How many times have you dreaded going into the kitchen to make breakfast, lunch, or dinner? You might need a new perspective. Cooking can be enjoyable and relaxing if you try to see it in another way. Here are a few cooking tips that are sure to get your taste buds tingling and entice your inner chef to come out.
Use airtight containers whenever you store unused baking mixes, flour or sugar in your pantry or kitchen. Keeping your ingredients in airtight containers will stop them from spoiling or being infected with bugs. A variety of plastic containers, bags and decorative canisters will protect your food.
Try preparing oysters in new and interesting ways. Oysters are usually eaten raw with some lemon juice, but you can make them in a number of different ways. For example, you can place oysters on a half shell in a broiler pan and cover with cream. use pepper and cheese to sprinkle some flavor across the mixture, then let it continue to broil until it begins to bubble. You can also saute them. Put some seasoned flour on them and fry them up in butter or oil for around two minutes. They should be a nice golden brown when done. Try baking the oysters within their shells. Add each one into a casserole dish, add a few bits of butter and breadcrumbs on top of every oyster and set the oven to 425 degrees. Place the dish into the oven and bake for between four and five minutes. Once the butter starts bubbling along with the juice from the oyster, remove from oven and serve them with toasted sliced bread.
When you purchase garlic for cooking, find the freshest head possible. Usually, fresher garlic will have a sweeter taste. If garlic isn’t fresh, it will be shriveled and soft.
Depending on your recipe, make certain you choose the right potato for the job. Potatoes come in three classes: all-purpose, mealy or waxy. Mealy potatoes tend to be dry and crumbly, which is ideal for mashing. The russet potato is one of the most common of the mealy variety. Yukon-gold are all-purpose potatoes that can work with any dish. If you are looking for potatoes to boil or steam, then you should choose a potato that is considered waxy. Waxy potatoes include regular white or red potatoes.
Sprinkle salt on your cutting board before cutting fresh herbs. This keeps your herbs on the cutting board and can add a bit of flavor, as well. Do not add more salt as you are cutting the herbs. The salt used on the board provides that extra bit of flavor by sticking to the herbs.
Unripened fruits should be placed into a plastic bag with holes in it. As fruits ripen, they produce a gas called ethylene. The perforations in the bag allow the air to circulate while the plastic retains enough of the ethylene gas to increase the ripening process and keep the fruit tasting sweet and delicious.
Do some research about fruits or vegetables you have never cooked with before. By performing some research, you could be surprised at how versatile a new food can be. Learning about the foods you’re cooking with will make the cooking experience more enjoyable.
Try some of these handy tips the next time you make a meal. Once you do, you’ll realize that cooking isn’t as hard as you once believed it to be. You may just start to enjoy it, and you might find that you can’t get enough of experimenting with new recipes. Consider trying your hand at cooking.