Beginner cooking mistakes to avoid

Starting to cook is great, but we all make the same slip-ups at first. Good news: they're easy to fix once you know them. You don't need to be a chef to eat well.

The greatest hits of kitchen fails

A pan that isn't hot enough so food boils instead of searing, a dish so over-salted you can't rescue it, a pot abandoned while you scroll your phone. Cooking needs a bit of attention, especially at the start.

The habits that save you

Read the whole recipe before you start, prep all your ingredients ahead, and taste as you go. Salt little by little: you can always add more, never take it out. Those three habits alone dodge most disasters.

And most of all, relax: a failed dish is just a lesson. Even the best burned tons of pans before getting good.