Want to be a better cook? Who doesn’t! Looking for some new, fun, and interesting menu ideas? Who isn’t! The desire to prepare better meals and try new recipes is something we all want to do. Read on and lets discuss some great ways to get creative in the kitchen.
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.
To maximize the efficiency of the cooking that you do, always make your food in large quantities and when you are finished with the meal, store the meats in freezer bags. This will allow you to create a meal the next day for your family that is still fresh and tastes great.
You should not boil pasta in water that has oil in it. When you add oil to the water that you are boiling your pasta in it keeps the sauce from sticking to the pasta. By leaving the oil out you can toss your pasta in the sauce and it will cling to it.
Save sauces in ice cube trays. If you make several meals during a week, consider saving sauces from them in ice cube trays. This will allow you to add some interesting variety to any dishes you might be making later in the week. It will also make the process simple.
Pizza has a lot of flavor to begin with depending on how you cook it but adding olive oil can help bring out a vibrant aroma. The next time you are making pizza, cook with olive oil to instill a rich flavor in the dish that you make for optimal satisfaction.
If you want hard boiled eggs that peel easily, then you need to cool your eggs before you peel them. Boiled eggs that are fresh out of hot water have no separation between the egg and its shell. By refilling your pot with cold water before peeling the eggs inside, you encourage the eggs to compress, thereby creating a layer of air between the eggs and their shells, making it easier for you to peel them.
There is an easy way to peel garlic. There are many tips and techniques for peeling garlic, but there is a simple way that doesn’t involve any fancy gadgets. Take a rubber jar lid gripper and lay it on the counter. Place a clove of garlic on it and fold it over. Using a little pressure, simply roll the garlic clove around a few times inside the rubber gripper, and the skin will instantly be removed.
Cook pasta for one minute less than instructed on the box and then place the pasta in a sauce pan. By making pasta this way, the sauce will absorb into the pasta and the overall quality of your meal will be better. You can even add some spices into the saucepan.
If you’ve made a big pot of sauce, freeze the leftovers by pouring the extra sauce into ice cube trays. When you need sauce for another meal, you already have individual portions, ready to grab and reheat in a pan. And don’t worry, your sauce will still taste great even after freezing.
You should take special care when you are preparing mushrooms to cook. Make sure you take the time to carefully clean each mushroom with a dry cloth or paper towel. You should not consider rinsing mushrooms in water as they will quickly become soaked and slimy. They will be easier to work with dry.
Use either a steaming or a stir-frying technique to cook your vegetables. These two methods help the vegetables retain both their color and their nutrients, providing your family with a healthier side dish that also looks attractive. Your children, in particular, are more likely to eat their vegetables if they look nice.
Rather than using a traditional store bought dressing when making a salad, try making your own vinaigrette. A vinaigrette that is homemade will contain less ingredients than store bought ones and have no preservatives. This makes the vinaigrette more natural and better tasting. Simply shake the ingredients in a sealed container and enjoy.
To avoid mistakes like burning your food while you are cooking, it is of the utmost importance to stay organized. A well-organized cooking area is conducive to great results. Being disorganized can make it quite easy to make it impossible to find things when you need them, which makes you miss out on the goodies that you could be indulging in.
Cauliflower is white when you first place it in water, but it has a tendency to sometimes turn a grayish or yellowish color. To prevent that from happening and keeping your cauliflower perfectly white you should try adding a little bit of milk to the water while it is cooking.
When you are making casseroles, roasts, and other things that may stick to the bottom of a baking sheet, you should line the bottom of the pan with foil. This is a good idea because after you are done cooking you can throw the foil away and you will not have a lot of cleaning up to do.
When it comes to cooking the fresher the better. Sure the bottled and shaker spices cost less but there is no taste comparable to the taste of fresh cut spices such as garlic and parsley. So make sure that you spend the extra fifteen minutes cutting your spices, instead of shaking them.
Everyone wants to be a better cook. Everyone wants to experiment with fun recipes. Finding the time and feeling the motivation to be creative in the kitchen can sometimes pose a challenge though. In this article we’ve discussed some fun and innovative ways to bring the magic to your kitchen. Give a couple of these ideas a try tonight. Your taste buds will thank you!
