Anyone can cook if they put their mind to it. Can you grab a recipe, buy the ingredients at the store, then mix them up? Is your kitchen stocked with the basic equipment necessary? If you have the ability to follow the steps listed, you too can cook. If you want your cooking skills to advance a little bit, read the tips in this article on how to make scrumptious meals easily that will be loved by everyone in your family.
When preparing a meal, make sure you have clean cooking utensils. Any food particles left on a utensil could get into the food your are cooking, ruining the taste. This can also cause bacteria to spread.
Fix your pie crust. If you have been too rough with your pie, the crust may be cracked. Spread cold water on the cracks before rubbing the dough. A top crust with cracks can be repaired by brushing on a small amount of milk, and sprinkling with a little sugar. This way, your crust will get a wonderful glaze and it will also hide the cracks.
Grilling is not an exact science, but you may have encountered some confusion the last time you hit the barbecue. You may want to consider investing in a meat thermometer so that you know when your food is properly cooked. If you have thick meat, more than a inch and a half, close the grill to make cooking time shorter.
You can prepare a lot prior to cooking to streamline your cooking process. Try looking at recipes and see what can be done in advance without spoiling. Many different prep tasks can be finished a day or so before cooking the meal. By doing this, your cooking task will be quick and easy – even for very complex recipes.
If you purchase fruit that is still green and want it to ripen quickly, put it in a plastic bag with perforations. Fruit produces ethylene gas as it ripens. Putting them in a perforated bag will allow circulation of the air and keep the gas retained, thus allowing the fruit to keep it’s delicious taste.
If you find yourself overwhelmed with preparing dinner for your family, do some of the preparations the night before. You can cut up ingredients, measure spices, marinate meat and prepare sauces 24 hours in advance to avoid the stress of preparing a more complex meal. By completing a few basic steps the day before, you can save yourself time and energy when it is time to prepare your meal after a long, hard day of work.
For an improvement to your pasta sauce, save some of the water used to cook the pasta. You will need to save roughly one quarter cup of water. Then, mix a little of this water in with your pasta sauce. Your sauce will be thicker and creamier due to the starch provided by the water from the pasta.
Think big if you plan to make chicken stock. Making more than you need in a large pot can allow you to have some left over to store in the freezer for later use. That tasty chicken stock is very versatile and can be perfect for your next stew, casserole or soup. First, cool the stock and then stick it in the freezer.
You can cook as a hobby, skill, and as a profession. There are so many ways of preparing food, and you should learn all you can from the people that are best at it. Consider attempting some of the advice provided in the above article for when you have to take control over the kitchen.