Good food has a reputation for being many things. Use the tips presented below to advance your culinary skills to a higher level.
For a high-protein diet, meat isn’t the only source available. Tofu, lentils and beans are great protein substitutes. Both can be found at any grocery store. For a meat alternative, try pan frying seasoned tofu. Boil the beans with herbs to make a tasty protein-filled dish.
Measure out your cooking oils carefully. Make sure you measure out your oil to cut some of the fat that you cook with; do not pour it straight from the bottle. This should enable you to carefully watch how much oil you are cooking with.
In order to eliminate some strong odors caused by items such as garlic or other pungent foods, just use stainless steel on your hands for a few seconds prior to washing them. Any stainless steel surface will absorb the nasty odor, and your hands will smell fresh and clean!
When frying food, include ketchup in your batter ingredients. Dip the food in ketchup immediately before covering it in seasonings and bread crumbs. The ketchup imparts an unexpected, but delicious tang to your fried foods, and will have all your friends asking for your secret.
This is a great way to increase the length of time the fruits stay fresh. Since many fruits are not in season during certain parts of the year, doing this will allow you to enjoy them anytime.
If you make sauce, freeze it into ice cubs to use later on. This will make reheating the sauce easy, as you can pull out as many cubes that you need for the next meal. The sauce will be very edible after it comes out of the trays.
Eat yummy winter greens. Some greens, such as broccoli, collards and kale, take on a sweeter flavor after the first cold snap. You want to choose greens that give off a deep and vibrant color, while avoiding anything that looks limp or yellow in appearance. Wash your greens with lots of care because there could be a large amount of dirt on them. Put the veggies in water and shake them off. Then rinse them until the water is running clear.
Make preparations for cooking in advance. It is sometimes possible to do some preliminary tasks in the days preceding the actual meal preparation. Sometimes, preparing your ingredients in advance yields a bonus in the form of better flavor. Once you start advanced preparation, you might not ever return.
Always blot ground meat before cooking it. Before cooking ground meat it is always important to blot away moisture. When ground meats are cooked, excess moisture can be released. The moisture will dissolve. Searing of the meat will be inhibited and lead to steaming instead.
Homemade stock adds lots of flavor. You can cook it in large batches, pour the extra batches into plastic freezer bags, and then simply store them in the freezer. Your yummy stock will be ready for you when you’re ready to create your next culinary treat or just make a simple soup. Making homemade stock ensures that you know what is in it and that it isn’t made with preservatives.
When you make chicken stock make as much as you can. If you make a large pot of stock, you can freeze it and store it for future use. Good chicken stock that you make at home makes a great starter for soups, casseroles, stews and other dishes. Allow the stock to cool before freezing it in durable, Ziploc bags.
Food sustains us physically, but it also has an important social role. Apply the advice you learned and wow the people you love!