Have you ever sat down to a gourmet meal and wondered how on earth a person could make such a delightful dish? The following article can make anyone a better cook.
Use vegetable or chicken stock to saute vegetables. Broth adds flavor to the vegetables while reducing the quantity of oil necessary for sauteing. Try this next time you cook vegetables for a great meal.
Are you cooking using fresh basil? Put a bunch of fresh basil in a glass. The stems should be thoroughly covered in water. Next, place the basil and glass on the kitchen counter; the herb will remain fresh for a week or more. Your basil will even send out new roots if you change its water regularly. Occasionally trim the basil, which will encourage more growth, and you will be able to have the benefits of fresh basil for quite some time.
Apples are a popular ingredient for cooking during the cool autumn and winter months. However, if they are not stored correctly, apples can spoil very quickly. You can keep apples fresh by storing them in a cool basement or refrigerator as warm or dry air makes them rot. Be sure to remove any spoiled apples as soon as you spot them, or the entire batch will end up rotten.
To slice meat with ease, you should place it in the freezer for a bit. The thin sliced meat is great in many dishes including many Chinese and Thai meals. There’s less tearing of the semi-frozen meat as it’s cleanly sliced. Then don’t forget to let the meat strips completely thaw, so it will cook evenly.
If you are going to stir-fry meat, be sure to have it cut on the bias and finely sliced. This is not easy to do and could take some time. Take the meat out as soon its gets firm (not frozen), then cut it across the grain at a forty-five degree angle.
Want to add more protein to your diet? Consider incorporating beans and tofu! Both are easily available to buy at almost every grocery store. Pan fried tofu, lightly sprinkled with your favorite seasonings, is a delicious substitute to meat. Make beans a less boring source of protein by including some herbs when you boil them.
When serving a salad for guests that accompanies a meal, avoid pouring dressing on it. Leave the dressing on the side instead. Certain people prefer a larger amount of dressing on the salad than others. Because of this fact, you should allow people to pour dressing on their own. Also, try and include different types of dressings.
When sauteing food, avoid over-filling the pan. With too much in the pan, you will find some foods steaming as opposed to sauteing, which destroys the intended integrity of the dish. Make sure you do this at a low temperature as well.
Dark, leafy greens are extremely nutritious, but it can be time-consuming to prepare them. Getting the stems out, for instance, is tedious without an easy cooking tip. To make it easier, take the leaf and fold it lengthwise, then cut out the stem in the middle. Use any sharpened blade to remove the stem from the folded leaf. Once you open the leaf again, you will see a beautifully cut green with no stem pieces.
Whenever you have a meal to cook, if you do your all your prep work ahead of time, it will be much less stressful and quicker. Look over your recipe and determine which items can be prepared in advance and not spoil. A lot of the preliminary work can be done a day before you cook the meal. This can make harder recipes easy, and complicated ones a fun, fast experience.
Utilize all of the suggestions you can from this article. Before you know it, the situation will be reversed, and guests eating your food will be the ones wondering how you make such delicious meals.