Food is necessary for survival. Why limit yourself to subsistence grade food? It is even more joyful to cook something good than to eat it. Here are several tips to get the most from your cooking.
It is important to prepare a barbecue before you are actually ready to use it. A half hour is the lead time usually needed in order to have the grill properly fired up before you cook. The coals should have a coating of ash and be at a medium heat. That is the ideal grilling temperature.
You should be as organized as possible when cooking to avoid burning food and other mistakes, which could be costly. Organizing your kitchen cooking area creates a more productive kitchen. Being disorganized can make it quite easy to make it impossible to find things when you need them, which makes you miss out on the goodies that you could be indulging in.
Before preparing ground meat, blot it. It helps to blot moisture from any type of ground meat. Any moisture left on the meat will be released when the meat is cooked. Basically it just burns away. It will result in beef that is steamed, rather than seared, completely changing the flavor of your final dish.
Make stews and soups even healthier by using nonfat stock or broth. The goal is to make the soup as low fat as possible, so lean meat and masses of vegetables are next to go into the pot. When the soup is ready to eat, place the soup in the refrigerator and let it chill. As it cools, the fat will rise to the top. Once this happens you can easily remove the fat that has hardened and discard. The calorie savings is around 100 per tablespoon you remove.
It is important to cook your meat properly, so always have a meat thermometer on hand. Different types of meat have a certain internal temperature that is considered safe to eat. Since bacteria is all around us, especially on meat, it is important that you cook your meat thoroughly to kill off this bacteria and therefore prevent you from getting sick.
Use a cooling rack that is stackable. If you do not have this, your cooking area will be cluttered with cooling cookies and baking pans. Space can be better used if you incorporate racks for cooling that have multiple layers. Going up instead of spreading out allows you to free up much more of your counter space so you can continue working.
When your life is hectic and making dinner is difficult, try preparing some things in advance. Try cutting up onions and vegetables, making a sauce or marinating the meat before you go to sleep in the evening. This will help reduce your stress and lower your cooking time the next day.
Try to prepare your ingredients before you cook to ensure that your cooking environment is a stress free area. Then you won’t ever be midway through preparing a meal when you realize that you’re missing an essential ingredient. You may be able to find a suitable substitute in the pantry but it’s better to have the proper ingredients.
Some fruits will grill up nicely, and make a tasty treat. You can skewer a selection of fruits such as peaches, melon and bananas. Grill these slices until marks appear on them. Serve the grilled fruit with pound cake or ice cream.
There is as much pleasure in learning to cook a delicious meal as there is in eating it. Follow these tips, and then add a little of your own flare. You will drastically improve your cooking skills, and everyone is going to want to try your recipes.