No one likes the idea of serving their guest a meal that turns out to be a flop! Everyone needs a little help now and then. So, before you head to the kitchen, read up on some tips that will help you cook food that is not only edible, but spectacularly awesome. Follow these tips to impress your guests and improve ordinary family meals, as well.
Make sure you store all of your spices in cool and dark places. Make sure they are not over the stove. Humidity, light and heat, will cause them to lose their flavor. That will not make for a good tasting meal. Get a spice rack and store it in your pantry.
Substitute Greek yogurt for mayonnaise in creamy salad dressings. If you are on a diet or just trying to eat healthy, you can still make creamy salad dressings with healthy ingredients. Just substitute the mayonnaise in them with a low-fat Greek-style yogurt. This will make the dressing much healthier.
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 seasoning a salad, add a small dose of olive oil in addition to natural sea salt. This will help to give your salad a crunchy appeal even after you add the dressing. Keeping your salad as crunchy as possible will create a feeling of freshness upon consumption.
When you feel like your dish is missing something but it isn’t salt, consider something acidic. Lemon, wine, and vinegar can all be great ways to add acid to a recipe. Healthy acidic balances out the flavor of anything sweet. It can also be a wonderful way to add a “salty” flavor if you’re on a low salt diet.
When working with poultry, use this useful tip to let your poultry shine. Soak the poultry in a brine solution composed of salt and water overnight before cooking the poultry. Soaking the poultry in brine will help to unlock the flavors buried in the meat and make the poultry succulent and moist, creating an incredible poultry dish.
When cutting vegetables or meat it’s very important to have sharp, high quality knives. This will help you to get the look and evenly cooked meal that you desire. If you use dull, low quality knives, instead of cutting your food, they will rip it which can cause uneven cooking and a not so appetizing looking meal.
When you have taken enough celery off the stalk for your recipe, place the rest of it in aluminum foil and then place it in the refrigerator. The celery will stay fresh for at least a week by following this method and it will still have the same taste as when it was first bought.
When picking out a melon for purchase, make sure that it is still fresh. Many times, people get sick from melons that have gone bad. You can check its freshness by checking the part of the melon that was connected to the vine. If it is soft, then the melon is still good.
When you are making Easter eggs it is a pain when the eggs crack because coloring leaks onto the actual egg. To prevent this you can add some vinegar to the boiling water. This helps to seal the egg inside the shell and keep it all in one piece.
Avoid overcooking pasta when you boil it. Overcooked pasta loses some of its important health benefits, as well as its flavor. When you overcook pasta, the noodles absorb too much water and become swollen and limp. It is better to slightly under-cook it to retain the best texture and flavor.
Before you start cooking, it is best to have everything you will need already prepared. Otherwise, you might use the stove longer than you need to, and waiting can also make it safer and harder to burn food.
When a sauce is too thick or too thin, it’s useful to add either flour or water. Flour should be pre-mixed in a little bit of cold water to prevent it from clumping when you add it to a sauce. Water can just be added and stirred in. This is helpful when you want the consistency of your sauce to combine with your meal. Thicker sauces will tend to stick to noodles better than their watery counterparts.
When cooking a stew or pot roast, remember to skim the top of the stew to remove the excess oil. It’s best to skim before the stew is mixed up because the oil will dissolve into the mixture and remain there until it eventually separates later.
To remove a batch of fudge from the pan with ease, first line the pan with aluminum foil that you have generously greased using butter, margarine, or a butter-flavored cooking spray. When set, simply lift the block of fudge up and out of the pan using the aluminum foil and you will then be able to peel the foil away from the fudge for cutting without the sticky mess.
When you tie the turkey using string, you are trussing it. This ensures that the legs and wings remain near the bird, which results in more even cooking. If you do not do this, the wings or legs will burn easier.
Now that you have read these great cooking tips, you can go into the kitchen armed with the knowledge that whatever dish you cook, you will impress your friends, family, and guests the way you want to! So, head over to the kitchen and get cracking.
