Don't Screw Up Dinner
Get safe, edible, genuinely good food on the table without drama.
Knife basics
Claw grip, stable board (wet towel underneath), cuts that are roughly even. Speed comes later; it comes on its own.
Salt
Season earlier and more than feels polite, then taste. The single highest-leverage habit in cooking.
Rice
The rice cooker does it. Your job is pressing the button first, before anything else.
Eggs
Fried and scrambled. Medium-low heat, butter, patience. The fastest protein in the house.
Chicken
Boneless pieces, salted, browned in a hot pan, checked for doneness. Half the weeknights of your life.
Boiling
Salted rolling water. Pasta and vegetables. Hard to ruin, easy to underestimate.
Roasting vegetables
Oil, salt, hot oven, space on the pan, browned edges. The oven babysits so you don't have to.
Reading a recipe
Read it all the way through before the heat goes on. Twice for a new one. This is mise en place for your brain.
The thermometerkenji
Chicken pulled at 155°F (it coasts past 160 while resting), 130°F medium-rare steak, 125–130°F salmon. $15 ends the guessing forever — Kenji calls it the best value in cooking.
Keeping food
Two hours to the fridge, four days to eat it, one reheat. Nose for raw produce, calendar for cooked food. The fridge is a tool with a clock on it, not a place food goes to die.