Beginner, about 6 min read
Kitchen safety, without turning food into medicine
Wash, separate, cook through, and chill. Also a clear list of what these notes will not teach.
The useful part of home cooking is often unglamorous. Clean hands, clean boards, food cooked hot enough, and leftovers kept cold will do more for a weekday meal than a rare ingredient with a story attached.
A short kitchen habit
- Wash hands with soap before you cook and after you touch raw eggs, meat, or seafood.
- Keep raw meat and eggs away from food that is ready to eat. Use a separate board when you can.
- Rinse vegetables under running water. Soaking them in a bowl is a weaker wash.
- Cook poultry and eggs until they are firm, not glossy or jelly-like.
- Refrigerate perishable leftovers within two hours, sooner if the room is hot.
- Reheat leftovers until they steam. Stir porridge so the center gets hot.
Plants and powders to leave out
Do not add a wild plant, a root, or a packet of herbs because a book or a video calls it traditional. Names get confused, doses in those sources are often unsafe or simply invented, and a kitchen is the wrong place to experiment. This site will not name herbal medicines or give amounts.