Whether you’re a brand new cook or an experienced one, there are plenty of sources of frustration in the kitchen. No matter what your cooking skills are like, little annoyances can make preparing a meal much more stressful. Here are some cooking tips that will help preparing your meals go a little more smoothly.
Make soup stock in large quantities. Soup stock can be used in many different recipes. If you make a large portion of it once, it is easy to store for later use. Just put it in baggies that can be sealed. Put it in the freezer and thaw it out when you need to use it.
Eat a piece of meat when experimenting with seasoning before cooking all of it. You may have to use caution when you season foods such as meatballs, meatloaf or hamburgers. After you season the meat, do not cook all of the batch. Instead of this, you should make a small patty, and cook that first. You can adjust the seasoning if you don’t like it.
Since you are going to be using a lot of sharp knives in the kitchen to cook your meals, you will want to maintain precautions at all times. Instead of simply putting your knife in the drawer, make sure that you put a wine cork on the tip to protect against cuts and scrapes upon use.
One of the things that you should spend a lot of money on, is your kitchen utensils, pots and pans, and other equipment. These are extremely valuable investments as they will serve as the foundation for all of your cooking. You will want to extend the life of these tools as long as possible. Cooking is so much easier if you are using high quality utensils and equipment.
Mushrooms discolor fast and they don’t look too appetizing when you serve them. You can prevent discoloration by following this technique. Squeeze the juice of a quarter lemon onto a paper towel and wipe the cap of each mushroom with it. This cleans the mushroom and prevents it from changing its original color.
Make sure to prepare your dishes the night before. Create marinades and allow your meat to sit in the refrigerator overnight. By doing most of the prep the night before, you make a delicious tasting meal. You also lower the amount of stress when making the meal before your guests arrive.
To save on fat when cooking, use applesauce instead of butter. A cup of applesauce is equal to a cup of butter. This will reduce fat and calorie contents of your dessert recipe. It will also make your recipe moist and delicious. Most people won’t even be able to tell the difference.
Keep a few cut up, washed, and prepared vegetables in your freezer. This will reduce your prep time when you’re cooking a recipe. Onions and peppers are great to freeze. Just buy them fresh, wash and cut them when you have time, and store them in individual zip lock bags.
To discover when oil is really hot enough and ready for the food, look to its’ surface. If it is no longer completely smooth and appears to be shimmering it is hot enough. When oil is allowed to over-heat it actually starts breaking down and releasing unpleasant compounds and will begin to smoke, so know when to say when!
When a recipe calls for vegetable shortening, coconut oil is a healthy alternative that should be used. Coconut oil can be difficult to find in the typical grocery stores so you may need to look in a healthfood store to find it. It is important to read the label to make sure it is true coconut oil.
Here is an important tip to use when sauteing foods in a pan with oil. If you need to add more oil to the pan in the middle of sauteing, simply pour the oil as stream along the edge of the pan. You should do this rather than pouring in the center of the pan so that the oil will heat up as it travels from the edge to the center.
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.
Don’t use prepared seasoning mixes when you cook, especially if you have high blood pressure. These mixes often have a high sodium content. Instead, use fresh herbs and spices, or make sure you choose a low-salt mix. For more flavor, try adding lemon or lime zest or a few chili peppers to your meal.
Be sure to refresh your spices every few months. Many times, spices are kept for too long, and they lose their flavor. If you purchase spices that you know are not used often in your home, give some to a family member or friend.
When cooking around small children, safety is imperative. Get in the habit, even when children are not around, that you keep knives, breakable dishes and other objects that could fall and injure a young child, well back on the table or counter. You might just prevent a child from being seriously injured because of sheer carelessness, on the part of the cook.
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.
There are plenty of things you can do to take the stress out of cooking. Now that you’ve read this article, you have plenty of advice you can apply the next time you head to the kitchen. Now that you have these tips, you may find you’re willing to try cooking something a little more challenging.
