I’m a Food Network junkie, yet I live with the shame of having instant potato flakes in my cupboard–and liking them.
What’s your dirty little kitchen rebellion?
I’ve thawed meat on the counter for years. As long as you cook it thoroughly, it should be a problem (the rules for safe handling of meat are absurdly overcautious).
I cut into meat with a knife to test for doneness, and I don’t see any point in letting it rest before eating it. I’ve never had problems with things drying out because of this, and I find thermometers are unreliable.
My culinary sins are numerous and plentiful. To start:
I sometimes measure dry ingredients in a liquid measuring cup, and vice versa.
I don’t sift anything anymore, and I certainly don’t measure after sifting.
I use the measuring cup to scoop up flour from the box, rather than spoon flour into the cup.
I use salted butter even when the recipe specifies unsalted, and I don’t reduce the amount of plain salt used elsewhere in the recipe to compensate. This is a new transgression…I just got fed up with things tasting so bland, and realized this tiny change made a huge difference…to me, at least.
I’m sure I’ll remember more in a while…I also thaw on the counter.
Hand washing? Phhffft!!!
Ok, but really, I never use dry beans. Always canned. Who am I, the Barefoot Contessa?
I sometimes don’t give the frozen dinner a quarter turn halfway through microwaving. 
I’m with kittenblue…I don’t sift, and I’ll measure and slice off the top of the flour straight into the measuring cup.
I’ve also thawed my meat in the sink, but never for more than eight hours or so…if the meat isn’t going to get cooked that evening, it goes back in the fridge.
Pretty much all recipes which use ground beef say to brown the beef then drain. I never drain.
I don’t cut my vegetables the right way. Sometimes I just cut them in my hands right over the pot. Fortunately I’ve never had a finger in my chili.
Tonight I cooked a whole chicken in my toaster oven. I’ve never seen that done on Food Network.
Me, three.
I also thaw on the counter if it’s just going to be a few hours, and I’m going to be home.
Hmmm, counter thaw, check. Only one set of measuring cups, check. Sifter, hell naw. Instant taters, check. Salted butter only, check.
I don’t preheat the oven for anything other than the most fussy baking or Papa Smurphy’s pizza. I hardly ever use measuring spoons–that’s what the palm of my hand is for. I use serrated knives. I hardly ever use a double boiler, never for melting chocolate. I don’t give a crap if my baking ingredients are all at room temperature. I cut lettuce for salads rather than ripping it up. I don’t peel potatoes or carrots. I don’t think I’ve actually followed a recipe exactly in at least 15 years.
Already mentioned:
Wrong measuring implements, especially for flour
Sometimes I cut things into pots.
Cutting lettuce
Thawing meat on the counter
I sometimes don’t give the frozen dinner a quarter turn halfway through microwaving
Other transgressions: I don’t clean as I go, thus leaving a huge mess on the counter, I eat batter that has raw eggs in it off the beaters, I use metal utensils on non-stick pans (gingerly), and I use the same cutting board/knife to chop raw meat and vegetables that go in the same dish, because if the meat’s cooked, the vegetables have probably hit 160 also. I also eat expired stuff all the time because I can’t stand to waste it.
I never level off measuring cups of flour. I just dip the measuring cup in the flour, give it a shake and then pour it in the bowl. I also will use the wrong size cup…I might use a full cup of flour and fill it 3/4 of the way to measure 3/4 cup. I’ve got a pretty good eye, and I’m a good cook.
I’ve never been able to figure out how to peel something by cutting away from me, so I always have the blade pointing toward me when peeling something. So far, I have all my fingers and I’ve never had a knife sticking out of my chest, so I must be doing something right.
As for eating batters and doughs with raw eggs in them, making chocolate chip cookies just isn’t the same if you don’t eat a couple tablespoons while putting the dough on the sheets.
I use crappy knives and they work just fine. I sharpen them with a draw-through sharpener and they are nice and sharp. Should they become somewhat too dull 20 years from now, I will give them to Goodwill or throw them out.
I do not heat water to a rapid boil then reduce it to cook ravioli.
I measure only approximately, and left to my own devices I’ll read a few recipes for a new dish, then close all the cookbooks and make it from sort-of memory.
I boil the water for coffee.
I ascribe to the theory that sherry makes everything taste better.
I do not time rice, and I lift the lid to assess it frequently and with no apparent ill effect.
I sometimes use finishing salt during the cooking process.
I am an excellent cook.
Wait, this is a rule?
I guess I’ve just discovered my kitchen transgression.
Thaw meat on the counter - yup.
Measure using my cups instead of spooning - yup.
Overcook pasta - yup.
Cut lettuce - yup.
Use whatever butter is at hand, salted or not - yup.
I also put milk cold from the fridge into my white sauce and it’s never gone lumpy yet.
Canning rules, really. When making jam with pectin (SureJell, for example) the instructions say never to double batches. Hah, I say. Single batches are for sissies. I’ll triple batches if I need to, and I never have a problem.
I prefer salted butter as well. I find that a lot of modern recipes are just way too sodium concious at the expense of flavor. Salt is there for a reason, after all.
I always scoop my flour rather than spoon it (although I do “fluff” it a bit first.)
Cake batter and cookie dough are meant to be eaten raw. Baking is only a side benefit.
I very seldom follow a recipe exactly, often omiting or reducing ingredients based on price and preference, and yet just about everything I make turns out just fine. most often more than fine. I do follow the recipe when baking however.
My mother used to scrape the beaters until they shone before she gave them to my sister and me to lick. Now, I’ll scrape off the big chunks before I hand it off to my children…I’m not going to sit there and make sure I get the extra quarter teaspoon that might be clinging to them.
I don’t wrap baked potatoes in tin foil before I put them in the oven.
A long time ago my mom told me that way way way back in the day, recipes gave you the basic ingredients and then said, “Season to taste; cook until done.” This is how I do 3/4 of my cooking.
Add me to the “You mean there are different measuring cups for liquids and solids?” “Since when aren’t you supposed to thaw meat on the counter?” “But botulism is TASTY when you add chocolate chips!” “Like I’m gonna wash my measuring spoons for stupid salt and vanilla” list as well.