Who doesn’t love food? When the chef knows what they are doing, eating is even more fun. The information below is meant to offer tips to cooks with any level of experience to improve existing skills or develop new ones that translate into better-tasting meals.
When planning on seasoning meats, first use a little piece, before cooking all of it. A lot of dishes require you to season the meat with care. After adding your blend of seasonings, do not cook the entire portion of meat. Cook a small amount in a pan and taste it first. Once you see how it tastes, you can determine to either cook the remaining meat or adjust the amount of seasoning.
If you prefer to use spices and herbs, make sure they are stored in a cool, dark place, so their freshness and flavor is preserved. Do not store herbs and spices in cabinets over the stove, and avoid storing them in other warm areas, as their flavor will dissipate and you will have wasted your money.
To stay on top of the mess that comes with cooking, wash your dishes as soon as you are done using them. Keep one side of the sink full of sudsy hot water and use the other side to rinse clear. If you wash while you are cooking, the dishes and pots will be easier to scrub and you will save time on cleaning up after dinner. Plus, they will be immediately available to use again.
It is absolutely essential that you have sharp knives whenever you cook. Dull knives not only are ineffective, but they’re also dangerous! It is much easier to cut yourself trying to force a dull knife through a vegetable, than cutting it with a sharp knife.
Complete as much of the preparatory work as possible for your meals ahead of time to speed up the process of cooking. Recipes should be examined and items that won’t spoil that can be prepared a day or two ahead should be done first. Many different prep tasks can be finished a day or so before cooking the meal. You can turn a fancy meal into a fast, fun meal that can be cooked in a flash!
Apples are used in cooking mostly during the fall, but you must make sure they are properly kept so that they do not rot. Apples keep best when they are stored in a cool location where there is plenty of air circulation. Keep checking on them though, otherwise one rotten apple will spoil the bunch in no time at all.
Did you ever feel bad for throwing old, moldy fruit away? Is it alright to eat fruit after removing the moldy sections? It is unfortunate, but it is not safe to save fruit that is partly rotted. Mold grows deep into the fruit, and by eating it you will risk illness.
If you make a huge batch of waffles and pancakes but do not know how to keep them fresh, use the age old tradition of keeping them in the still-warm-oven. Keep your oven on ‘warm’ or at 300 degrees. Then, when you have finished cooking the waffles and pancakes, place them on an oven-safe plate or cookie sheet and store them in your oven until ready to serve.
There is nothing that compares to sitting down to a delicious meal, where the first bite has your mouth watering. It does not take years and years of hard training to be a good cook, despite popular belief. Anyone can cook. Now that you have read this article, you are all set for your first cooking adventure.