Amateur cooks make a lot of mistakes that rile classically-trained chefs, Noam Ben-Ami writes, saying “it’s hard to watch regular people cook. I just excuse myself and leave the kitchen, or I end up taking over.” His pet peeves include: improperly salting food, the grave sin of not letting meat rest before cutting it, improperly cooking pasta (keep that stuff al dente, please), cooking with extra virgin olive oil, using blunt knives, and probably most importantly, “failing to make use of deliciousness. For example, roasting a chicken and then not making use of all the wonderful juices that have caramelized on the bottom of the pan. Strain that beautiful liquid, let it rest in a narrow container, drain off the fat, then make the remains into a sauce or just pour them on the chicken or on rice.”