Cooking is a form of art and there are many different types of cooking that you could learn. You can become a gourmet chef or you can simply try to master the art of cooking good meals within your home. Many jobs in the workplace employ cooks, prep-cooks and managers that also oversee cooks. This article contains tips to help make you a better cook.
When you are cooking food on skewers, there are some basic guidelines to know. Regarding metal skewers, square or twisted varieties are preferable to round ones, as the round ones do not hold food items as well as the other two types.
Preparation is a very important part of cooking. You want to make sure you have every item you might need. You also want to make sure you have all the supplies you might need. You don’t want to be in the middle of a dish and find out you are missing something important.
When cooking stock, make it in a large quantity and store it in smaller bags in the freezer. Stock has a long freezer life and can be useful in so many recipes. Making a larger batch is no more difficult than making a small batch. You’ll save yourself time later by having a freezer store to turn to.
Keep a potato masher in your kitchen at all times. This useful device can be used to mash more than just your typical potatoes. Try mashing carrots, cauliflower, and other root vegetables. You can mix any of these in to your usual mashed potatoes to make them more vibrant, nutritious, and interesting.
Basil is one of the best things that you can add to a dish and looks great as a decoration to any type of meal. Simply add a few pieces of basil to give your meal spice and improve the overall aesthetic beauty to the dish you put on the table.
Keep track of ingredients when baking. Sometimes, when you are adding a lot of dry ingredients to your mixing bowl, it’s easy to lose track. An easy solution to this is to place each ingredient in a different part of the bowl. That way, every dry ingredient you add can be seen and counted.
Never use oil when you are boiling pasta. Try not to let any oil get in the pot when you are boiling water to cook your pasta. The oil will transfer to the pasta. This will leave the noodles slick, which means any sauce you put on them later will not stick.
Even the humble sandwich can benefit from a little cooking expertise. Mayonnaise, mustard and other condiments should be spread evenly from edge to edge of sandwich bread. This improves consistency and ensures that every bite of the sandwich gets the benefit of the condiments. Even spreading produces superior sandwich results every time.
If you have a lot of pets around the house, they should not be with you in the kitchen, if the stove is near the ground. This can present a safety hazard because you want to reduce any risk of your animals getting hurt. Keep all animals and small children away from hot ovens.
You should use applesauce when baking if you want to cut back on the amount of calories the baked good contains. The applesauce will not change the texture or flavor of the baked good. It will cut back on the number of calories that are in the baked good. It will also add fiber to the food.
When making homemade salad dressings it is a good idea to use extra-virgin olive oil. It has a fruity flavor that really adds to a salad. Extra-virgin olive oil can be somewhat expensive so it is important to buy it when it is on sale or with a coupon to make it more affordable.
No one can really say that they enjoy a dry hamburger. Instead of serving dry tasteless burgers at your next barbeque add some cold water to your beef before you grill. Try about 1/2 cup per 1 pound of meat. You will leave your guests amazed with your burgers every time.
Pour off the grease from your browned hamburger before you add the rest of the ingredients. Your health will thank you for this small step and the meal is likely to taste much better without the unneeded fat. Keep an empty can or other container on your stove top expressly for that purpose.
Have fun with flavors and spices and don’t be afraid to put more seasonings into your cooking. Many cooks lightly season their food, leaving it tasting bland. It is okay to experiment with different amounts of salt and spices until you find a delicious tasting blend. Many chefs recommend adding almost twice as much as you would initially considering using, so keep it interesting and flavorful by putting in just a little bit more.
When cooking, be sure that you use as much low fat or lite dressings as you can. This is important because this is an extremely easy way to prevent unnecessary fat and calories from being consumed by both you and the people eating your food. In moderation, the regular types are acceptable.
Find a spot that is dry, cool, and dim to store herbs and spices. Flavor loss occurs when they are exposed to heat, light and humidity. Exposing the spices to these kinds of conditions can enable them to lose their flavor.
Fresh lemons are a very versatile garnish in many recipes, but getting juice out of a lemon can seem like a huge chore. Rather than pulling out the big juicer, try this trick. Roll the lemon on the counter top for a few seconds, then place it in the microwave on high for 15 seconds. Take it out and cut it open – you should be able to squeeze twice the juice as before!
Again, cooking is a form of art and it takes time and practice to equal experience and expertise in the field. There are many forms of cooking and also many different types of food from different cultures. Apply what you’ve learned form this article to help you in your cooking endeavors.
