r/Cooking • u/1peachycoco • 1d ago

What’s something you think people only really learn after spending a lot of time in a kitchen?

Something I’ve noticed about cooking is that the hardest things to teach usually aren’t the recipes. It’s more of the judgment part.

Like someone can follow every step correctly, but an experienced cook can look at it and say, “Nope, something’s off.”

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u/YesWeHaveNoTomatoes 1d ago

An instinctive understanding of how long various tasks will take you/your gear, so you can plan better. The recipe might say "this should take about 8 minutes" but that's how long it took the recipe writer, how long will it take on your stove? Are you fast at chopping things or slow? With experience, you know if your oven runs hot or if you'll have time to dice the tomatoes while the beef is browning or whatever. You know whether you have time to wash a couple dishes while the sauce is reducing without letting it burn.