A good way to gain confidence in your cooking is by developing good habits that will make the whole process go much more smoothly, because preparation and forethought are better than winging it and risking a meltdown.

Unless the dish you're cooking requires whole chicken breasts or thighs you should be slicin' those mothers up into thin fillets, so they'll cook faster and taste better:

 "Chicken will cook faster if you butterfly the breast, pound it to equal thickness, and cut it into fillets. Otherwise, the small end of the breast will be overcooked and dry by the time the larger side is cooked. It’s an easy extra step, makes a huge difference taste-wise, and looks so much better when plated." —stephaniev23

With steak it's a good idea to let the meat reach room temperature before you cook it:

And you should preheat the oil in your pan before you place the meat in, so it'll cook more evenly and won't stick:

But here's the best tip of them all, for my fellow guacamole lovers out there:

See 17 Small Cooking Habits That Can Make A Big Difference here

Every single state in the Union had its own state bird, state flower and state flag, but did you know they all have their own signature alcoholic beverage too?

Well, except for those pesky dry states, where the state drink is moonshine but it's kept on the hush-hush, but every other state openly enjoys beer, wine or a cocktail and has one drink that's a favorite with the folks who live there.

But if you want to sample them all take it from Eugene of the Try Guys and test them out over multiple nights- because trying to drink them all in one night could be deadly. (NSFW language)

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Eugene takes a break from The Try Guys to get blind stinkin' drunk with Kelsey and tour America by bar stool, tasting every state's signature drink from the Alabama Yellowhammer to Wyoming's favorite box wine Franzia.

But the really cool thing about this video is they show the recipe for every cocktail featured, so if you want to take your own alcoholic tour of America some day you can!

Gushers are one of my snack food guilty pleasures, because they're a super crappy snack food, made with two kinds of corn syrup and all kinds of oils and preservatives, but they're so tasty I can eat a whole box in one sitting.

If only someone could create a gourmet version made with more wholesome ingredients that still tasted good, someone with experience creating gourmet versions of our favorite junk food.

Claire Saffitz from Bon Appétit is that someone, and she tried her hand at making gourmet Gushers only to realize why they'll always be mass produced crap- because they're way too big of a pain in the butt to make by hand!

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Jack In The Box (6270 El Cajon Boulevard — San Diego, California)

Once a chain restaurant opens up locations all over the country, if not the world, we tend to forget that these food empires began with one original location.

At the top of the post you can see the original Jack In The Box location in my hometown of San Diego, California, opened by Robert O. Peterson in 1951 who converted his drive-in restaurant into a drive-thru.

Taco Bell is another chain that originated in Southern California and ended up making it big in the fast food world, opened in Downey by Glen Ball in 1962.

Taco Bell (7112 Firestone Blvd, Downey, California)

While their original location is now Seafood & Tacos Raul you can see why their restaurants were always mission-shaped with a bell on top.

And lastly let's get in to the pizza game with the Hut- this little "hut" is the original Pizza Hut restaurant, opened by brothers Dan and Frank Carney in scenic Wichita, Kansas back in 1958.

Pizza Hut (503 South Bluff St, Wichita, Kansas)

They named it Pizza Hut because they only had room on the sign for 9 letters,which means they could have named it Pizzazz, Pizza Den, Pizza Lab, Pizza Pie or Pizzaaaa! too...

See The Original Locations Of 30 Famous Food Chains at Mental Floss

When you head out to get some fast food in the middle of the night you expect to find a skeleton crew of usually no more than two or three running the restaurant and dealing with the mostly crazy people coming in at such a late hour.

You don't expect to receive great service or to find the employees in a great mood when you drive up to the window, but everything Josh Raby tweeted about his experience in the McDonald's drive-thru at 1 a.m. is unexpected- and bizarre.

Maybe Josh is a comedy writer who made it all up, or maybe he embellished a bit about the weirdness he experienced on his midnight Mickey D's run, but if it's all true that place should fire the entire graveyard shift immediately!

Read the rest of Guy Shares Story On Twitter About Unforgettably Insane McDonald's Drive-Thru Experience at FAILBlog (NSFW language)

You'd probably have trouble finding all the ingredients for Nightmare Before Christmas Wreath Candy at this late date, but the picture was too delicious not to share. File this recipe away for next Christmas. Hellen Die (Tye Lombardi, previously at Neatorama) made these in homage to her favorite Christmas film, The Nightmare Before Christmas. You could call these scary treats cookies, because the wreaths are based on corn flakes, but since they aren't baked, I'll call them candy. The teeth are the most important part, so you'll get a tutorial on making modeling chocolate, which can be made into all kinds of edible sculptures. All the instructions are at the Nom-Nom-Nom-Nomicon.

Use your electric wangjangler to mix the road tar. Don't forget to despatulize the sides. Get your cylindrical compression tube ready, it's time to make gingerbread men! They don't have to be men; you can make your gingerbread cookies in any shape you want, like a pineapple or a hammer or slenderman. He left the tea out of his hot toddy, but never mind, since the main ingredient is whiskey.

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But just when you thought you were going to watch him decorate the cookies, this video takes a sharp left turn into a Christmas wrapping lesson and a heart touching holiday story about a robot, as our narrator is quite distractible. Even if you prefer to get your gingerbread from the cookie aisle, you'll enjoy this video from You Suck at Cooking. -via Tastefully Offensive

I'd always heard that food with freezer burn should be thrown away because it's inedible, so I tossed out any food with a dried out edge and tons of ice crystals because it seemed like the right thing to do.

But then came the times where it was either cook up freezer burned food or go hungry, and that's when I discovered food with freezer burn is okay to eat, although it can taste a bit off.

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Freezer burn is caused when the moisture escapes from the food and forms ice crystals on the outside of it, thereby drying it out, and even though it can make the food taste a bit funky freezer burned food is okay to eat.

If you want to prevent your food from getting freezer burn you need to use airtight containers for storage and wait until it has cooled before you throw it in the freezer, since warm food can cause condensation which leads to freezer burn.

And to keep your ice cream from getting that gross layer of freezer burn on top simply slap some cling wrap on the surface before closing up the carton and your ice cream will stay fresher longer!

-Via Taste Of Home

Tradition is great, but if your Christmas celebrations need to be spiced up, you can incorporate someone else's tradition into your holiday. If pork is your go-to Christmas dinner main dish, the Philippines do it up right. Looking for a twist on fruitcake? Try Australia's White Christmas. And for a beverage with a kick, Chile's cola de mono might fill the bill.  

Eggnog and glogg will leave you toasty and numb, but if you really want to get soused, consider the Chilean holiday drink cola de mono (meaning monkey’s tail). Like a White Russian, it’s a creamy coffee cocktail that goes down smooth, but where the cola de mono messes you up is the use of aguardiente, the anise-flavored spirit that translates to “fire water” for a reason. This particular recipe we tested—holy shit!—was like an iced coffee with a knuckle sandwich chaser. (You can substitute brandy or pisco if you don’t have aguardiente.)

The recipe they are referencing is here. There's also a video at The Takeout. It's just one of the Christmas food traditions from other parts of the world you should check out.

(Image credit: Flickr user restaurante kaialde)

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It's hard to find an appropriate drink to go with Christmas cookies because they're all over the place in terms of taste, and even milk doesn't go well with every variety of Christmas cookie.

But you know what does go well with them all? Alcohol, be it beer, liquor or wine there is an alcoholic beverage that goes great with Christmas cookies.

But in this case we're focusing on wine and Christmas cookie pairings, because wine comes in many different colors and flavors just like Christmas cookies, so there's a match made in heaven just waiting to play "jingle bells" on your taste buds!

This chart created by CountryLiving shows the perfect wine to complement eight of the most popular Christmas cookies, from those fancy Linzer cookies to the fudge crinkles I can't stop eating to those little smilin' gingerbread people.

And if you require a more in-depth analysis of why the two work so well together head to the link below and read all about it!

Read 8 Christmas Cookie And Wine Pairings To Make Your Holidays Oh-So-Merry here

No holiday dinner spread is complete without the sides, and most people like to have lots of different sides on the table so everyone can have a bountiful meal full of different flavors.

But unless you're a die-hard fan of the traditional sides like green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and cranberry relish you're probably hungry for a new taste sensation to add to your holiday dinners.

So maybe you should whip up some Braised Greens instead of a green bean casserole and cook some Cheesy Rice to replace those boring old mashed potatoes?

Doesn't that look nicer than a pile of potato mush? And wouldn't it be nice to serve your guests a cranberry sauce they'll remember for the rest of their lives?

That's where the Rosemary-Port Cranberry Sauce comes in- it's made with Gran Marnier, Port, rosemary and ginger, so you know your guests will be talking about this taste sensation for years to come!

See 30 Easy Christmas Side Dishes We Want At Our Christmas Dinner here

Food factors in to every get together we have during the holiday season so it's no wonder almost every holiday movie has a scene in it where friends and family sit down at a table to enjoy a meal together, often with disastrous results.

These dinner scenes are such a staple that even movies like Home Alone 2 that aren't technically holiday movies still feature a food scene representing the holiday feast.

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The Home Alone 2 limo feast scene came in at number 2 on Uproxx's list of Holiday Food Scenes Ranked, which seems a bit high, and yet the dinner scene from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation came in at number 9, which seems way too low.

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They also ranked the spaghetti breakfast scene in Elf at number 7, which also seems a bit low, but who cares how they rank these scenes? I just tuned in for the Christmas movie fun!

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See Power Ranking The Food Scenes In Holiday Movies here

We've often posted pictures of intricate, amazing, and beautiful gingerbread houses, the kind that inspire you to try one yourself. But not all of us are master food artists, or even competent food artists, and gingerbread houses present a variety of challenges. Icing is not as easy to work with as Pinterest would have you believe. Structural integrity is an art in itself. Cookie slabs break. And when things start to go awry, you get a sudden urge to revel in your failure by adding all the leftover icing and candy to the mess you made. See 21 examples of gingerbread houses gone wrong at Buzzfeed. They will make you feel better about your own half-baked efforts.

(Image credit: twidhalm)

In countries where people celebrate Christmas, the only thing their dinners have in common with each other is tradition. You could be eating fondue, flæskesteg, fried chicken, borscht, tamales, or sauerkraut soup, but you can bet that the family ate that same meal last year, and will come together to eat that same meal next year. It's one way we cement connections with not only each other, but with the past and the future. But still, it never hurts to try something new. Learn how Christmas dinner is done around the world in a list of submitted menus from readers at Buzzfeed.

(Image credit: Flickr user Joel Bez)

Gordon Ramsay isn't the highest paid chef in the world, nor does he have the most Michelin stars, but Gordon has one claim to fame that the other chefs don't- he has the world record for rolling the longest sheet of pasta.

This may not seem like a worthwhile endeavor for a chef of his caliber, but since Gordon may never be the highest paid chef or have the most Michelin stars he might as well put his energy into setting world records- because I've never seen him happier!

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-Via Laughing Squid