So instead of putting it down the drain with our colander, we’re going to save that pasta water.

It’s got salt and starch that’s going to help our finished dish be delish. Rhyming again. Look at that. I’m not too worried about draining this pasta off too well.

Alright? And then here is where everything comes together. It’s the moment of truth. The moment that you need the most confidence you’ve had all day adding the eggs.

This could be the time where everything goes wrong or everything goes right. Which leads me to my next tip.

Tip #8

Cook with confidence.

You’ve prepared for this moment.

You’re ready. So what I’m going to do now is I’m actually going to shut my heat off. I’m going to add my egg and cheese mixture.

I’m going to add a nice ladle of my pasta water. And I’m going to toss. So we talk about cooking with confidence. Give it a flip if you can. Make sure it goes all over. It splashes the dog.

But we want to stir with confidence. So the worst thing that can happen is that you don’t eat this tonight. You order a pizza, you order some Chinese food, that’s the worst that can happen.

Carbonara is ready to go, and that leads me to my next tip.

Tip #9

Master the recipe

Or at least be confident with your skills enough that you can start modifying. If you haven’t mastered the recipe, take your time.

Get it down. And then you can start to modify things to your preference. If you start modifying things too early and don’t master the recipe or the technique, things aren’t going to come out good.

Take your time. Be patient with yourself. Know your skill level.

Once you have that down, you’re going to be a better cook and you can make carbonara too. The last tip I have…

Tip #10

Keep cooking

You’re not going to get better at this unless you cook all the time. Cook with friends. Cook with family. Enjoy the meal you cook with the people you love.

The more you cook, the better you’ll get. Don’t get discouraged from failure. Have fun, enjoy what you’re doing. Food and cooking should be an enjoyable endeavor.

And those are my 10 cooking tips for beginners. I hope this helps. Good luck on your cooking journey. Enjoy.