How many times have you dreaded going into the kitchen to make breakfast, lunch, or dinner? You might need a new perspective. Cooking can be enjoyable and relaxing if you try to see it in another way. Here are a few cooking tips that are sure to get your taste buds tingling and entice your inner chef to come out.
Ice cube trays are fabulous for freezing and storing leftover sauce. 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. The frozen sauce will keep extremely well until the next time you need it!
Anytime you cook a simpler dish, include fresh seasoning and herbs with it. Using dried herbs, like basil or oregano, is acceptable if a dish is complex and has many flavors. However, fresh herbs will brighten any dish and improve its flavor. If your situation allows, plant an herb garden, so that you are never at a loss for fresh herbs.
Sometimes we may forget to taste our cooking before adding salt, and end up with too much of it. Not to worry, though, as this can be fixed. Just chop up some raw potatoes and place them in the sauce, allowing them to simmer for approximately fifteen minutes. These raw potatoes will absorb any excess salt. For a dish that is tomato-based, just put a few more tomatoes in and let them cook until they’re tender. These will dilute the extra salt.
Use a substantial amount of salt in the water when you are cooking pasta. This is so that the seasoning will set into the pasta. Salting after boiling your pasta will not give the same effect of absorption.
Garlic is among the multitude of tasty ingredients that offers flavor with a drawback: garlic can transfer to your hands and fingers. After you work with garlic or any other type of ingredients that have a strong smell, rub your hands completely on stainless steel, like the inside of your sink. Your hands will be free from adding the garlic scent and flavor to other foods.
Make stews and soups even healthier by using nonfat stock or broth. Vegetables and lean meats are also good ways to enhance the content and flavor without adding much or any fat. When your soup finishes cooking, chill it in the refrigerator for a bit. The remainder of the fat will rise to the surface and congeal. The fat can then be removed and tossed out. You will be eliminating roughly 100 calories for every tablespoon of fat you remove.
When you are making butter and sugar into a cream for cookies, soften the butter, but don’t melt it. If it did melt, just put it in the freezer until it hardens a little bit, or you can refrigerate the mixed dough, as well. Your dough will spread the right amount if the dough is cooler.
If you decide on using fresh herbs, gather them in bunches and snip the stems with scissors. This is perfect for flavorful herbs like dill and parsley. This will keep them drier and less heavy than if they are chopped.
Cool, dark and dry places are ideal for keeping herbs and spices. Light, heat, and humidity will cause their flavor to weaken. Herbs and spices generally keep their taste and flavor for about one year. Spices that have not been ground have the potential to last upwards of five years. When stored in the correct place, they will keep their freshness for longer.
Use these tips when you are cooking your meals. After your first taste, you will realize that cooking is not such a bad thing after all! You should look forward to this, as you may find yourself trying so many dishes and recipes. Use the tips above to get started on cooking.