Who doesn’t love food? The only thing that increases its pleasure is when the meal was prepared by a skilled cook. Regardless of your cooking ability, you can still learn new techniques and recipes for making delicious meals.
If you are planning to cook dried beans, wait until they have softened before you add garlic or salt. These two ingredients can keep your beans from being as tender as they should be, particularly if you are working with beans that are a bit old. You should not use the spices until the beans are done cooking or most of the way done to have the texture you want.
You have probably felt guilty for pitching moldy fruits before. Do you think it’s a good policy to cut off any moldy, rotten parts and save the rest of the fruit? Unfortunately, there’s no safe way to save a piece of fruit that is partially rotting. The bacteria that causes mold goes deeper than you think, so it’s always best to throw away food with even the smallest of mold spots.
Fix the crust of your pie! If you have handled your dough too much it may crack. Over the cracks sprinkle a bit of cold water, then with your finger gently massage the dough. If the top crust is cracked, brush on some cold milk and then sprinkle on some sugar. The glaze these techniques create will make the cracks difficult to see.
Store all spices and herbs in dry, dark and cool conditions to get the maximum amount of flavor from them. Your spices can become less spicy if you expose them to humidity, heat, or light. Exposing the spices to these kinds of conditions can enable them to lose their flavor.
Consider adding oil to your pan’s side, rather than in the middle, so that your food is already heated when they come into contact. This will help to maximize the flavor of your food when you are done.
Always measure the amount of cooking oil you use. By measuring how much oil you use when cooking, you can lower fat levels in your meals better than if you just pour the oil straight from bottle to pan. Doing this will make you aware of exactly how much cooking oil you’re using.
Read the nutrition facts, even for raw ingredients you purchase. Potentially unhealthy ingredients lurk in typical cooking supplies. You want to make sure that the product is not too high in sugars or in sodium as both can cause extreme health problems if over consumed.
Learn how to use color as a guide to cooking. Using colorful ingredients makes the dish pleasing to the eye, and it also provides you with a balance of nutrients. Pick nice looking garnishes as well; try tomatoes, cilantro, carrots, or parsley. Let the inner artist show itself onto the dinner plates, and you’ll have the family lined up begging for more.
Cook your vegetables in chicken broth. Try cooking your veggies in chicken broth. It adds a nice flavor, and the veggies will not stick to the pan. Chicken broth doesn’t cost much, and is widely available at most grocery stores.
Prepare components of a dish the evening before in order to save some prep time the next day. With some forethought and effort ahead of time, you can have stress-free meal preparation. Try things like cutting and paring vegetables the day before, or putting together pastas or lasagna and storing them to use as needed.
Few things are more satisfying than sitting down to a delicious meal that you prepared yourself. It does not take a long time to learn to cook amazing meals. Improving your cooking skills is possible if you are motivated and willing to learn. When you read this you will be ready to get into the kitchen.