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.
To easily slice meat thinly, place it in the freezer until firm but not frozen. For Asian meals, such as Thai and Chinese dishes, this technique creates strips that are particularly ideal. By marginally freezing meat, slicing it is made cleaner, as its fibers will not tear quite as easily. After you have sliced the meat, allow it to thaw out before cooking. This keeps the meat cooking evenly.
Freeze sauces by pouring leftovers into ice cube trays. Just melt the sauce cubes in a sauce pan when you are ready to prepare dinner. No worries, because the sauce is still quite edible after being frozen in ice cube trays.
In order to have plenty of fresh fall apples for cooking, store them properly to keep them from spoiling. Store apples in a plastic bag in a cool, dry location to keep them fresher longer. Watch your apples so that you can catch any rotten ones, a rotten apple will make the others spoil.
The night before you are scheduled to prepare a large, multi-course meal, complete as much prep work as possible. Gather all your ingredients together, chop what needs to be chopped, measure out all the required herbs and spices and make sure you have everything that you need on hand. You will only have to get everything put together when it’s time for you to cook.
Your spices and herbs should be stored in a cool and dark area. Their flavors are weakened significantly by things like heat, light and humidity. Usually, spices and herbs that are ground will retain their flavor for up to a year. Spices that are whole will retain flavor longer, closer to 3-5 years. When stored properly, they will stay fresher longer.
To ensure that you serve your friends and family the perfect sandwich, spread mayonnaise evenly and smoothly from one corner to the other. Sometimes, people who are rushed just plop some mayonnaise down on the bread and call it good. If you cover the bread, each bite of the sandwich will have a delicious flavor.
Preserve the flavor of your herbs and spices by storing them in an area with low light and cool temperatures. If you keep herbs and spices in an area that is close to the stove, they will lose their flavor very quickly and just be a waste of money.
There are a few things you need to know if you are considering cooking with skewers. Twisted or square shaped metal skewers hold the food better than round ones will.
Even though leafy greens are healthy, they are hard to cook. Removing thick, tough leaf stems can be time-consuming. Try folding the leaf across and breaking the stem out through the middle. Particularly tough stems can be sliced out of the leaf with a knife. When you unfold the leaf it will be a de-stemmed green, which was done perfectly.
To cook your meats to the proper temperature, make sure you are using a meat thermometer. There is a temperature that is recommended for the different types of meat that indicates it is safe to eat. Cooking meat thoroughly is the only way to kill the bacteria that naturally exist on meat. Unchecked, these bacteria can cause illnesses if consumed.
Use these tips when you make your next meal. Once you try them, you’ll be assured that cooking isn’t that bad after all! In fact, you might start looking forward to it; ultimately, you might find yourself trying all kinds of recipes and dishes. Try cooking right now!