30 Redditors Share Cooking Tips That They Find Useless

When you finally start learning to cook, you'll find yourself on a journey that never ends. It's impossible to perfect this skill.

Yet, you seek to improve as you gain more experience. You're even willing to invest time in it and burn some pans (or get a couple of small burns here and there).

Unfortunately, there's one problem that home cooks will always encounter: the confusing and inconsistent information about cooking and recipes.

For new cooks, it can be hard to determine whether the things they learned are helpful or create bad practices. Even professionals agree that there is a lot of misinformation about cooking.

Kacie Morgan, the owner of The Rare Welsh Bit cooking blog, believes that the misleading advice comes from influencers who claim to be "experts" in cooking. To counter this problem, one of her efforts is to feature and discuss the inaccurate information within her niche.

Then we also have Reddit users who are curious about these bad practices, perhaps in an effort to correct their ways. A Redditor named Swimmin_Duck posted a question for the r/Cooking community and encouraged people to share useless cooking advice.

We collected 30 of the best responses from the thread. Let's take a look.

A concerned redditor started a thread on what people think is useless cooking advice.

Swimmin_Duck

Follow your heart.

When measuring things like chocolate chips, measure with your heart, not a spoon.lysthequeen, Anton

You don't have to throw everything away.

Some people discard the whole brick of cheese when there is mold on a bit of it.I generally chop off the chunk of mold with some buffer and carry on.squeevey, Alexander Maasch

A misleading timeframe

"Cook onions for 3 minutes until translucent." Lol, okay, I'll come back to you in 10 minutes when they start getting there.Adelineslife, Simona Sergi

What the recipe says isn't enough.

When a recipe calls for "two cloves of garlic," I usually add 5-10.lavender_salamander, team voyas

The space in the fridge is for ice cream, not bones.

"Save the bones for stock."Nah man, I don't have room for that in my freezer. I like ice cream.DragonLass-AUS, Julia Kuzenkov

Why remove the flavoring?

When you render fat from ground beef or something and use the same pan to cook something else, they always say, "Drain the fat." F**k that! Fat is flavor! When I make chili, I always cook my celery and onions in beef fat.Waterstealer, Andy Melton

The way to sauté

I never add garlic at the same time as my onions to sauté. I only sauté garlic for 30 seconds.BelliAmie, Dennis van Lith

You'll get uncooked chicken if you follow this advice.

Times for meat on the stovetop: "Cook the chicken for 2 minutes, then turn and cook for 2 minutes more...." What kind of stove do you have, guy? My burners at home certainly aren't going to cook a breast all the way through in 4 minutes.9_of_wands, Krzysztof Hepner

The overhyped way of chopping onions is redundant.

When cutting onions, I do not make the horizontal cross-cuts on the "face" of each onion half. I only make the vertical cuts and then the final, perpendicular chopping cuts. I figure those face cuts are redundant because the onion is already layered. Right?Transgojoebot, Caroline Attwood

Why use salted butter? This is the answer.

I always use salted butter; I find that it tastes better, especially in sweet baked goods.I always reduce the sugar in cake recipes by 1/3; I find that gives a more balanced flavor, and the finished cake is less sickly sweet, so you can eat more of it.Frequent_Artichoke, Sorin Gheorghita

A tip that doesn't make sense for people on-the-go (in other words, most of us!)

Mise En Place. I'm just going to get the water boiling, the pan heating, and the oven preheating, and then prep as I go. Separate little dishes for all of the components? Do people cook on weekdays? Do people do dishes?Remy1985, Rudy Issa

Cook rice the way you want it. Don't follow these measurements.

I can't be bothered to rinse my rice. I know, I know, I'm going to hell.yels0, Quiet Hut

Why expensive wine isn't necessary

My mom used to be the operations manager at a culinary college. They specifically told the students not to use expensive wine. They recommended boxed wine like Franzia because the wine stays sealed from the air and remains good for longer. By the time you're done cooking with it, anything that would make an expensive wine taste better will be destroyed, and your expensive wine will be ruined.PlanetMarklar, drinkdivino

Why you shouldn't follow online recipes

Most recipes online targeted at an English audience (e.g., U.K./USA) that originate from elsewhere are extremely stingy with herbs and spices. "Half a teaspoon of oregano," "a pinch of paprika," etc. Bollocks to that. My Italian wife calls it "Italian food for English people." It takes a lot of experience to know herbs and spices intuitively, but start by increasing the amounts they suggest if they're small and go from there.stesha83, Andy Holmes

"No soap" for cast iron cookware doesn't make sense.

No use of soap on cast iron!!That one is a classic; the "no soap" thing is an old rule from way back when soap contained lye and other harsh substances.electric4568, Helinton Fantin

Not all people are fans of cornstarch.

I use cornstarch as a thickener. I'm never too fancy for cornstarch.mariners2o6, sunny mama

Don't follow salt and garlic measurements.

Most measurements, especially where garlic or salt is concerned, are not strict.And whatever color the onion needs to be since I plan on using whatever onion I have available.Anitsirhc171, Kelly Common

A wine tip you shouldn't follow.

"Don't cook with a wine you wouldn't drink"... Honey, I'll drink pruno if that's what you've got; it's not a high bar.EatBangLove, Klara Kulikova

The only seasoning you should be worried about.

For any spices in my dishes, a teaspoon is some in my palm, a tablespoon is more in my palm, a pinch is whatever I pinch, and anything less than a teaspoon either doesn't exist or gets rounded up to whatever I pour out into my hand.People rave about "how well seasoned" my cooking is, so who the hell even cares? The only thing I'm careful about is salt because oversalting is a thing and will ruin a dish. MSG, though... I've never heard anyone call my dishes too umami!Straydapp, Karin Hiselius

Oil when boiling pasta is useless.

Adding oil to your pasta water will not prevent the noodles from sticking. The oil will remain separated from the water instead.ClashBandicootie, Klaus Nielsen My spices get poured from the jar. Sometimes it ends up as an "oops, guess this one's gonna be extra paprika-y."Dartser, Darío Méndez

The number of servings on recipes are a lie.

The number of servings is often misleading. As I usually cook one main dish, if the recipe says it serves 4 people, it usually serves 2. If it serves 6 and we're 3, there might be a chance of "some" leftovers... sometimes.Yupyup_o_O, Ella Olsson

A shortcut

Salad dressing recipes will tell you to stream in the oil while whisking. Nah, just throw it all in a jar and give it a shake.ow_my_balls, Waldemar Brandt

Rinsing mushrooms isn't always a good idea.

I rinse my mushrooms with water.(This comes from prep in commercial kitchens. If you are using them right away, rinsing with water is fine. If they're going to sit in a pan for hours or days before being used, they're going to get slimy and gross.)Superb_Geologist_474, Joanna Kosinska

Why it's okay to use pre-shredded cheese

Using pre-shredded cheese isn't always going to ruin whatever you're making.allmilhouse, Willis Lam

Wash your mushrooms always!

I've heard to never wash your mushrooms in water and instead wipe off the dirt. I also know that mushrooms are grown with animal feces… I always wash my mushrooms.Superb_Geologist_474, Joanna Kosinska

Never remove salt from any recipe.

I refuse to omit salt, ever.I know every baby boomer mom and cardiologist is probably frowning at this comment too.kimberdots, Anastasia Zhenina

Following recipes is only for beginners.

Follow the recipe. In my opinion, it only really matters in beginner baking. Once you get the feel for the food and how you want it to taste, the rest is up to you.wordsinverse, Dan Gold

Most of the time, DIY stock is not practical.

I rarely bother making my own stock. It's just not practical for me; I don't have the space to freeze big batches of it, and I don't have the time to regularly make smaller batches of it.Most of the time, I find stock cubes work fine. They taste good in most applications. The only thing I tend to miss in stock cubes is the gelatin, but in cases where I want that, I just sprinkle some powdered gelatin into the stock.ConsiderablyMediocre, Tom Small

The sugar measurement on recipes don't work.

Sugar measurements: I routinely use half or a third of what is called for and NEVER miss it.Mezcalier, Sharon McCutcheon

There are so many cooking tips and tricks that make your life easier.

But not all of them are truly useful. If you follow any of these tips, it's time to get rid of those practices.

To ensure that you're getting solid cooking advice, learn directly from the experts. Instead of following the trends on social media, look for books and blogs authored by trustworthy experts.