With many different techniques, goofy gadgets and lengthy recipes, being in the kitchen can be complex and confusing. These 6 simple tips can help you avoid several common bad cooking habits that are not only unpleasant for your palate, but can be hazardous to your health.

1. Strike It Hot

An improperly heated cooking surface can mess up cooking times, cause foods to cook unevenly and be a pain to clean.Take the time to preheat your skillet, broiler, oven, grill, etc. before adding food. A skillet requires about 5 minutes over medium heat, the broiler takes about 5 minutes and the grill takes 5-15 minutes. The oven will beep when it has reached proper temperature.

2. Heat Oil Briefly

Do not heat oil until it smokes. Discard any oil that has smoked and thoroughly wipe out your skillet before using it again. Oil that has reached its smoking point has not only lost its beneficial nutrients like antioxidants and vitamin E, but it has oxidized making it cancinogenic. To prevent overheating, choose oils that are heat stable like coconut oil to cook with and avoid preheating your skillet with oil.

3. Let Food Lie

As tempting as it may be, stirring your food too much prevents flavorful browning, making your meal mushy and bland. Refrain from stirring unless a recipes tells you to do so.

4. Give Some Space

Although you might think crowding your skillet with food will help you cook faster, it actually slows down the cooking process by cooling the temperature of the skillet. In contrast, giving space between ingredients allows for moisture like the water naturally occuring in foods to evaporate. If you run out of room, cook in batches and consider a different cooking method for next time.

5. Let Meat Rest

Whether you’re drooling or in a hurry, don’t cut into that mouth-watering meat until it’s had a chance to rest for at least 15 minutes. Slicing too soon will result in a loss of juices and unevenly cooked pieces. Allow the meat to finish and the juices to redistribute before pulling out the knife.

6. Use Safe Utensils

Replace metal cooking utensils with wooden or silicone ones. Using metal utensils can scratch the surface of the skillet, which damages the skillet and can cause you to ingest pieces of cookware.

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