There are a lot of sayings and cliches that have been written about food. Put the advice contained in this article to use to add one star to your chef rank.
If you are preparing mashed potatoes, add hot milk just before you get ready to mix them. You want to make sure that the milk is not boiling, however. This will give your mashed potatoes that light and airy texture that you desire. Try this trick if your mashed potatoes have been heavy or lumpy lately.
If you want to have flavorful dishes, try to create your own stock. Make a large batch, and then store it in your freezer. When you do this, you will have delicious, healthy stock ready-to-use whenever you make soups and stews. When you prepare your stock from scratch, you will be certain that it is 100% natural, not loaded with preservatives.
Use a substantial amount of salt in the water when you are cooking pasta. Adding salt to the water prior to cooking ensures the pasta is infused with flavor. Pasta salted during cooking tastes better than pasta salted after the fact.
One way to eliminate odors when working with fish, garlic or onions is to use stainless steel as a base to rub them, and then wash them. You can use your stainless steel sink or a spoon to quickly remove the odor from your hands.
Using a baked potato instead of a small one can help you to have nice thick skins to use to make twice baked potatoes. Red potatoes are not ideal for a dense filling.
When you know you will have a busy schedule, prepare your meals in advance the previous night. With some forethought and effort ahead of time, you can have stress-free meal preparation. Try things like cutting and paring vegetables the day before, or putting together pastas or lasagna and storing them to use as needed.
If your dish calls for a bit of garlic, make sure the garlic is as fresh as possible. When garlic is fresh, it has a sweeter taste. You can recognize fresh garlic from its firm skin and lack of bruises.
Catching your own fish is a wonderful hobby and it can benefit your kitchen experience too. Catching fish and being able to eat it that same day allows for the enjoyment of an incredibly fresh and delectable meal, and the satisfaction that it did not require reliance on a supermarket.
There are a couple of ways to heat up tortillas properly. Turn the oven to 350 and place the tortilla straight onto the oven rack, then leave until it is at your desired warmth. You can also crisp your tortilla on the gas burner of your stove-top. Just turn the flame on low and place the tortilla on the burner above the flame. Watch it carefully! It only takes a moment! Either of these ways adds a crisp, fresh texture to your tortillas and Mexican dishes.
Place salad dressing off to the side of a salad, instead of on top of it, when serving salad to guests. The amount of dressing that people use on their salad will vary, so you should give them the option of adding their own dressing. Give them a choice of salad dressings.
When you are sauteing a food, make sure you do not add too much to the pan. The moisture that the extra food volume adds will cause the food to steam, which means it won’t be as crispy as intended. Remember, sauteing is always done at low temperatures.
Food is necessary to sustain life. Take the insights you’ve been given here to elevate your standing with those who matter the most to you.