OT: Best and Worst cooking tip you've ever received

I am sure there are a lot of bachelors, single women, and single parents on this board. Food is something we all have in common, and the struggle of eating healthy while enjoying the meal is a struggle we all share. I learned to cook well as a bachelor, and have enjoyed trying new recipes and improving my culinary skills throughout my adult life. On the thread about foods one cannot stand, one reply stated that people tend to overcook skinless chicken. I think the problem probably starts earlier in the prep process than cooking. Almost all chicken is frozen. Even if it is thawed when you buy it, it may have been frozen earlier in processing or shipment. (You would be surprised how much bread is shipped frozen, which converts the starches into sugar.) Even if the chicken is fresh-never-frozen, it should be brined. A simple brine consists of: 1 gal water, 2/3c brown sugar, 1/2 cup sea salt or 1/4c table salt. Let the chicken brine for 12-72 hours, it is best if frozen chicken thaws in the brine. This will give you a whole new outlook on chicken. I should have known the worst advice I was going to receive. He was an art major from Arkansas married to a lawyer, who was truly insane. We were talking homemade spaghetti sauce. If you make homemade spaghetti sauce, you know what a pain it is to get all the spices chopped/ground/shredded/diced, cook the sausage and ground beef, peppers, tomatoes, onion, strain the basil leaves out on time, and simmer it to the right consistency. Then you cannot make it in small batches, so you have a freezer full of red tupperware bowls. But I had found an amazing recipe that was worth it every few months. My improvement to the recipe was merlot. I don't have a measure, just to taste, more than dollop. I shared that tip with Damon, and he made a big deal of looking around to ensure no one was nearby or eavesdropping, and he told me his secret was a half teaspoon of vanilla. I love vanilla. I always pay a premium fr the real thing, no artificial extracts for me. I put that shit in everything - whipped cream, cookies, pancakes/waffles, french toast/monte cristo. If I love bacon, then vanilla is my mistress. He swore by it, saying it balanced the acidity of the tomatoes and other vegetables. He was wrong, one teaspoon of vanilla gave the whole pot just this weird off-taste. It took a lot of shredded parmesan to cover the taste. Bonus tip: I always cooked my ribs to 165. I figured pork ribs were like beef - cook it as little as possible. Since 165F is the necessary minimum temp to ensure all microbes and parasites are dead, then that was the optimum temperature, right? Wrong. For juicy, slide off the bone ribs, you need to achieve 190-degrees fahrenheit. That is the temperatures which cooks and melts the tendons and ligaments, adding more juice, taste, and tenderness to your ribs. Blew my mind when I learned that, but when I tried it I learned it was true.