Everyone knows that humans need food to survive. However, there is more to food that just as a source for survival. Eating someone else’s creation is never as rewarding as enjoying your own! Consider these tips, and watch your cooking know-how jump to a new level of expertise.
Do you ever feel bad for disposing of fruit with a little mold on it? Do you wonder if it would be better to just cut off the moldy parts and save the rest? It’s not safe to try to save partially rotted fruit. It is important to throw moldy fruit in the trash because eating moldy food can cause you to become very ill. There is often more mold on the fruit than can be seen by the naked eye.
Keep all dried spices in a dark space that stays room temperature. Their flavors suffer when they are exposed to heat, light, and humidity. Generally speaking, properly stored herbs and ground spices can keep a good portion of their flavor as long as one calendar year. Whole spices have a longer shelf-life and can hold their flavor for about three years. If stored the right way, they keep fresh for a lot longer.
The overall quality of vegetables is affected by the length of cooking time. If you cook your vegetables for a long period of time, they might not be as nutritious. If you do this, it will provide you a vegetable that is higher in nutritious value. The less time you take to cook them, the better your vegetables will be.
If you are just beginning your adventure with home cooking, look online, at a bookstore, or at the library for a cookbook that has simple, easy recipes that you’ll take pleasure in both preparing and eating. Experiment with a few, and be patient; remember, you’re learning new skills.
Seasoned salt is used on virtually any kind of food, not just meat! Try using it to season roasted potatoes or chickpeas. You can cultivate a reputation as a mysterious wizard of flavor just by using a judicious dash of such seasonings.
It is essential that you are prepared before you start to cook a meal to serve to your loved ones. You need to have the ingredients readily available. Along with the ingredients, you need to make sure you have the correct utensils for cooking the next day. This process will reduce your stress level and help manifest a more positive outcome.
After you make sauce, pour the leftovers into ice cube trays and place them in the freezer. All you need to do next time you want to use it, is reheat in a saucepan. Freezing the sauce into cubes in the trays is safe and convenient!
Here is a little trick that can help you save your sauce so that you can use it right away. Put a small amount of corn starch in a bowl and mix thoroughly with two tablespoons of water to add to your sauce. Slowly add to the sauce while on simmer and your sauce will gradually thicken. The mixture needs to be added slowly so that it does not make the sauce too thick.
If your burgers tend to stick to your grill, it might be hard to cook them while preserving their shape. You can use a brush to apply some vegetable oil to the grill and make it to where nothing will stick to it.
Sharp Knives
When you are using wooden skewers in cooking, soak them for at least half an hour before putting the veggies on them. This can cut down on the chances of the wood becoming burnt and singed during the cooking process. Try using two skewers parallel to one another instead of just one skewer.
Every cook needs access to a set of sharp knives. Dull knives make cutting very difficult, and this makes them much more dangerous than sharp knives. You’re less likely to cut yourself chopping up a vegetable with the clean, fast strokes of a sharp knife, than when you are forcing and wiggling a dull knife.
Tofu and beans can serve as great sources of protein that can be easily added to any diet. Most grocery stores sell both items. Tofu is great meat alternative when baked, broiled, or pan-fried with seasonings. Boil beans with a sauce or herbs, or add them to a salad to serve up some additional protein.
Boiling your vegetables may cause you to miss out on many of the benefits and nutrients to be found in your meal. To keep them nutritious, try quickly cooking them, like sauteing or steaming. You can also enjoy them raw.
Always measure the amount of cooking oil you use. This will help you lower the fat content when you cook as opposed to just pouring directly into the pan without measuring. This will allow you to closely monitor the exact amount of oil that you are using.
Prepare dishes that you’re an expert at when you’re cooking for someone important in your life, such as a supervisor or a new partner. Don’t attempt a dish that is new or very far out of your experience level. Avert a stressful experience and enjoy the occasion.
Get the freshest garlic you can when making a dish that you must add garlic to. Fresh garlic has a sweeter taste. Fresh garlic will have firm skin and will not be bruised or soft to the touch.
If you make sauce, freeze it into ice cubs to use later on. Take them out to use on another night when you’d like a no hassle home cooked meal. Simply reheat the sauce cubes slowly in a medium pan on your stove top. No worries, because the sauce is still quite edible after being frozen in ice cube trays.
If you need to cook a roast quickly, do not remove the bone. The bone acts as a conduit, transporting heat through the center of the meat. It is easy enough to cut the meat off the bone once the roast is cooked.
Have you had difficulty in determining how long to grill your meat? Having a high-quality meat thermometer handy, especially a digital one, is a great way to ensure the meat you serve is fully cooked. If you’re grilling especially thick slabs of meat – anything thicker than an inch and a half – bring the lid down on your grill to speed up the cooking process.
Replace and refresh your spices twice a year. If a spice is kept for a long time, it could lose some of its flavor. If you find yourself buying a spice that you aren’t going to finish, split it and give half away to a friend.
It’s very frustrating to try to cook a tasty hamburger and see it deformed or ruined, because it gets stuck to your grill. Try brushing a thin coating of vegetable oil on the grill or pan to keep food from sticking.
A sharp knife is the cook’s bosom companion; spend the money for top-quality cutlery. You can save time not having to sharpen or deal with dull knives and sharper knives are safer to use. More accidents and cuts happen due to dull utensils than properly sharpened ones.
It is fairly easy to dry tomatoes yourself. Cut Romas tomatoes in lengthwise halves, or slice ripe regular tomatoes into half inch slices for drying. Put the tomatoes, cut-side up, onto a cooling rack and give them a light salting. Next, position a full rack on a baking sheet in an oven preheated to 190 degrees. Dry for approximately 10 hours. Finally, place your dried tomatoes in freezer safe bags and store in the freezer. Another option is to place the tomatoes in a jar and cover them with fresh herbs and olive oil. Kept in the refrigerator, these tomatoes will keep for a couple of weeks.
There are a few methods you can use to heating up tortillas. You can put the tortilla in your oven at 350 degrees until they get crisp enough. You can also heat the tortillas by placing them on the grill of a gas stove. Any of these methods will reward you with tastier, fresher tortillas.
Don’t waste your turkey leftovers after Thanksgiving dinner. Instead, cut them into smaller pieces, and put in some airtight containers that will go in the freezer. The turkey will remain fresh this way for a couple weeks, and you can use it for sandwiches and salads.
A meat thermometer should be used to check that the meats have been properly cooked. All kinds of meat have a minimum internal temperature that is recommended for safe consumption. Meat that has not been cooked sufficiently can have bacteria growing in it, and these can cause illness if eaten.
Cutting Board
Trussing refers to the method of tying a turkey up with string for baking. It helps to keep the legs and wings of the turkey close so that the bird cooks more evenly. If the legs and wings aren’t tied down, they tend to easily burn while the body of the bird continues to cook.
Your cutting board retains the odors of certain herbs and vegetables despite repeated scrubbings. Put a waterproof mark on the end of the cutting board so you’ll know which side to use.
Spices and herbs should be kept in a dark place that is cool and dry. Exposing them to humidity, light or warm environments will dry them out more and dissipate the flavors and aromas. This just exposes them to the elements and degrades their flavors.
Though a dish such as macaroni and cheese seems simple to prepare, it is important to follow the guidelines on the box or recipe. This ensures that the macaroni is cooked to perfection and that the cheese is the right consistency to blend well with the pasta. Serving this dish can be enhanced by using a simple spoon with a solid face. Use a dash of pepper to finish off the dish!
Cut down on cooking time by doing your prep work in advance. Ingredients for meals can often be prepared a few days ahead of time. Sometimes you will even discover that preparing ingredients over an extended period of time will enhance the flavor of the final product. Once you get used to prepping in advance, you will probably never go back to doing it on the fly.
Learning how to cook is as much fun as eating. Use these tips in your day to day life and improvise on them for added benefits. Your skills will quickly improve if you try making something every day. Soon your friends will be impressed and enjoy your new skills more than you suspect.
Believe it or not, there’s quite a bit of variation among different types of potatoes. For boiling and for use in potato salad, the waxy varieties will work best. This kind of potato does not work as well for mashing, baked potatoes or french fries. Russet potatoes are best suited for baking or mashing, or for making french fries.
Leave a Reply