It is very easy to be a great cook! Part of the process is being willing to experiment and discover your own style. These helpful hints can expand your knowledge of cooking and help you to experiment with ease. Use this information to enhance your cooking abilities quickly and efficiently.
Invest in good cutting utensils to use in the kitchen. Nobody wants to use dull knives, as they can take over twice the time to chop up ingredients, and they are more dangerous than sharp ones. Dull knives cause more accidents than sharp ones.
If you want to cook a pumpkin, cut it vertically in half. On different baking sheets, place a half face down on each one. Add a few drops of water to each baking sheet, then allow the pumpkin to bake for about one hour at 350 degrees.
Avoid adding salt or garlic to dried beans until they have softened. Adding these ahead of time will not allow your beans to cook properly, and this will have more importance if your beans are older. To achieve the texture you seek, make sure to save these ingredients, and add them once the beans have softened.
The prep work is a very important part of assembling a home-cooked meal for family or friends. Gather all of your ingredients well in advance. Plan your meal a day in advance to make sure you have everything you need. This can help relax everything so that you can make something great.
Don’t ever buy boneless meat or fish. Save the bones from cooked and raw meats in storage bags, and keep frozen until needed for stock.
If you want to rid your fridge of leftover vegetables and meats the night before grocery shopping, mix them up in a wok with fried rice. Day old rice works best, but fresh will be fine too if you reduce the water a bit to make it drier. Fry your vegetables and meat in some oil. Once you’ve done this, add rice and any seasoning you want with garlic, ginger, soy sauce and other spices.
To make cooking as stress-free as possible, gather all the ingredients you need before you get started. When you do this, you will have all of your tools and ingredients at your fingertips. The process of gathering the ingredients may not be quicker if you do it prior or during, but it will save you time and headaches doing it beforehand since you won’t lose your cooking focus when you are in the middle of a recipe.
One way to make mashed potatoes retain their taste but contain a little less fat and calories is to replace some of them with equal amounts of cauliflower. Cauliflower tends to have a bland taste, so this will blend nicely with the potatoes, and will pick up other ingredients, as well. Cauliflower mixes easily with potatoes and will become hard to notice while reducing your intake of carbs.
The microwave can help to achieve optimal juicing results for your citrus fruit. Heat lemons, oranges or other citrus fruits for just ten seconds. For an additional boost, roll the fruit up and down the kitchen counter a few times before juicing, in order to loosen up the juice from its flesh.
After purchasing fruits that are not quite ripe, store them in a plastic bag that is perforated with holes. Ethylene gas is produced as a by-product of the ripening process. Placing fruit in a perforated bag allows air circulation in the bag, retaining ethylene gas and keeping the fruit tasting good.
Utilize these tips to improve your cooking skills. Try each idea more than once, until you get the hang of things. Because cooking is a lifelong passion, every little bit of new knowledge is useful. By taking these tips seriously, you will ultimately be a higher quality chef.