Cooking Hacks That Chefs Can't Stand
We're all on the lookout for those magical cooking hacks that will make our culinary creations less messy, more efficient, and extra delicious. Whether it's the easiest way to peel a hard-boiled egg or the best method to keep pasta from sticking to the pan, kitchen shortcuts and secrets can elevate your cooking to professional standards and make you a more relaxed, confident, and impressive home cook.
Unfortunately, not all hacks are created equal, and some of them are downright dangerous. Luckily, professional chefs frequently voice their opinions about which cooking hacks are worth your time — and which belong in the trash can. It may be painful to learn that some of your most cherished pieces of kitchen trivia are based on shaky science or debunked conventional wisdom, but you'll probably thank us later. From sealing in the juices of a steak to the mystery of the floating wine cork in bolognese, there are some hacks that you might be curious about that professional chefs are more than happy to demystify — if only to stop people from using them.
Leaving the pit in the avocado to keep the avocado from turning brown
Wouldn't it be miraculous if you could make avocados stay the perfect ripeness for longer than it takes to cut them and put them on a plate? Sadly, despite being one of the most delicious and versatile ingredients nature has to offer, avocados are prone to turning brown even faster than turning overripe. As soon as you've cut one open, and it interacts with oxygen, it begins to turn brown due to the enzyme polyphenol oxidase, and there's nothing you can do about it. Or is there?
Of the many hacks that people swear by to prevent this natural process, leaving the pit in the avocado is one of the most common. This method would certainly be convenient if it worked, considering it requires no extra materials or ingredients, but according to Catherine DeOrio, a chef based in Chicago, it doesn't. The only thing the hack offers is that the area underneath the pit will remain relatively green. "The best way [to prevent browning for] a full avocado," DeOrio explained to Insider, "[I]s to either swipe some lemon juice on it or some type of acidulated water. Acidulated water is basically just water that has some acid in it. You could also do a swipe of olive oil." Simply leaving the pit in will provide nothing but frustration.
Putting milk scrambled eggs to make them fluffy
Milk is a delicious addition to scrambled eggs and is so popular that a Buzzfeed poll found that 65% of respondents use it in their scramble. But don't expect it to make the eggs light and fluffy. Despite what you may have heard, dairy makes eggs custardy rather than airy. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing (who doesn't love a creamy scramble?), some chefs are not fans of using milk and want to set the record straight about what it actually does to eggs.
"Never add milk to your scrambled eggs," Dan Joines, a London-based chef and restaurant owner, told CoventryLive. "[I]t dilutes the flavor and makes them more likely to turn out rubbery." Luke Selby, senior sous chef at a Michelin-starred restaurant in London, took his opinions further, saying that putting milk in scrambled eggs "is a cardinal sin." Jamie Oliver dismisses adding dairy or anything else to a scramble, arguing that "If you cook it right, you don't need any of that."
While other chefs and recipes do call for adding milk or half-and-half to scrambled eggs, don't expect the creamy liquid to give your scramble a cloud-like texture because the fat content will simply counteract the fluffing effect of the evaporating water. For creamy eggs with a subtle dairy flavor, milk should still be your go-to, but as many chefs have pointed out, it isn't the key to fluffiness.
Adding a wine cork to your pot while cooking to make your food more tender
Celebrities don't always have stellar track records when it comes to kitchen skills, but Brooklyn Beckham came under fire for a particularly contentious cooking hack in early 2023 when he posted a photo of himself on Instagram making what looks like spaghetti bolognese. Aside from the fact that he's cradling a tiny dog in a sling, one thing about the photo stands out: A wine cork in the pot of sauce. In response to negative comments challenging his decision to use the unusual ingredient, Beckham pointed to an article from an Italian newspaper that said that cooking with a wine cork makes food (specifically octopus) more tender. Fans were not impressed, and it turns out that professional chefs weren't either.
"The problem is that people trust this food influencer and are without any knowledge," Italian chef Barbara Pollastrini told Insider. "The only way to have a fantastic ragù is to cook it for at least three hours. This is the only way to have soft meat." Ontario-based food columnist Andrew Coppolino came to a similar conclusion after putting the method to the test. Using manmade and real corks, he boiled several batches of calamari and concluded that there was no difference in tenderness when he used a cork versus when he used no cork. His advice? "Drink the wine while you're cooking your squid — toss the cork to recycling."
Adding oil to pasta water to prevent the pasta from sticking
Pasta, like toast, is one of those foods that even non-cooks feel fairly confident making, but it can be deceptively difficult to master. One of the most frustrating pitfalls is when the pasta sticks to itself or the pan, leaving you with a knotted ball of starch that you have no hope of coaxing tidily out of the pot let alone elegantly twisting around a fork. One common way of getting around the problem is adding oil to the water. In theory, this prevents the pasta from sticking just like it prevents ingredients like eggs or vegetables from sticking to the bottom of a frying pan. But talk to a professional chef about this so-called hack, and you're bound to get an eye-roll.
"Please don't waste olive oil in your pasta water," implores Roberta d'Elia, head pasta chef at the London-based restaurant Pasta Evangelists (via The Mirror). "[I]t will just float to the top of the water." All the way back in the 90s, Alton Brown was saying the same thing, arguing in an episode of "Good Eats" titled "Pantry Raid 1: Use Your Noodle" that adding oil is not only wasteful and ineffective, but detrimental to your final dish because it prevents sauce and cheese from sticking to the pasta. According to d'Elia, the real way to keep it from sticking is to use enough water. Her formula is one liter of water per 100 grams of pasta.
Searing meat to seal in the juices
Searing steak is one of those all-important steps in making a perfect cut of meat that will set you apart from the amateurs — and impress just about anyone you serve it to. Conventional wisdom suggests that this simple trick seals in the juices of your steak, but in reality, there is no basis for this claim, and professional chefs would really love it if people stopped spreading it. Alton Brown tested the theory on an episode of "Good Eats" by searing one steak and baking another to see which lost the most weight (a measure of moisture loss). He discovered that the baked steak lost 13% of its weight while the seared steak lost 19%, proving that searing does not help retain moisture, and, if anything, dries it out.
Kush Bhasin, former chef at several Michelin-starred restaurants and current Head of Food at Sorted Food, doesn't dismiss searing entirely. "Searing a steak doesn't lock anything in," he explained in a Youtube video, "But it does build color and flavor." The trick to keeping the juices in, he revealed, is all about patience. When the steak is removed from the heat, let it sit for 10 minutes to allow the muscle to relax and hold on to the juices so that when you finally bite into it, it's moist and succulent.
Using Pringles to make mashed potatoes
From French fries to vodka, potatoes are the basis of a surprising range of consumable goods. Take, for example, Pringles mashed potatoes, an invention popularized by (what else?) TikTok. One video with hundreds of thousands of likes shows a woman making the classic English combo – bangers and mash – by dumping Pringles into hot water and boiling them until they turn mushy. Chefs from Sorted Food reacted with horror to the video and explained why the hack might not be as ingenious as it appears. The problem lies in the ultra-processed nature of the base ingredient.
"Big issue here using Pringles," Chef Kush Bhasin said. "They're a reconstituted potato crisp product. They aren't pure potato. If you say you used kettle chips, a lovely hand-cooked chip, you'd have a better flavor and texture to your mash." Reconstituted chips are made from dried potatoes ground into flour and turned into dough before being cut into chips. They usually contain additives such as maltodextrin and mono-and diglycerides which give them their distinct flavor, texture, and formidable shelf-life. In other words, they're a far cry from fresh potatoes and not a perfect substitute. In reference to a video featuring Lays mashed potatoes, Michelin-star chef Brad Carter told Insider that the hack was "ludicrous," adding, "It looks like sludge, and it's obviously not good mashing all that frying oil into your food!"
It's clearly possible to make mashed potatoes out of chips, but that doesn't mean you should.
Cooking pasta in pasta sauce
There's a surprising amount of chemistry that goes on in a pot of boiling pasta water, so while you might think you're saving time if you skip the water and cook the noodles directly in the sauce, professional chefs would like to convince you otherwise. Not only does cooking pasta directly in pasta sauce create the potential for unevenness and over-thickening of the liquid, but it also robs you of the magical effect that pasta water has on the final product.
When pasta is cooked, it releases starches into the water. Adding some of this water to your sauce helps the oils emulsify and creates an interface between the pasta and the sauce, so they stick together like glue. J. Kenji López-Alt considers this to be the most important step in pasta-making. Forget about how long you let your pasta boil. Forget about how much salt you add or which sauce you're using. As long as you're cooking the pasta in water and adding some of it to your sauce, you're on the right track.
Using bell peppers instead of bread for a low-carb sandwich
The keto diet has been around for over a century, largely as a "last resort" option for those with epilepsy (per Harvard), but in the 2010s, it exploded into the mainstream when influencers began touting its potential for facilitating rapid weight loss. A torrent of internet recipes and hacks followed in which people claimed to recreate delicious, familiar meals without sugar or starches. One of the most ubiquitous was the bell pepper keto sandwich that went viral on TikTok around 2020.
Made by slicing a bell pepper in half lengthwise and using each side as a stand-in for a slice of bread, it thrilled some sandwich lovers and horrified others. One such horrified cook was none other than Gordon Ramsay, who posted a reaction video in response to a post in which a woman demonstrates her version of the sandwich. "No, no," he pleads as she layers cream cheese, spinach, everything bagel seasoning, and turkey onto two bell pepper halves. "That is not a sandwich," he protests. "No, that is not a low-carb sandwich. Young lady, that there is an idiot sandwich." While it isn't difficult to provoke Britain's most cantankerous chef, it's clear the bell pepper sandwich struck a nerve.
Rinsing meat after cooking to get rid of the grease
Red meat is often singled out for being unhealthy due to its high saturated fat content, but there's a reason we eat it anyway: It's delicious and high in iron. Some people mitigate the health concerns by eating beef, pork, and lamb in moderation or choosing leaner cuts, but others tout a hack that allows them to eat as much of it as they want. In a viral TikTok video from 2020 that has since been taken down, a user demonstrates how she simply drains and rinses ground beef after cooking it to remove the fat. While she received intense pushback from some commenters, registered dietician Kristin Koskinen told Today that the practice of draining grease from cooked beef has been a popular weight loss hack for decades.
Michelin-starred chef Brad Carter was among the detractors. "It's obviously washing away flavor," he told Insider. "It's a real, real no-no for me. I would never, ever wash the meat." As Carter alludes, the reason washing grease off ground beef is a bad idea is that fat is responsible for much of the flavor and juicy texture of meat. Without it, you have something resembling tasteless rubber. On top of this, one of the major rules in cooking is that you should never put oil down the drain. Doing so can clog your plumbing and cause a costly mess. If you're wanting low-fat ground beef, look for labels that advertise leaner cuts, or simply opt for turkey.
Dishwasher cooking
The dishwasher was a game-changer when it became a relatively affordable appliance in the 1960s. All of a sudden, weary housewives were given a reprieve from pruned fingers and hours of standing over a sink. Since then, home cooks have discovered another way to get even more from the appliance. Thanks to their high temperature, dishwashers can double as a heat source for cooking food. All you have to do is fill some jars with your desired ingredients and hit start. Easy, right?
Not so fast. Test chefs at MyRecipes put the theory to the test and found that, while you can cook food in your dishwasher, it's a headache to get right. The low temperature means you can't cook foods such as rice or pasta, and getting meat to a safe internal temperature isn't a given. It's less precise and predictable than if you used traditional sous vide technique, and you certainly can't toss onions in and expect them to come out caramelized.
Another issue is that many dishwasher recipes call for wrapping food in aluminum foil and allowing it to be poached in the water. This means you can't wash dishes at the same time because you don't want to get your food soapy. Simultaneously cooking a meal and washing dishes with the same appliance is undeniably energy efficient, but running a dishwasher for an hour or two to poach a single piece of salmon is decidedly not.
Combining vinegar and milk to make a buttermilk substitute
Buttermilk isn't an everyday ingredient for many of us. Unless you're regularly making biscuits, muffins, or buttermilk pancakes, you probably don't have it on hand all the time and may not realize until halfway through a recipe that you need it. In these situations, you might turn to the common hack of using milk and vinegar (or milk and lemon juice) as a quick substitute. But as some chefs can attest, it's a harder ingredient to mimic than you might think.
According to pastry chef Stella Parks (via Serious Eats), buttermilk isn't just a combination of lactose, water, and acidity. It has a thick, creamy texture and a specific pH that cannot be easily replicated. Parks put several common substitutes to the test, including milk and an acid, plain yogurt, and kefir. She found that the milk and acid combination was the worst option, explaining that the mix usually leads to a higher level of acidity than buttermilk and is much thinner. This results in a wetter batter that turns dense and flat when cooked. Using less of it to avoid thin batter also results in a dense bake because there isn't enough liquid to interact with the gluten or produce height through steam. Parks recommends using kefir instead, even though it's less likely to be in your kitchen than milk and vinegar.