But fear your kitchen no longer! Those less-than-stellar dishes that sometimes end up on the table can be turned into marvels of cuisine. We’ve broken down the most common cooking mistakes so you can learn the tricks and get the fix!

1. Using the wrong knife

Ever try to cut a tomato with a non-serrated knife? Or how about cutting a baguette with a chef’s knife? And if you’ve really tried to up your game by filleting a delicate piece of fish with a large chef’s knife or butcher knife, you’ve likely hacked it to pieces and ended up with little bits rather than a beautiful fillet.

Using the wrong knife is a huge mistake and can lead to lots of mishaps. You can cut your fingers using a large, unwieldy knife, or destroy the food by squishing it and pressing it flat (such as in the baguette example above).

Truthfully, for most jobs all you need is a really sharp chef’s knife. This will let you accomplish most tasks, and even when cutting delicate items, such as tomato skin, the blade’s sharpness will easily slice through it. For smaller jobs, such as removing seeds and stems, use a small paring knife that’s easier to control. And for very specific jobs, such as cutting fish fillets, get a specific knife for the job. In that case it would be a fish (or boning) knife.

2. Over-crowding a pan