Food time is a very popular time for just about everyone. Meals often taste much better when they are prepared by someone who knows their way around the kitchen. The information below is meant to offer tips to cooks with any level of experience to improve existing skills or develop new ones that translate into better-tasting meals.
Preparation is key when cooking for family or friends. Gather all of your ingredients well in advance. Prepare everything you need for cooking ahead of time; don’t forget the utensils! This means you don’t have to worry when time is short, which means your cooking will be better.
Thin Strips
Make slicing meat into strips easier by partially freezing it. This is helpful for Asian dishes you may try that call for thin strips of meat. If the meat is partially frozen, its texture is maintained nicely, even when sliced into thin strips. Make sure that you let the meat thaw before cooking, so the meat is cooked evenly.
Did you ever feel guilty for tossing moldy fruits in the garbage? Do you think it’s a good policy to cut off any moldy, rotten parts and save the rest of the fruit? Unfortunately, there is no healthy way of saving half rotten fruit. Mold grows inward to places that you can’t even see and can make you sick so throw moldy fruit in the garbage.
If you wish to have crispy French fries, then you should soak the potatoes in cool water for 30 minutes and then fry them. Soaking the potatoes helps to make the fibers within them stronger, which makes them better able to handle the heat during frying.
Much like a sponge, the mushrooms will absorb the water. Wipe them off with a damp cloth to clean them.
Be careful when using garlic because the flavor and aroma can be transferred to a variety of surfaces, including your hands. A trick for getting rid of the garlic odor on your hands is to rub them on a metal kitchen sink. This will take care of the odors clinging to your hands and enable you to handle other ingredients without contaminating them with strong aromas.
A great source of protein for your diet can be found in beans and tofu. Most grocery stores stock these items. Make a yummy meat alternative by pan frying the tofu with some seasonings. Likewise, beans cooked with herbs can also be a flavorful dish.
When cooking pumpkins, stand the pumpkin so that it is upright. Next, cut it down the middle. Take each half cut side down and place on different baking sheets. Sprinkle some water on the sheets and bake the pumpkin for about an hour at 350 degrees.
Salad Dressing
When serving salad to guests, leave the dressing on the side. Some people like to put more salad dressing on their salads than other people do; let your guests put their own salad dressing on. Give them a choice of salad dressings.
Leave the bone in your roast if you are in a hurry. It will cook faster because the bone will evenly distribute the heat inside your roaster. Once it is finished cooking, cut the meat off the bone.
Make your stressful family or holiday dinner more relaxing by completing most of the prep work up to 24 hours in advance. You can dice, slice and otherwise prepare vegetables in advance. Stir up some sauce prior to your bedtime for a stress-free pasta dish the next evening. This will take a great deal of stress off of your shoulders when it is time to cook.
Never throw away your leftovers whenever you have cooked a turkey. Cut up the remaining meat, place it in Ziploc bags or Tupperware, and store it in your freezer. Turkey can be used later for many delicious casseroles and salads, since it can last in a freezer for long periods of time.
Replace your spices every six months at the very least. Often, spices that have sat upon the shelf for a long period of time lose their pungency. If you purchase spices that you know are not used often in your home, give some to a family member or friend.
The euphoria of taking your first bite of a delicious meal is an irreplaceable memory. Perhaps you are under the impression that it takes a lot of training to be a skilled cook, but that is not the case. Anyone and everyone can learn to cook. After having read this, you should now be ready to try it yourself.
Discussion about this post