Nearly ruined a batch of chicken wings because I never preheated the basket

I was wondering why everything came out soggy until my neighbor saw me tossing frozen fries straight in and said 'you know you gotta let it heat up empty first right' and now I'm wondering what else I've been messing up this whole time.

2 comments

2 Comments

wesleypatel1mo ago

dude my neighbor literally ruined a whole tray of baked ziti because she didn't preheat the oven and i was like "its not that deep" but she insisted it was a travesty. honestly half the time i throw frozen fries straight into the basket and they come out fine, maybe not perfect but definitely not "ruined." people act like preheating is some sacred ritual that unlocks the secret to cooking when really its just a guideline. if your chicken wings came out a little soggy just turn the temp up next time or let them sit longer, not everything needs to be a crisis. i mean yeah preheating helps but acting like you "nearly ruined" a batch because you didn't wait two minutes is a little dramatic.

skyler5161mo ago

my buddy mark tried to make cookies for his girlfriend once for valentines day and threw the dough in right when he turned the oven on. 20 minutes later they were basically raw in the middle and burnt on the outside. @wesleypatel i agree preheating iant the end of the world for most stuff but cookies really need that initial heat to set the shape. he ended up scraping the whole tray into the trash and ordering a cake from the grocery store instead. i still give him crap about it every time we talk about cooking.