In the Kitchen With Kai

In the Kitchen With Kai
by Kai Arrindell

Help! I Made a Mistake!

Recipes can definitely simplify the cooking process, but hey, mistakes happen! So what do you do when you hit a snag? Well, I’m here to address three of the most common cooking mistakes, and how to fix them!

Too much salt:

You can never take salt out of a dish, unless of course there’s such a big pile that you can scoop it off the top! But if there is too much salt in your dish, try adding larger quantities of your main non-salt ingredients to balance out the salt-food ratio. It’s always wise to use a lighter hand and taste as you go when it comes to seasoning your food with salt. If it’s a little bland when it’s finished, you can always add salt at the end!

Soggy, Oily Food:

Whether you’re sautéing onions or frying some chicken, you never want to wind up with a soggy dish dripping in oil. So how do you avoid that? By first getting your pan and your oil really hot! And I mean really, ripping hot. Take a steak for example. Before you put it in the pan, your oil should just be starting to smoke! Now, not every pan has to be that hot, but you get the idea. Be patient when heating your pan and oil, and your food will thank you later.

Overcooking:

Sure, we want to make sure our meat is thoroughly cooked for safety reasons, but sometimes, we leave it on the stove just a little too long. So what do you do with a tough, dry piece of meat? Your best bet is to repurpose it! Try shredding the meat up and covering it with a sauce or making it into a stew, or ditch the meat-as-main-course plan altogether and incorporate it into a whole new dish, like fried rice!