Do you find yourself enjoying many foods? Do you wish you knew how to bake delicious cakes and sweets? Do you enjoy interesting and unusual ethnic dishes? Do you ever wonder how you can make these meals yourself? Well, now you can stop dreaming and start cooking! We will give you some tips to help you to prepare wonderful, home-cooked foods.
Different recipes require different types of potatoes. Waxy, mealy, and all-purpose are the three main classes of potato. The mealy variety is best for mashed potatoes because of its dryer texture. A common kind of mealy potato is a russet. Yukon-gold are all-purpose potatoes that can work with any dish. Waxy potatoes hold their shape very well and are suitable for boiling or steaming. Plain red and white potatoes are typical waxy potatoes.
Try to keep your spices and herbs in a dark, cool area of your kitchen. If they are exposed to light, moisture, or heat, they will lose much of their flavor. Generally, ground herbs and spices stay fresh for around a year, after that they begin to lose their flavor. Whole spices, on the other hand, can retain their freshness for 36-60 months. The freshness can last longer if they are stored correctly.
Certain fruits, including avocados, bananas, apples, and pears will turn brown if sliced and left exposed to the air for too long. You can prevent this from happening by lightly coating the fruit with lemon juice or salt water. However, the most flavorful way to stop fruit from browning is to dip it in pineapple juice. Quickly dipping the fruit will be sufficient. There is no reason to soak it for expended periods of time.
Try to use things that are colorful when you are cooking. Using colorful ingredients makes the dish pleasing to the eye, and it also provides you with a balance of nutrients. You can also use a diversity of garnishments to increase color; consider vegetable curls, cherry tomatoes, and small cuts of fresh herbs. Be creative with color, and people will eat the food in no time.
When creating soup and stew, try making it lower in fat content by using stocks that have the fat already removed from them. Keep fat content to a minimum by loading the soup with lean meats and vegetables. After cooking, refrigerate your soup and let it cool off. When the soup is cooled, you will find that the fat will have risen and congealed on top. Then just take a spoon and scoop off any hardened fat to throw away. This will equal about 100 calories that you have saved from each tablespoon of fat you removed.
Do not throw away left over veggies and meats; make a delicious meal of fried rice instead. Left over rice is optimum, but if you have to use fresh rice, use less water so the rice is not as moist. Fry your meats and vegetables in some oil. Then add rice and season it.
Buy meat and fish fresh and on the bone. Raw or cooked bones can be frozen and stored in durable Ziploc bags.
Consider creating your own stock, in order to add some customized flavor to your dishes. Making it in huge quantities can allow you to store the leftover in some resealable bags in the freezer. Then when you make a soup or other dish that calls for stock, you always have some right at your fingertips. Homemade soup stock or bullion is a wonderful way to eliminate high sodium and preservatives that are present in commercially made products from your diet.
Using the information that is provided above will help you to create divine meals that are sure to be crowd pleasers. Be adventurous by trying different sauces and spices. You may even find out that you have a new favorite meal during the process! Think about these tips the next time you are in your kitchen and let your creativity and personal taste direct you to culinary success at home.