There is a lot you can do to make meals fun for your children! Theme nights are a great hit. Try a pizza night, Mexican night, green food night or anything special that you can come up with. Even let your children in on it. This will be fun for everyone in the family! Read on for other great cooking tips, just like this one.
When your pasta is done and you are finished draining, pour some Parmesan cheese on top, which will give your sauce something to latch on to. This will make things much easier for you when you are creating your meal and allow you to layer the levels of your pasta.
A well-stocked pantry is a cook’s best friend! Never is that more true than when you are faced with unexpected company and you have nothing specifically planned to serve. Maintaining a pantry stocked with the basics gives you the flexibility to create easy meals at the last minute. For help in creating a great cook’s pantry, think hard about the items you go back to again and again. You can also find great tips on items for the pantry in most good cookbooks and online at cooking sites.
If you are making meatloaf or meatballs it is a good idea to test a small piece before you make the rest of it. Make a little piece and fry it in a frying pan. Then you can taste it, see if it needs any more seasoning. It is a small thing to do that will go a long way to making a better tasting meal.
Make your cleanup easier by washing dishes as they are used in the cooking process. Fill half your sink with hot water and dishwashing liquid and the other half with rinse water. Cooking bowls and tools can be quickly cleaned as needed, and ready for their next use.
When shopping for meat, always get the freshest cuts available. If you are shopping for meat at the butcher shop the meat is being fresh cut or ground. However, when shopping at the grocery store try to find out when the store typically cuts meat for the day and try to arrive near that time. Otherwise ask at the meat counter for a fresh cut or grind if you do not know the time of the last cut.
I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “A cook who doesn’t taste his own food is no cook at all.” Well if you want to be a good cook, make sure you taste your own creations. The better the taste to you, the more likely it will taste good to the other people tasting it.
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.
Don’t start cooking until your preparations are finished. This way, you can prevent distractions like hot oil in pans or other distractions. You can also save on gas and heat by not turning on appliances before you are ready.
When you are storing leftovers make sure that you put them away as soon as possible to inhibit bacteria growth. You should always cover them tightly as well. This not only ensures health but it also will keep your leftovers fresher for a longer period of time. Leftovers are great!
If you are making a recipe that contains pasta in a sauce, avoid it being too soggy by cooking the pasta few minutes less in water. Finish cooking it with the sauce. It will be the perfect consistency and not be the mushy starchy mess we all hate when eating pasta!
If you are unsure of your boiling potatoes are done it would help if you stuck them with a knife. If the potato comes out of the water stuck on the knife then it means that they are not ready yet, but if they slide off easily then they are done.
For tastier meat, cook for longer periods of time under a lower heat. This allows the flavor, time to fully settle and seep into the meat. In addition, this will produce a piece of meat that is much more tender than one that has been cooked at a higher temperature for a shorter period of time.
A great way to save money by cooking is to substitute similar items. For example, let’s say that you want steamed green beans at dinner. Fresh green beans cost about $1.50 a pound even during the season, but frozen green beans, which have much the same color and texture, cost less than a dollar a pound.
Add pasta or rice to your leftovers. Sometimes you might just have a bit of sauce or meat left over from a larger meal. Rather than just throwing this out, add some rice or pasta to it. You can get an entirely new meal out of it that is quick and easy.
Remove roasts, chickens, pork loins, or hams from the oven just a couple of minutes before they reach their ideal temperature for perfectly cooked meat that isn’t too dry. The meat will continue to cook for the first couple of minutes outside the oven, bringing it to a safe temperature.
Mixing up the menu can help a picky eater want to eat. Who can resist food on green food night? How can a kid resist when he came up with the theme? Make a list of menu ideas and start cooking. Your whole family will love it. Continue reading other articles such as this one, so that you can learn all you can about cooking. There is always something new to learn, which is what makes cooking so exciting and fun.
