Learning how to cook Italian food correctly means you don't have to go to a restaurant every time the craving strikes. From making the perfect pasta to having the essential pantry staples on hand, there are a few secrets Italian cooks always have up their sleeves that come in handy in the kitchen.

To perfect your own skills, follow these 15 cooking tips (found on a great site, www.popsugar.com,) that Italians swear by. And I’m quoting:

Quickly mince garlic using a microplane. Italians know the quickest way to chop garlic isn't with a knife, but with a microplane. Getting sticky, smelly hands from mincing garlic is the worst, and using a microplane makes the process much more efficient. Plus, grated garlic infuses butter and olive oil and creates a more cohesive, garlicky sauce than minced garlic.

Add a LOT of salt to the boiling water when cooking pasta. You probably know that salting the water is an essential step when cooking pasta, but do you know how much you should really be adding? The correct salt to water ratio for pasta is one tablespoon per one quart (four cups) of water. Yes, it's a lot of salt, but it's crucial to flavoring the pasta itself — your water should taste like the sea.

Don’t be afraid to use canned tomatoes. In fact, seasoned Italian cooks swear by using canned tomatoes, particularly San Marzano. It's a good idea to keep canned tomatoes stocked in your pantry so that you always have a base for easy dishes like puttanesca pasta and homemade tomato sauce.

Your spaghetti spoon measures a perfect portion of spaghetti. The secret to perfectly measured spaghetti is in the tool you're already using to make it. Your spaghetti spoon ensures you'll end up with the ideal portion.

Cook meatballs IN their sauce. The secret to making classic Italian meatballs is to first brown them in olive oil until they're not quite cooked through and then add them to your homemade tomato sauce to simmer until fully cooked. The flavors need time to marry, and the meatballs become moist and tender when cooked in the sauce.

Freeze parmesan rinds to later add to soups and stews. Even after you've shredded the last bit of parmesan cheese from the block, save the rind by keeping it in your freezer for later use.

Choose your pasta according to your sauce. All pasta shapes are not created equal. It's important to choose the right kind of pasta for whatever sauce you're making, because the sauce clings to and fills the pasta shapes in different ways. Try basil pesto with fusilli, carbonara with spaghetti, and bolognese with pappardelle.

Cook with wine. Italian cooks know that choosing the right wine is important for cooking. From spaghetti cooked in red wine to the perfect garlic and white wine sauce and tomato sauce with red wine, there are endless ways to infuse your favorite dishes with your favorite wines.

There’s no need for a pasta maker when making it from scratch. Making pasta from scratch is as simple as using flour, eggs, and your hands. Italians have made it this way for centuries.

Make your own breadcrumbs. Making your own breadcrumbs is ridiculously easy, and the flavor and texture is much better than store-bought. Keep them stored in the fridge and use them in chicken parmesan, pasta with breadcrumbs, and macaroni and cheese.

When making garlic bread, keep the loaf intact and wrapped in foil. Like breadcrumbs, garlic bread is just one of those things you should never buy premade. Homemade garlic bread is the star of any dinner table, and the secret is wrapping the loaf in foil so that the garlic, butter, and parsley seep into the crevices of the bread.

First, mince up a few cloves of garlic. If raw garlic is too intense for your taste buds, then try sweet, mild roasted garlic instead. Once the garlic is minced, grab a handful of parsley leaves, and chop it into the garlic. In fact, feel free to chop in lemon zest, too. Be sure to liberally salt this mixture.

Next, cut a baguette or another bread of your choice on the diagonal, leaving about 1/4 inch of the bottom intact, so all the goodies can be pocketed into the bread. Stuff about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of the garlic-parsley mixture between each slice.

Lastly, stuff each slice with about 1 teaspoon of butter. Alternatively, drizzle with olive oil. Wrap the prepared baguette in foil, place it on a cookie sheet, and bake it in a 350°F oven for about 10 minutes, or until the butter melts. Carefully open up the foil, and let the bread toast for another 10 minutes, or until the bread appears golden and crispy. Serve baguettes piping hot and intact, and let the ripping begin!

Don’t follow the recommended cook time on the pasta packaging. Cooking pasta al dente means cooking it under the recommended amount of time so that it has a slight bite to it and is not fully soft. This is a non-negotiable cooking step for Italians, and it's the secret to the perfect bite of pasta.

Make authentic bruschetta by keeping it simple. You won't find mozzarella on top of classic Italian bruschetta. The key to making authentic Italian bruschetta is keeping it simple. Lightly rub the slices of bread with a garlic clove, and top with a mixture of fresh tomatoes, chopped basil, olive oil, and plenty of salt and pepper. (Of course, add the mozzarella if you must…we must at our house.)

Treat pasta water as an ingredient. I’ve talked about this before, but it bears repeating: If you adequately salt boiling water before adding pasta, the residual water that remains after the pasta is cooked is a salty, starchy, thickening and flavoring agent. You should save about a cup of the water before you drain the rest; a lot of people like to scoop it out with a mug. Incorporating the pasta water is a must-have step for a silky, "creamy" (without cream) sauce.

Don’t skimp on high quality olive oil. Olive oil is perhaps the most important ingredient in Italian cooking, and it should be treated as more than a non-sticking agent. Invest in a high-quality and flavorful variety, and use a generous drizzle to finish off dishes like spaghetti aglio e olio.