9 Classic Home Ec Lessons Pro Chefs Still Use Today

Once a staple class in middle schools and high schools throughout the United States, "home economics" doesn't appear on many academic schedules these days. However, these courses deserve far more credit than they typically receive, as they teach students the basics of how to function in a kitchen and how to prepare simple recipes (among other lessons).

Many professional chefs believe that the lessons they picked up in home ec class still help them navigate their kitchens years after they received their final class grade. In fact, we asked a group of pro chefs and recipe developers to share the home ec lessons that still stick with them and inform their cooking. These nine pieces of classroom knowledge deserve a place in any cook's arsenal — or maybe they'll just be good reminders of the things you learned in that esteemed class.

1. "High heat" doesn't always equal "fast cooking."

Home ec teachers, when instructing a group of young people equipped with burners and cursed with limited patience, often need to remind their students that cranking the burners up to the highest heat level won't necessarily move a recipe along any more quickly.

It's a lesson that food blogger Casey LaClair of Viraflare still appreciates from her school days.

LaClair says that "temperature control lessons are very simple but still powerful for first-time cooks. The idea that cooking something on high heat won't make it cook faster is essential. If you tell that to any cook or chef now — or even me — they'd respond, 'well, duh'. But the importance of this simple rule extends into everything you'll ever cook. Knowing that a low temperature cooks thoroughly and a high temperature will mostly sear the outside is a simple fact with powerful uses that most people don't intuitively understand."

2. Measure first, then adapt.

One of the greatest joys of cooking involves the ability to tweak and customize recipes to suit one's individual tastes. But in order to effectively play around with ingredients and quantities, you should first have a solid understanding of the original recipe's measuring and portioning guidelines, a lesson regularly taught in home ec classes.

"The lesson that really stuck with me through the years, especially when developing my own recipes, is to measure first and adapt later," insists chef, recipe developer, and founder Sylvia Fountaine of Feasting at Home. "Follow a recipe to the letter the first time you make something, and then adjust to your taste every time you make it again. What this actually does is help you develop technique, learn how recipes are used by home cooks, and hone your palate."

3. Measuring cups for dry ingredients and wet ingredients aren't interchangeable.

Home ec class introduces students to pieces of kitchen equipment that seem really simple and intuitive, but that require a bit of know-how to use effectively. One prime example? Measuring cups.

Chef and recipe developer Kaitlin Magno of Phok Meat says that home ec class taught her that "measuring cups are for dry ingredients, and measuring glasses are for wet ingredients. The reasoning is that measuring cups can be leveled off," which is crucial for dry ingredients like flour, sugar, and baking soda.

In terms of measuring glasses, Magno tells us that her home ec teachers instructed her to "get to eye level to make sure you are measuring [the liquid] correctly. If you are looking at it from an angle, it may look like it is the right measurement, but in reality, it's not."

4. The key to perfect scrambled eggs is "low and slow" cooking.

The dishes prepared in home ec class tend to lean in the direction of easy and practical. Scrambled eggs fit perfectly into that no-frills style.

Cookbook author and recipe developer Jim Mumford of Jim Cooks Food Good explains that "the best lesson I learned in home ec was to cook scrambled eggs low and slow. Overcooking leads to rubbery eggs, while slow cooking them while stirring continuously leads to creamier eggs."

5. The temperature of your ingredients is hugely important, especially when baking.

Fundamental cooking rules often make it into the syllabus for home ec classes, and these straightforward instructions have a timelessness that makes them forever relevant.

Baker and owner Rosalin Siv of The Evercake in New York City cites "the temperature of your ingredients" as a key piece of home ec info that she still uses today.

"It plays such an important role in developing proper structure in so many baked goods, and my classic cakes especially. Using room temperature eggs and butter is key in achieving that nice, velvety batter. In order to execute the creaming method properly the sugar has to be able to penetrate the butter to create tiny pockets of air to simultaneously get a more even texture and better volume," she continues.

6. Clean as you go.

It can be tempting to leave the task of cleaning until your cooking adventure comes to an end, but because home ec classrooms need to be ready for the next round of students once the bell rings, teachers encourage their pupils to clean as they go, which is a useful habit to carry throughout one's life.

"This fundamental rule makes life worlds easier in the kitchen. As a chef and food writer, I rely on this lesson today more than ever. Cleaning the kitchen and wiping down your area allows you to work freely and less stressfully," says food writer and recipe developer Marta Rivera Diaz of Sense and Edibility.

7. Always wash your hands after handling raw meat.

In keeping with the theme of cleanliness, home ec classes emphasize the importance of kitchen hygiene, especially where raw meat is concerned.

"Easily the most impactful lesson that I learned from home economics in my high school was to be sure to wash your hands and utensils after handling raw meat, poultry, and fish," recipe developer Jessica Randhawa of The Forked Spoon tells Allrecipes. "To this day, I am still a stickler when it comes to handling, cooking, and cleaning up when using raw meats. While I am still cooking, I always wipe down the counters after transferring raw meat into its final cookware, and I always clean off any utensils very well with dish soap that has touched raw meat. That same lesson also gave me the proper food safety foundation around making sure that meat is fully cooked to the USDA-recommended internal temperature guidelines to prevent foodborne illness."

8. Before you start a recipe, make sure that you're prepared.

There's nothing more frustrating than making your way through several steps of a new recipe, only to discover that you're missing an essential ingredient or kitchen tool.

For this reason, creative director Christina Russo of The Kitchen Community treasures this home ec chestnut: "Proper preparation is the key to cooking. As long as you know what ingredients you're going to use, when you're going to use them, the culinary equipment that you'll need, and how to use it, then the only thing that can really go amiss in any kitchen equation is the human factor. That was one of the first things I learned in home ec, and it's a lesson that's stayed with me ever since and one that I still firmly believe in and use."

9. Cooking can absolutely be a team activity.

In home ec, students often partner up to bake a tray of brownies or to create a mise en place for a larger meal. According to executive chef Tim Letsos of Depot 226 at the Canopy by Hilton in Chicago, "The very first lesson you learn in home economics is teamwork and the ability to create and execute a recipe with others. That is one of the most crucial elements of being a successful chef or even home cook.

"Sharing your ideas with others and combining thought processes to create a dish has been one of the most vital skills that has carried me through my career, [which focuses on] following and creating recipes and training a team to execute them correctly," he continues. "You never think something as simple as this exercise would be so important later in life, but it is incredibly valuable."