Cooking can be … well, scary. With all of the cooking shows on The Food Network and celebrity chefs like Bobby Flay offering endless yummy recipes, you’d think we’d all be busy in the kitchen whipping up gourmet meals like lobster ravioli and bananas foster. But the truth is that many recipes – even the fancy ones! – are all about building on simple cooking techniques to create one amazing meal.

For more kitchen know-how here are some basic tips for beginners – from veggie prep and egg scrambling to boiling pasta and sauteing meat.

Boiling pasta

One of the easiest meals to make is pasta. To make perfect pasta every time, fill a large pot two-thirds of the way with water. The more water you have, the less likely the pasta will stick to the pan while cooking. Add one teaspoon of salt to the water for every gallon of water you have. Turn the stovetop heat to high, and place the filled pan on the burner. Let the water come to a boil before adding the pasta. Boiling water will have lots of bubbles on top and, when you stir the water, the bubbles won’t go away. That’s how you know it’s time to put in the pasta – add one pound pasta (usually 1 box) to the boiling water and cook for about 8-12 minutes.

Stir and check the pasta as it cooks. Using a slotted spoon, remove one of the pasta pieces at eight minutes for a taste test. You should cook the pasta until it’s “al dente,” meaning the outside is still firm when you bite into it, but the inside is slightly soft and chewy. When the pasta is done, put a colander in the sink and pour out the pasta and the water.

Tip: Pasta doubles in size as it cooks. One cup uncooked pasta = two cups cooked pasta.

Chopping vegetables

It’s time to break out the knives! Place a large cutting board on a sturdy surface. Wash and dry the vegetables you will be chopping, like carrots or celery. Your non-dominant hand will hold the vegetable while your dominant hand (for me, my right) holds the knife. Note: For hard vegetables, you want to use a knife with a clean edge – not a serrated one (the blade looks like it has teeth). Serrated knives usually are not as sharp and are better for breads.

Place the vegetable – lets say a carrot – onto the cutting board and position your fingers so that they’re curved, with your nails touching the vegetable and holding it in place. What you’re trying to avoid here is having your fingers flat against the vegetable: If the knife were to slip, your fingers would be right where the blade would be.

With your dominant hand, grip the knife with your index finger on the top, non-blade side, thumb on one side of the handle and middle, ring and pinky fingers on the other. Slice into the vegetable using a downward motion (so the knife doesn’t slice going down flat, but at a slight angle). Remember to use your non-dominant hand to move the vegetable into place for cutting. Do not use the knife to reposition the vegetables.

Tip: For chopped vegetables in a flash, buy them in bags in the freezer section of your grocery store or visit the salad bar to get what you need.

Sauteing meat

Sauteing meat is fast and turns out moist, delicious entrees. Become a saute master by first picking the right pan – use a large, wide-rimmed, heavy bottomed one. Non-stick pans don’t work as well for sauteing meat! Put the saute pan on a stovetop burner and turn the heat to medium-high. Let the pan warm up, testing the heat by putting your hand two inches from the surface: When it’s heated, you should only be able to keep your hand there for a moment (do NOT touch the pan’s surface). Add enough oil (olive, canola or vegetable) to lightly coat the bottom of the pan. Allow the oil to heat for about a minute before adding the meat.

Pat the meat dry before adding it to the pan – the less moisture on the outside, the better chance that you’ll have a crisp crust on the outside. Place the meat in the heated oil, being careful not to crowd the pan, which steams the meat and makes it soggy. Cook the meat on the first side until you begin to see it browning around the edges; then, flip the meat to the other side and repeat the process. Be careful not to overcook or undercook the meat.

Tip: After removing the meat from the pan, add chicken broth or white wine to create a sauce. Use a metal spatula to remove any stuck-on bits from the pan’s surface. These bits will give the sauce flavor and thickness.

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Chopped vs. Diced vs. Minced vs. Sliced

The most common cooking instruction you're going to run into is to chop, mince, dice, or slice your vegetables.

This seems simple enough on the surface (as long as you have the basic knife skills down), but size really does matter in cooking.

A recipe writer picks a size because it influences cooking time, texture, and taste. If you dice vegetable chunks too large, you'll

mess with your cooking time.

Chop something too small, it'll change the flavor. So, here's what each of those terms typically means:

• Chopped: Chopped usually means to cut your vegetables into large squares. Generally, this means 1/2 to 3/4-inch pieces, but a recipe may tell you exactly how big to make those chunks. Chopping usually has more leeway on the exact size than other methods.
• Diced: Diced is basically small chops. This would mean around a 1/4 to 1/8-inch chunks of food. Oftentimes you'll get specific instructions like "dice into 1/8-inch squares" in the recipe.
• Minced: When a recipe tells you to mince something, it wants you to cut it as small as you can with a knife. You'll run into mincing every now and again with various vegetables, but most commonly, garlic. Thankfully, America's Test Kitchen shows off how to mince garlic quickly. 
• Sliced: Sliced is exactly what it sounds like: slices. For slices, just cut vertically down on your vegetables (or whatever else) and you're all set. Typically you can slice these as thick or thin as you prefer, but recipes will occasionally recommend a thin or thick slice. 

The Kitchn points out a good rule of thumb: if a vegetable is pungent (like garlic or onions), you usually want to cut it into smaller pieces, especially if it's not being cooked. Follow the recipe closely until you get a feel for how the different sized cuts end up affecting the taste and cook time of a meal. 

Broiling vs. Baking

• Baking: Baking is all about surrounding your food with a consistent temperature and cooking it from all sides. So, when you're baking something, the entire oven reaches a temperature and cooks the entirety of your food as a whole.
• Broiling: Broiling works by exposing your food to direct heat much like a grill. If baking could be considered a shotgun, broiling is your kitchen's sniper rifle. When you turn on your broiler, you'll see a large flame at the top of your oven. You'll usually then set your food right under that flame to cook it quickly. Typically speaking, a broiler reaches a temperature of around 550 degrees.

Broiling is best when you're trying to cook something thin or quickly melt something. It's often used for steaks or for melting cheese. Baking is better when you need to cook everything at once, like a cake, biscuit, or pizza.

Simmer vs. Boil

Whether you're making some rice or boiling pasta, you're going to run into terms like simmer and boil in a ton of different recipes.

They mean a slightly different thing:

• Simmer: To keep a pot simmering you want to bring it to a boil and then reduce the heat slightly to a point where you don't see bubbles anymore. This is usually around 200 °F, but sometimes chefs suggest it should be closer to 180 °F. Simmering is meant to get food hot quickly without the harshness of boiling.
• Boil: Water boils around 212 °F depending on your elevation, and it usually requires turning your stove up to the maximum temperature so your water bubbles up. Boiling is good for vegetables, starchy foods like rice or noodles, and older chunks of tough meat. 

Most often a recipe will say something like "bring a pot to boil, insert (whatever), and simmer for X minutes." In most cases, this means you'll want to dump in what you're cooking after the water boils, lower the temperature a little, and then get the water (or milk or whatever) to that state where it's not quite boiling. 

Sauté vs. Pan Fry 

When it comes to frying foods, you typically have one of two instructions: sauté or pan fry. The distinction between these two is

pretty slight, but the way you prepare the food for each does matter:

• Sauté: Sautéing means cooking small chunks of food over a medium-high heat with oil in a pan. You'll usually move the food around with a spatula as you cook it and your goal is to brown the food slightly without burning it.
• Pan Fry: Pan frying is when you cook larger chunks of food like chicken breasts or steak over a medium heat. You'll generally only flip your food once when pan frying your food.
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Shredded vs. Grated

Whether it's cheeses, spices, or the occasional carrot, you'll need to know the difference between shredding or grating your foods.

You'll need a common kitchen grater like this, but shredding and grating are slightly different:

• Shredded: Shredding is usually done with a grater that has bigger holes. The end result is long, smooth strips that cook or melt slowly because of their size. 
• Grated: Grating creates tiny pieces of food that look like powder. This is usually best when you want something like cheese to melt quickly over a dish, or a vegetable to hide away inside a sauce. This is done with the side of the grater with tiny holes.

Much like chopping, dicing, mincing, and slicing, the main reason the difference between shredded and grated matters is for cooking time and food consistency. 

Liquid Measuring Cup vs. Dry Measuring Cup

The main difference between a liquid measuring cup and a dry measuring cup is just that: liquid versus dry. A liquid measuring cup gives you ounces, whereas a dry measuring cup usually just gives you cups. The reason you need both is accuracy. Chow explains why grabbing the right measuring cup actually matters: 

Essentially, those two different types of cups are engineered for different tasks and work best when you use them as you're supposed to. As a general rule of thumb, just use the measuring cup that best suits the ingredient you're using.

A Dash vs. a Pinch vs. a Smidgen

You'll often find archaic-sounding measurements like pinch, dash, or smidgen for spices in your recipes. These are not technical terms by any means, nor are they usually used with any authority in recipes, but the internet has sort of settled on exact measurements:

• Dash: 1/8 teaspoon
• Pinch: 1/16 teaspoon
• Smidgen: 1/32 teaspoon

Likewise, when a recipe asks you to "salt to taste," it's usually asking for a three-fingered pinch at a time.