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.
When preparing a salsa that won’t be used immediately, rinse any raw onions you are using in cold water and dry them well. Fresh onions contain sulfurous gas. The gas might completely ruin your salsa. When you rinse and dry the raw onions, it removes the gas.
Using brine is a key cooking skill to master. Marinate any sort of poultry in brine for about an hour before you cook it, so that it becomes very flavorful.
If you love to use herbs and spices, make sure you keep them in a dark, cool place to keep them fresh. Cabinets located above stoves or other warm corners of your kitchen are bad places to store spices and herbs, as doing so will sacrifice both taste and eventually dollars.
When cutting herbs, sprinkle a little salt onto your chopping board first. This gives the herbs a little more flavor, but more importantly, it makes the herbs stick to the board better, so that they don’t fly everywhere as you chop them. Remember to use moderation; you don’t want to add too much salt to your ingredients. That salt on the board adds some flavor since it sticks to the herbs.
Garlic is a delight to cook with, but its odor transfers very easily onto the hands. To get rid of this odor, or any other strong cooking smell, rub your hands on the inside of your stainless steal sink. It both cleans your hands and helps to avoid transfer the odor to other foods.
Get creative to make cooking fun. The instructions for a recipe aren’t set in stone. Sometimes making minor changes can make the dish taste even better than it did when following the original recipe. Turning a simple recipe into something that is uniquely your own is the sign of a true cook.
If you’d like to inject a little more flavor into your food, prepare meals using beef, vegetable, or chicken stock in the place of water. Bouillon cubes can be added to the water to give dishes the delicious stock flavor as well. In this way, you can be sure your food has enough moisture and extra flavor!
A sharp knife is the cook’s bosom companion; spend the money for top-quality cutlery. It’s safer to cut with a sharp instrument than it is to with a dull one, and you will also save some time. You are taking the risk of getting frustrated and hurting yourself with old and dull utensils.
One thing that you can do is to bake a pie or tart crust longer to optimize quality. They should be a light golden brown instead of pale in color. The deep caramel color demonstrates that the sugar has melded with the other ingredients, giving you an optimal flavor.
Preparing food for a family gathering can be quite stressing. Instead of panicking take some time to get everything ready ahead of time. For example, you could measure our all ingredients, chop veggies or start on marinades.
Try incorporating a few of these tips into your meals. Once you try some of these tips, you will believe that perhaps cooking is not so difficult after all. Actually, you might like it enough to make a hobby out of it, and find yourself making all sorts of new dishes. Start cooking now!