Agree . But I rarely do it . If anything it might need a little salt or pepper at the end of cooking
I only started cooking when I went to Optometry school and started cooking for my self. Did a little in undergrad but lived with my cousin who’s family had a grocery store in Tampa. He did most of the cooking. But it was always big meats, steaks…simple things.
I started cooking a lot in grad school and there was a nice fish market close but and fish was fast and easy and good so it became a frequent main. My girlfriend, now wife hated fish. Bad memories of what ever her mama did with it. I started poaching fish and slowly got her to like fish. Now 40 years later it’s the only thing she wants to eat.
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Yes on the mise en place. I don’t always do it, depending on what I’m making, but if I have a recipe with lots of ingredients, many being added at once (i.e., 5-6 dry seasonings) I’ll put them all into a small dish to add in one fell swoop vs. measuring out each individual herb/spice/seasoning.
READ THE RECIPE before you start prep. Figure out how much time is actually needed, especially if something needs to be brought to “room temperature.” I figured this out VERY early in my cooking life! Nothing worse than starting dinner at 5 o’clock and realizing you won’t be eating until 8:30 or so. 
Don’t believe the oven when it beeps and tells you it’s preheated to 350° in 5 minutes. It’s not. Get an oven thermometer, and assume it’ll take at least 30 minutes to get there.
Learn which herbs and spices pair well with which meats and veggies. I have a chart on the inside of my spice cabinet I got from a magazine years ago (probably Good Housekeeping) that I still refer to. Also learn that certain herbs can overwhelm (tarragon and rosemary, I’m 
looking at you!)
As you begin to get comfortable with flavors, don’t be afraid to tweak a recipe that mostly looks good, but you think it might work better if X, Y, or Z is added, or reduced.
Bookmark recipes you like - whether in cookbooks or on websites so you don’t have to go hunting for them.
Get an instant read thermometer, like a Thermapen. For those of us who can’t determine meat doneness by touch, the Thermapen is a lifesaver.
If you have the freezer space, freeze bone scraps (chicken, steak, pork chop bones) from your meals in Ziploc bags for later stock making. Yeah, your stock won’t always taste the same, as however you cooked it will also add a bit of flavor, but I’m OK with that. The same with corn cobs for corn stock.
Pre-grate ginger and store in a Rubbermaid container in the freezer. When you need more, defrost and add to a jar in your fridge, filled to the top with dry sherry. When the jar is done, use the gingery sherry in a stir-fry. (I’ve been doing this for years.)
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Something else that can easily overwhelm a dish: cloves.
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I don’t do a traditional mise en place, but I do pull out all the ingredients I will need before I start cooking. This way if something is missing I can figure out if I can sub or need to run out to the store.
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If you’re cooking a big meal make a list of when dishes go in the oven, at what temp. and for how long. Work backward from when you want to sit down. Even if it’s not a terribly involved meal I do that when we have company. It’s very handy when you (I) would otherwise lose track of time while having good conversation.
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This is what I do, too, for most recipes.
Have you ever put something into the oven and then noticed an item sitting on the counter looking at you? One time it was chopped pecans; I took the pan out and stirred the nuts into the batter. (I put recipe items away as I use them.)
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I think of a masala dabba as a sort of mise en place.
At the very least, I line up ingredients on the counter before starting to cook.
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Back in the days when I had my share of failures, there were three things I didn’t do well:
1.) Manage pan temps. So important for sears, sautés, sauces, plus had singularly lousy pans.
2.) No confidence… followed recipe verbatim and did not taste, correct, repeat. Follow your instincts based on the flavors you love, and skip/replace things that you think may not fit.
3.) Measures: convert your recipes from volumes to weights (especially when baking… but better, faster, for everything).
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Never 
at least not that I’m admitting to 
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Isn’t that what an Instant Pot is supposed to do?
I agree.
In fact, I leave them out if a recipe calls for ground cloves. I don’t miss it.
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Good thread idea. This really caught me
because I was ignorant of the fact that my GE Cafe oven was off (low) by 30°F until one day out of frustration I put a wired probe in there and charted temps. I recalibrated the thing but got an oven thermometer right away, and eyeball it every time I start something baking. I’ve since learned that the calibration drifts slowly over time (year+ timespan) and have had to recalibrate it twice more.
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I just rely on my oven thermometer, takes very little effort. No wonder baked goods didn’t turn out right before I started using one! The failures could have been discouraging, maybe convinced someone that they were not cut out to cook anything.
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Natch, mostly, on nutmeg. I did a few recipes from Bravetart before I realized she was adding some grated nutmeg to many of her desserts. Clearly it’s a flavor Stella likes, but I certainly don’t want it everywhere. I like nutmeg in Bolognese and that’s about it.
As for other tips, preheat your oven, preheat your pans if you want to sear. I think my mom started everything in cold pans/cold oven, and it took me years to figure out this was not the way. Other things not mentioned yet - embrace the brown bits. These are the flavor, never let them go to waste. Figure out all the ways in which you can reduce food waste. Bones and veg throwaways mostly can serve for stock. Cheese rinds to flavor beans, sauces. I keep apple leftovers in the freezer to add to whole apples in the juicer once fall begins. The freezer is your friend (mostly).
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Start with a clean and clear work area.
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Use a scale.
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One or two good knives, rather than 10 mediocre ones.
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Everything is better with a bit more acid.
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how much a scale can improved baked goods. and how converting to grams can make it easier to scale down recipes.
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Low and slow is usually better. I used to make stews with a rolling boil, but a low simmer keeps the meat tender. Instead of blasting at high temperatures, low heat and frequent flipping is the key to evenly grilled and roasted meats (but I do use the Zuni method for whole chickens: highest heat possible, like 550F).
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tips?
don’t believe everything you read in any random recipe on the internet…
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