To some, cooking is nothing but a burden. The following article is filled with hints and tips to turn your dread of cooking into eager anticipation.
Consider adding cooling racks that stack t your baking supplies. When you are making large quantities of baked goods, they can quickly take up all the available space when you take them out of the oven to cool. Stackable cooling racks help you use the available space most efficiently. By arranging your baked goods vertically, you can preserve some valuable area on which to continue working.
Homemade stock adds lots of flavor. Making a large amount allows you to store some in the freezer for future meals. This way you will always have flavorful homemade stock on hand when you want to make soups or other dishes. Homemade soup stock or bullion is a wonderful way to eliminate high sodium and preservatives that are present in commercially made products from your diet.
You can save a troubled pie crust! Overworking pie dough can cause it to develop cracks. Put a little cold water on the cracks, then very gently with your finger, rub the dough. If the cracks are in the top crust, brush it with a little milk and sprinkle with sugar. Once baked, the milk and sugar mixture will create a lovely glaze that will disguise any cracks.
To avoid burning your food, stay organized. Having an organized cooking area will ensure that you are productive when cooking. You can lose track of your things and waste your food and money if you’re unorganized.
Test a small sample of your seasoned meats prior to cooking the full dish. Items such as burgers, meatballs and other meat dishes need deliberate, specific seasoning. Therefore, you should never cook the whole cut of meat after seasoning it. Start with a small amount of the spiced meat first. Once you have tried your sample you can correct the seasoning or proceed with the cooking.
Fresh apples can be a delicious ingredient for a wide variety of recipes. Warm dry air causes apples to rot, so put them in plastic bags with loose ties in a fridge or cool basement. Keep checking on them though, otherwise one rotten apple will spoil the bunch in no time at all.
If you set up all of your ingredients in advance, cooking can be very hassle-free. Doing so will ensure you won’t need to stop during cooking in order to run out to the store to purchase a missing ingredient. 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.
Once in awhile, burgers stick to the cooking surface making it nearly impossible to get them off in one piece. If, however, you brush the grill with oil, this will help prevent sticking.
Always bake your crusts a little longer than is absolutely necessary. The crust should turn a golden color, not simple blonde. When you see the golden color it indicates carmelization, which lends a crisp, sweet flavor to the pie crust.
When cooking, be creative. You do not have to follow a recipe to the “T”. Experimenting fearlessly with cooking, adding a new ingredient, cutting one out, and changing amounts is how great new recipes are born. You will not become a real cook by just following what cookbooks say.
This article has shown you that there are a multiple techniques which make cooking exciting and enjoyable. When you use these tips, you can use your creativity to enhance an activity that you once viewed as a chore.