Cooking is a form of art. You should be creative and unafraid of trying new things in the kitchen. Creativity is great and so is practicality. Below you will find practical tips for making your cooking experiences better. The more you know, the better the chef, you will soon become.
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.
Always have a lot of napkins handy when you are cooking in the kitchen. You never know when a spill will occur, so always prepare for the worst. Purchase thick napkins that can hold a lot of liquid if you want to get the most absorption when cleaning up a mess.
After you have drained pasta, add fresh Parmesan Cheese to it while it is still hot. By putting the cheese on this way, the sauce you will be using has something to stick it. Plus, the pasta will have more flavor this way than if you added the cheese after your pasta and sauce are mixed together.
Place fruit that is not quite ripe in a plastic bag with a few small holes to allow it to ripen. The plastic helps retain the gases used by ripening fruit while the holes allow fresh air to circulate across the fruit. This also helps you keep your fruit fresh longer!
When you have a recipe that calls for wine, you may be tempted to use a cheap wine or cooking wine. Avoid this mindset when you approach your cooking. A good rule of thumb is to consider whether or not you would drink the wine. If you wouldn’t drink it, do not use it to cook.
You can save time and energy by cooking larger batches of a meal at one time, and then storing some of it in the freezer for later. Divide the meal into several serving-size containers and put them away. On a night when you don’t have time to cook from scratch, just pull a container out and defrost it.
To maximize the shelf life of dried spices store them in a cool, dry place. This will preserve the flavor of the spices, resulting in more flavorful dishes. Do not store them in the cupboard directly above the stove, the heat makes the spices dry out and lose flavor.
If you’re cooking mac and cheese, always follow the instructions on the box exactly as they’re written. The perfectly cooked macaroni is very delicious with velvety cheese mixed with the pasta. Use a solid face spoon when you serve to make sure you get plenty of cheese scooped up with the macaroni. Spice up the macaroni with some pepper!
Don’t spend too much time buying books and searching the Internet for exotic fare from around the world and forget the recipes that your family has served for years. Often the most basic recipes are the most cherished ones. Make sure you write those recipes down. No matter how simple they are, there may be a day when a family member wants them.
If you are sauteing vegetables and require more oil, add the oil to the outer part of the pan. This way the oil is heated by the time it reaches your vegetables. By doing this you eliminate extra cooking time and you never have to worry about your vegetables getting soggy or getting splattering hot oil.
Blot any ground meat you eat before you cook it. Blotting the moisture off of your ground meat is definitely always a great idea. If your meat is too moist, then it can affect how it cooks. The moisture will dissolve. Instead of searing the way it should, the meat will most likely steam.
Placing eggs in water can let you know if they are fresh. Eggs that lie on the bottom, on their side will be fresh. Eggs that stand upright in the bottom are losing freshness and should be used promptly within a day or two. Eggs that float on top of the water should be discarded immediately. Always check eggs for freshness before using.
When you are making mashed potatoes, you need to be extra careful and make sure not to whip them for too long. While it might seem that mixing them for longer would make them smoother, it actually has an opposite effect. Doing so actually makes them come out gummy in texture.
When you have decided what you want to prepare for the evening meal, make sure you have left yourself enough time to prepare it. This includes the prep time, as well. If this is the first time you are making this particular recipe, you may want to add on 10 or 15 minutes to the directions just to be sure you aren’t rushed at the last minute.
Get perfectly beaten egg whites. For perfectly beaten egg whites, use a copper bowl. Copper makes the egg whites more stable and they can be whipped to a greater volume. There is an ion in copper that binds with the protein in egg whites, causing them to become more stable. If you don’t have a copper bowl, a stainless bowl will achieve the same results by adding a little cream of tartar to the eggs whites prior to beating.
It may not always be easy to see that cooking is one of the simplest and most fun activities that anyone can partake in. You should enjoy creating delicious food for pleasure, as well as health. Keep the tips you learned here in mind and the chef inside of you will flourish.
