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Turn Any Meal Into A True Gourmet Experience With These Simple Tips
Cooking your own meals has many advantages. You can impress a date, save money, eat healthier, and have a meal that's fine-tuned to your unique tastes. Most people would like to know how to cook, but feel it is something you either know or don't know how to do. This article will give advice that shows that anyone, with a little bit of effort, can become a beginning home chef.
Ensure that you properly maintain your cooking utensils on a regular basis. A chef's knife, for example, is of no use to you when blunt so ensure that these are sharpened on a regular basis. When purchasing a chef's knife look for one with a long and wide blade as this will give you better control and chopping speed.
For the most beautiful homemade chocolate chip cookies, do not add all of the chocolate morsels into the mix! Save about a quarter of what your recipe calls for until after the cookies are all arranged on the cooking sheet, then add them evenly to the tops of the dough drops to create bakery looking, perfect chocolate chip cookies!
The smaller the item you are cooking, the higher the baking temperature should be. Baking something delicious does not have to involve leaving food in the oven for hours. If you are baking something small, set the oven temperature higher. Just make sure you leave it in the oven for less time.
It is fine to alter recipes. Do you like more cheese than what is called for? It's fine to add more. Do you think onions would be good added in? Try it! Adding your own special twist to a recipe can help make a meal one of a kind!
If you are following a recipe, make sure that you do not follow this religiously, as you should always add a personal spice to your meal. Instead of following a pizza recipe to the tee, add some red pepper to inject a punch into your dish to make it unique and individualized.
When you are cutting garlic, one of the things that you can do is to put it in a plastic bag before you cut. Then, slice the garlic cloves inside the bag to protect your board from smelling. This will help to reduce the pungent odor that garlic can give off.
An electric mixer is a blessing when you have to make your dough, but even this relatively easy task can turn into a nightmare when the dough sticks to the dough hook. To avoid the sticky mess, spray the hook with vegetable cooking spray and your dough will never stick to your mixer again.
Always use the freshest ingredients you can find for your cooking. Fruit, vegetables, meat and seafood all taste better when they are fresh. Besides better taste, fresh ingredients are usually healthier than pre-packaged, canned or frozen ones. Fresh foods have superior nutritional content and lack the unhealthy additives found in packaged foods.
A granite surface is great for thawing frozen foods, usually taking less than half of the time necessary for typical counter top thawing because granite absorbs the cold (and heat) of items placed on top of it so granite literally "sucks out" the cold from your frozen foods. Granite is also an amazing surface for pastry preparation when dusted with a little flour. If you can't afford to redo your kitchen in granite, check out a granite dealer for scrap pieces or have a smaller piece cut and polished for a fraction of the cost of remodeling your kitchen.
You should consider drying your tomatoes on your own. You can do this by slicing your tomatoes about a half an inch thick, or Romas in half. Place the resulting tomato pieces on a rack, then salt their exposed flesh lightly. 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. Put them in plastic bags for freezer storage. Dried tomatoes may also be stored in a jar containing fresh herbs and olive oil. Keep it refrigerated and use it within two weeks.
When applying seasoning to meat and fish, always remember to season evenly and thoroughly. Shake or grind the shaker as if the seasoning is snow falling from the sky. Doing so will allow the meat to be evenly coated with spices and seasoning and prevent clumps or over seasoning.
Place unripened fruits in a plastic bag that is perforated right after you buy them. As they ripen, they will create ethylene gas. When you store the fruit in a perforated bag, the ethylene gas can escape so that the natural decay process slows down. This allows your produce and fruits to stay fresh longer.
Use salt liberally in the water used to cook pasta. This helps to add flavor to the pasta while it is boiling. Pasta that is salted after it is cooked does not absorb the salt as readily.
Stock up on ingredients at your local farmers' market. This fresh, healthy food pretty much prepares itself. The flavors of natural foods dress up the taste of any dish. Avoid over preparing these foods to preserve the natural flavor, and follow your instinct when it says to leave an ingredient out. Sometimes, the most simple dishes are the best.
To free up cupboard space in your kitchen, use oven-safe silicone baking pans. These little wonders, available in all standard baking pan sizes, shapes and capacities, hold up to baking in the oven to thorough cleansing and can be mushed up, smashed down and packed away in the tightest spots.
A home-cooked meal will help keep your wallet large, your stomach small, and your family happy. While we may not all have the ability to be the world's next big chef, the advice you have read can make sure you are nonetheless cooking meals that put a huge smile on the faces of you and your family.
Give Yourself An Edge When Cooking In The Kitchen
Becoming a better cook can be accomplished with a little time, patience and following a few simple steps. The basics of cooking are easy to master and accomplish. In order to cook meals and dishes that will make your friends and family say "Wow!" you need to try these simple steps and you can be on your way to being the best cook you can possibly be.
When storing your herbs and spices, they should be kept in a cool, dark spot. Elements such as light and heat can cause your herbs to lose flavor quickly, resulting in less taste being added to your favorite dishes. Do not expect your spices to last more than a year. Whole spices last longer, possibly as long as five years. When stored properly, they will stay fresher longer.
Add flavor to boring roast chicken. Rather than using a roasting rack, place thick slices of onion in the bottom of the pan, and place the chicken on top of them. The chicken juices will be absorbed by the onion, creating a caramelization on the bottom of the pan. After roasting, remove the chicken, add a little water to the pan and cook on high heat for a few minutes. This will create a tasty sauce for your chicken.
One important tip to remember when cooking dishes focuses on the size of the dish being prepared. The smaller the dish is that you are cooking, the higher the baking temperature and less time needed to cook the dish. Smaller dishes generally take only a few minutes at high temperatures to fully cook.
When you are grilling burgers, they sometimes lose their shape when they stick to your grill and become hard to remove. Try brushing the grill using vegetable oil prior to cooking so you can avoid sticking.
For an easy meal to put together, save the sauces from other meals you had earlier in the week. Put them in an ice cube tray. You can reheat the cubes in a sauté pan for a quick sauce. Add some veggies and you will have a yummy meal.
If you are deep frying, make sure to use tongs to add the food to the hot oil. If you submerge the food below the surface of the oil with the tongs for about five seconds before you "drop" it in, the outside of whatever you are deep frying is sealed. This prevents it from sticking to other food in the oil.
Around the holidays it may be tempting to try many new and complicated recipes, but you will save time and energy if you stick with simpler ones. This is a big help if you are cooking with children, since they can become restless with things that are too complicated.
When it comes to cooking it is important to consider the dietary concerns of those who are going to be eating your food. Be sure to check if anybody has sodium or sugar concerns in order to prevent embarrassment on their part from having to refuse your otherwise delicious food.
When you are adding food to a slow cooker make sure that you add tender vegetables like mushrooms, peas, fish, and squash during the final half hour. This is important because adding them too early will cause them to disappear in to the dish. You will be able to taste them, but you might not be able to see them.
After cooking meat of any kind, it is very important that you let it sit a while before cutting. If you cut too soon, the juices will spill out onto the cutting board, leaving the meat dry and with less flavor. Letting the meat sit allows time for the juices to retract back into the meat.
Instead of allowing those vegetables to sit in your refrigerator and go bad on you, you can dice them up and throw them in the wok with some rice and Asian seasonings for a fried rice dish. Left over rice is optimum, but if you have to use fresh rice, use less water so the rice is not as moist. The vegetables and meat will need to be fried in a small amount of oil. The rice and seasonings can be added after the meat and vegetables have had a chance to cook for a bit.
To enjoy delicious baked potatoes when you walk in the door from work, cook them in your slow cooker all day. Wrap washed and dried potatoes in aluminum foil with salt, pepper, butter, onion or other seasonings and place the wrapped potatoes in the slow cooker on low for six to eight hours. Place a variety of toppings on the table for a make-your-own meal that's ready in no time.
If you are working with foods that have strong odors, such as fish, garlic or onions, remove the smell from your hands by rubbing them on something that is stainless steel, prior to washing them. You can use any stainless steel item: spoon, sink, or specially made "soap bar." Rubbing them on stainless steel will remove the odor and keep your hands smelling fresh.
If you want a delicious meal with little effort, try a roast dinner. Simply chop up some vegetables: carrots, potatoes, onions, and peppers all work well. Add a piece of meat with a little oil and seasoning. Roast at 400 degrees for about an hour, or until the meat is thoroughly cooked. That's easier than you thought!
To reduce cooking time for beef steaks and roasts, pull the meat out of the fridge an hour before you intend to start roasting or grilling it. Letting the meat come to room temperature can shave valuable minutes off the cooking time and allows the meat to cook more evenly.
After trying these steps, you should be well on your way to being a much better cook. The great thing about these tips is that if they don't work the first time keep trying and you are sure to get better. You should notice the difference right away and your friends and family will thank you.
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