When you first start cooking, you need to begin somewhere. No one is born knowing how to cook. The truth is that anyone can learn to cook, it just takes a little time and effort to perfect the techniques necessary. If you want to be a better cook, there are some things you need to know. Below, you will find some helpful tips that will get you going in the right direction.
Add lots of salt to your water for cooking pasta. This helps to add flavor to the pasta while it is boiling. Salting pasta after cooking it results in a less flavorful pasta dish.
These will work as a sponge and soak up the water. Instead, get a wet, clean cloth and wipe off the mushroom by hand.
Stay organized in the kitchen to avoid easy mistakes, like overcooking or burning your food. Having an organized cooking area will ensure that you are productive when cooking. Being disorganized means having difficulty finding things and quite possibly ruining an entire dish, wasting valuable time and money!
If you are going to be making chicken stock, it is best to go big or not at all. If you make a large pot of stock, you can freeze it and store it for future use. Good homemade chicken stock is a wonderful base in soups, stews, casseroles and more. Just cool your stock and freeze it in heavyweight Ziploc freezer bags.
Over-salting a meal or a sauce is a very common cooking mistake, and there is an easy way to deal with it. Peel and chop a couple of raw potatoes, and let them simmer in the sauce for about 15 minutes. The additional salt will be absorbed by the potatoes. If it is a tomato sauce, you can try adding additional tomatoes and your will end up with more sauce that is less salty.
If you use less oil when you are cooking you will cut some fat and lose weight. Adding unnecessary butter, oil and lard can increase your intake of fat. A good alternative to using butter and oil is to use a low-fat cooking spray. Even better, you can use nonstick pans and eliminate oil altogether.
Always drain and blot your ground meat after cooking to remove excess fat. You should remove excess moisture from ground beef prior to cooking. Any moisture left on the meat will be released when the meat is cooked. All the moisture will vaporize out. When this happens, your ground meat may actually steam, instead of searing like you want it to.
Use a few spices to flavor your cooked meals. Salt and pepper are everyday seasonings, but a little garlic, ginger, or cayenne can add an interesting zest to a prepared meal. Many people have different tastes when it comes to spice. Rather than adding these spices to the food as you’re cooking it, put them on the table so people can choose which ones they want to use. Everyone will enjoy your cooking more if you leave options open for them.
Use a fat-free broth if you want to make a fat-free soup or stew. Use a lot of vegetables and lean meat to help to keep the soup low in fat. After cooking, refrigerate your soup and let it cool off. This allows the remaining fat to congeal on the top. Then, all you have to do is spoon out the excess fat from the top of the soup. This will equal about 100 calories that you have saved from each tablespoon of fat you removed.
Some people have a natural talent for cooking, but natural talent is not necessary. As long as you can follow a recipe and written directions, you can become a fantastic cook. It is easier than you might think it is. When you keep the tips you learned here in mind, there will be no stopping you.