I'm a trained chef. Here are the 6 mistakes I see home cooks make that sabotage their meals.

• Resting protein at room temperature before and after cooking it improves the texture and flavor.
• Without properly preheating a pan or oven, a dish is doomed before it ever hits heat.

Salting fish or meat before it reaches room temperature can mess with its texture.

Meat continues cooking even after you remove it from heat. Called carryover cooking, it happens because the residual heat from the outside continues moving inward as the protein rests.

For example, a steak I take off the grill at 130 degrees Fahrenheit can climb to 135 degrees Fahrenheit within a few minutes of resting at room temperature.

I remove meats from the heat source when they’re a few degrees shy of my desired temperature, as the carryover heat can raise the internal temperature.

When a protein rests, it allows the juices to redistribute and the carryover heat to gently finish cooking it. Skipping this step can cause dry out even perfectly cooked meat.