Cooking is a skill that everyone should at least know the basics of, especially if you have a hungry family to feed. You can reap many rewards from cooking yourself. Not only is it cheaper, but it is often more nutritious as well. Before trying to cook a complete eight-course meal for the entire family, learn the basics.
Carefully measure the oil you are going to cook with. To make sure the fat content in your food is as low as possible, carefully measure the oil you cook with instead of just eye-balling it. If you know exactly how much oil you’re using, you know exactly how much fat has been added.
Cut down on cooking time by doing your prep work in advance. Some preparations can be done as much as two days in advance of the meal. Sometimes the longer prep time results in deeply flavored dishes. Once you get used to prepping in advance, you will probably never go back to doing it on the fly.
Garlic, like lots of other foods, has the unfortunate characteristics of absorbing into your hands. To remove the odor, simply take your hands and rub them against the sides of a stainless-steel sink. This works for garlic and for other foods that leave behind a strong odor on your hands. This serves to both clean your hands thoroughly and prevent the odors from seeping into any other food you are going to handle.
Even though you might want to cook a fabulous, impressive new recipe, always go with your old standbys when cooking for an important person or event. You don’t want to risk a culinary disaster in front of people you hope to impress. Find out what kind of food they like and prepare something you are comfortable with.
You can make your own dried tomatoes. To be able to dry them yourself, cut the tomatoes half an inch thick, or you should cut Romas lengthwise in half. Then put them on a rack that you might use to cool cookies and then lightly cover them with salt. Place the rack on top of a cookie sheet, and bake the tomatoes in an oven set at 190 degrees Fahrenheit for approximately 10 hours. You can then freeze your tomatoes in Ziplock bags. Dried tomatoes can be placed into a jar that is filled with fresh herbs and olive oil. This jar should be used within 2 weeks and kept refrigerated.
Try not to overcook or undercook a cake. If you are just beginning baking, you may have a hard time understanding how to adjust recommended oven temperatures to take variables such as elevation and humidity into account. This can cause your cake to bake strangely. To be sure, test your cake by inserting a toothpick in the cake’s middle. If it removes cleanly, it’s done; if batter is on it, it needs longer to bake.
You can’t wait until the last minute to prepare a large meal. If you do, you’ll be stressed out. In order to avoid panicking while making the final preparations, do as much as you can the night before. This means setting out any needed ingredients.
Save spicy or unusual spices for after you cook the meal. Powdered garlic, pepper, salt, and cayenne pepper are all tasty additions to most meals. A lot of people have different preferences in taste when choosing spices. Rather than adding these spices to the food as you’re cooking it, put them on the table so people can choose which ones they want to use. This will make it so everyone can have it their way.
Having the ability to cook and make enjoyable meals for you and your family is a beneficial skill to have. No matter your taste bud’s preferences, learning to cook can enrich your life. You will rarely be tempted by fast food again if you use this advice to cook well at home.