There are lots of methods and techniques to learn when cooking. Some are easy and some are quite complex. Regardless of you current cooking aptitude, you may find the following tips helpful for improving your cooking skills.
Buy good-quality knives and other cutting tools for your kitchen. It will help you to save time if you have cutting utensils that are not dull and it also adds safety to your kitchen because dull knives can cause you to cut yourself accidentally. More accidents occur when utensils are dull, because they have a tendency to slip as you cut.
Make dishes you already feel confident cooking if you have invited a special guest to dinner. Don’t attempt a dish that is new or very far out of your experience level. This will make cooking less stressful.
Use your own stock for more flavorful food. Extra stock can be stored in the freezer and used later. By freezing stock, you ensure that you have tasty homemade stock ready to add to any dish. If you prepare your own, homemade stock, you will be cutting out all of the preservatives of canned versions.
When simmering or boiling vegetables, try adding chicken broth. By using chicken broth instead of water, you will add extra flavor to your vegetables. Chicken broth doesn’t cost much, and is widely available at most grocery stores.
Try using saffron while you are experimenting with spices. It brings a vivid blast of flavor which cannot be found in other spices. Saffron is a world renown herb. Because people all over the world seek it, it has become the most costly spice you can buy.
Make certain all your utensils are cleaned prior to cooking. If your utensils are not completely clean, you run the risk of introducing old food residue into whatever you are cooking. Another concern is the potential cost to your health, as you could possibly be exposed to bacteria.
Give pie and tart crust a little longer baking time than you normally would for the best results. They should not be a pale blond color, they need to be golden brown. This deeper color is evidence that the sugar has caramelized in the crust for added sweetness.
Using fat-free broth in your stew can really help to reduce calories, and make a healthier soup. Also use lean meat and lots of vegetables; this will keep your soup low-fat. Before you serve the soup, allow it to chill for a little while in the refrigerator. Any fat that is remaining within the soup will float to the top and congeal. Simply discard the hardened fat and the soup is done. For every teaspoon of fat that you remove, you will be taking 100 calories out of the soup.
To get a firm shell for twice baked potatoes or potato skins, use a baking potato with a thicker skin. Don’t use red potatoes, their skin is too thin to help a dense filling.
It is important to completely follow the instructions when making macaroni and cheese. This way, the macaroni ends up immaculate and the cheese is melted perfectly of the pasta. Serving with a solid-faced spoon will prevent the finished meal from sticking and globbing. A little bit of pepper can add surprising dimension to this simple dish.
While dark, leafy vegetables provide superior nutrition, they can sometimes prove cumbersome or difficult to prepare. Stems on these vegetables are often tough, making it difficult and time consuming to remove the stems. To make this easier, fold leaves in half along their length, then break or cut out the steam from the middle. For particularly tough stems, use a knife and cut the stems out while the leaf is folded. When you unfold the leaf, you will have a perfect leaf with no stem.
People often ruin their dishes by making them overly complicated. When you keep your meals simple and tasty, they are often healthier as well, without any salty or fatty additions. Heed the advice given here to create better meals with a finer understanding of the principles involved.