It is a fact of life that people need to eat. But there’s more to food than just the need to survive. Believe it or not, cooking a meal is even more satisfying than eating it. Here some advice to help you elevate your cooking prowess.
As you are seasoning your meats, you should make a little piece first before you cook the entire piece. It’s hard to correct overly seasoned meat but spices can always be added. Do not cook the entire thing right after you season it. It is a good idea to cook a small portion of the meat first. If that piece turns out well, you can continue with the rest. If not, you can make adjustments to the spices.
Take out the extra fat from your soup of stew. Cooling the soup or stew causes the fat to come up to the top, allowing you to remove the excess. Sliding and ice cube balanced on a spoon across the surface of a soup removes excess fat. Fat sticks to ice, so this will gather it right up. Another option is to absorb the fat off the surface of the soup with a paper towel.
If you are cooking, it’s a good idea to wash each dish after using it. Keep one side of the sink full of sudsy hot water and use the other side to rinse clear. Utensils and mixing bowls are easiest to cleaned directly after their use, and can be used again during the same meal preparation.
When serving a salad for guests that accompanies a meal, avoid pouring dressing on it. Leave the dressing on the side instead. People vary in the amount of dressing they like on their salad, so it is helpful to let them do this on their own. Get different kinds of dressings to leave them more choices.
If you find that making a whole dinner at once is too much work, do parts of your food preparation the night before. The night before the big day, prepare a sauce, marinate meat or chopping up and measuring out vegetables and herbs. This way, your stress levels the next day will be a lot less, and cooking a lot more fun.
Eat some good hardy winter greens. Vegetables such as broccoli, kale and collards are much sweeter tasting during the first months of winter. The brighter green these vegetables are, the better. When they start to go bad, they will turn yellow or become limp. Carefully wash these greens, they accumulate tons of dirt. Use a bowl of cold water to wash your greens with. Once washed, shake them off, and then rinse them until you notice the water is running clear.
Cook your vegetables quickly to preserve flavor. Slow-cooked vegetables lose nutritional value and taste. These speed-cooking techniques usually produce vegetables that are more nutritious overall. Learning to give them just a quick steam is the best way to cook them.
Use leftovers for a delicious fried rice, soup or a hearty stew. If you have day old rice on hand, that works best; but if not, reduce the water slightly to make it a little drier than normal. Saute the vegetables and meats in some oil, then place the rice in the pan and add soy sauce and other spices to taste.
If you do not cook, you are missing out on a lot of fun and satisfaction. Use these tips as you cook and tweak them a little as you go. Not only will you see an improvement in your cooking skills, but you will impress your loved ones.