You will have to take the time to develop this skill. Regardless of your reason for wanting to cook, it is great to have a skill for it. Here are some tips you can use to learn how to cook better.
If you plan on using raw onions in your salsa, rinse them with cold water after dicing and then proceed to blot them dry. Onions that are raw have sulfurous gas in them. The taste of fresh salsa can be negatively impacted by this gas. You can remove the gas from your onions by rinsing them and drying them with a paper towel.
Create your own unique flavored butter for an easy way to enhance the taste and appeal of a fresh ear of corn or a hot batch of dinner rolls. Set out butter to warm up to room temperature; you can also quickly soften it in the microwave. When soft, throw in some spices, herbs or sauces to give it an extra kick. Barbeque sauce is good, so is honey or lemon juice.
When you are cooking pasta, use a fair amount of salt in the water. This allows the seasoning to soak into the pasta, which will retain its flavor. Salting cooked pasta will not have the same effect.
When you want to chop herbs, sprinkle some salt on your cutting board. This will add some flavor and the herbs will stay on the board. Make sure to avoid over-salting by not adding additional salt directly to what you are preparing. Salt is known to boost the flavors of the items you use in your recipe, including herbs.
In a lot of cases, burgers will become stuck on the grill, and forcibly removing them will make them all misshapen. Consider brushing the grill with vegetable oil before cooking to prevent food from sticking to the grill.
When you plan on using wooden skewers for cooking, soak them in water for 30 minutes prior to cooking. That way, they will not burn during the cooking process. To prevent food from falling from the skewers, use two parallel skewers rather than just one.
Quality cutting utensils are a good investment for the kitchen. Sharp knives are less time consuming, easier, and safer to use. More accidents and cuts happen due to dull utensils than properly sharpened ones.
When the insides of fresh fruits are exposed to air, they tend to turn brown. Bananas, pears, peaches, avocados and apples are some of the fruits that brown when sliced. Salt water and lemon can stop it, but dipping them in pineapple juice works better for flavor. As a rapid dip will suffice, you don’t need to immerse the fruit.
Try making your own dried tomatoes. Slice a large, ripened tomato in half-inch-thick slices. If you are using Roma tomatoes, slice them lengthwise into two pieces. Place the resulting tomato pieces on a rack, then salt their exposed flesh lightly. The next step is to put the rack on an old cookie sheet and then place in an oven set at 190 degrees for at least 10 hours. Place the tomatoes into a freezer bag, and freeze them for later use. Alternatively, dried tomatoes can be packed in a jar filled with olive oil and fresh herbs. Use them within two weeks of refrigerating.
By now you are hopefully chomping at the bit to get started. These tips will greatly enhance the food you cook! You will be proud to serve a meal you prepared from scratch once you master these and other techniques and tips. Cooking requires skills and practice, but you can get there if you want to. However, a great tasting dish makes the effort worthwhile!