Everyone knows that humans need food to survive. But eating should be much more than merely a means of survival. There is more satisfaction in eating delicious food when it is something you have prepared yourself. To become a better cook, keep reading this article.
When you are preparing cookie batter and a recipe calls for softened butter, try not to melt the butter. If your butter is melted, put it in your freezer for a couple of minutes so that it starts to harden just a bit, or you can finish making the dough, and then put it in the refrigerator for a while. When the dough is colder it will not spread as much when you’re making cookies.
Stay healthy by making sure your utensils do not have leftover scraps or any sort of dirt before you use them. If there is leftover food on your utensils from the last meal you cooked, it could contaminate the food you are making now. This could cause a lot of very serious problems due to the spread of bacteria.
Save yourself some time and stress by doing prep work a day ahead. Having everything prepared before you begin cooking is important. Sometimes even when the prep work is done, the deadline for when the meal must be completed can still loom large and become stressful. Preparing some of the ingredients ahead of time can reduce the amount of stress you feel when it is time to prepare the meal.
If you are trying a new fruit or vegetable that you are not accustomed to, take a little time to learn some things about it. It takes only a short time to dig up some information on a new food, and you may come to learn that it’s versatile enough to use in many of your dishes. The better prepared you are before you start, the better your kitchen experiences will be.
While dark, leafy vegetables provide superior nutrition, they can sometimes prove cumbersome or difficult to prepare. The stems can be hard to remove. Make it easy by folding the leaf lengthwise in half and then break out the stem. Particularly tough stems can be sliced out of the leaf with a knife. When you unfold it, you’ll have a perfect, de-stemmed leaf.
You can add new flavors for your meals by trying different liquids when recipes ask for milk or water. Use chicken broth, beef, or juice in places where you would normally use water. Try to use buttermilk, yogurt, or sour cream in place of milk. Using different liquids can add nutritional content to certain dishes and improve their flavor.
To maintain the flavor and freshness of spices and herbs, make sure you keep them stored in someplace that is cool and dark. Heat, light, and a large amount of humidity can ruin spices and herbs. Herbs and spices that are ground usually remain flavorful for a year. Whole spices usually keep their flavor for around 3 to 5 years. If you store them the right way, they will be fresher.
There are ways to fix your work and make it so you are able to instantly use it. In a medium sized bowl, mix together 1 tblsp water and 2 tblsp corn starch. You can then stir this solution into your sauce to instantly thicken it. Make sure not to add the corn starch too quickly; keep stirring and stop when the sauce is thick enough.
You can have as much fun learning to cook as you can have eating the results. Take these tips and make them part of your repertoire, adding little touches as you go along. Improving your culinary prowess will cause others to beg for your home-cooked snacks at every get-together.