http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj1fhYZJjek
No matter who you are, cooking is a valuable skill that is well worth learning. You can save money, improve your nutrition and entertain family and friends with the right cooking skills. The information provided below will help you to know everything you need to be a great cook.
It is essential that you are prepared before you start to cook a meal to serve to your loved ones. This will allow you to make sure that all the necessary ingredients are accounted for. Put everything you need to cook the dish out the night before. Make sure you have all the cooking equipment and ingredients required. This can seriously reduce stress and anxiety levels.
Add some chicken broth to your pan when cooking vegetables. It will keep veggies from getting stuck to the bottom of the pan and add a little flavor. Chicken broth costs very little, and can be bought at most any grocery store.
Wooden skewers should be soaked in plain water before each use for an absolute minimum of thirty minutes. If you do not do this, your food may cook faster than you want, causing it to burn. You can make sure that food stays on your skewers by skewing the food with parallel skewers.
When serving salads to guests, it is a good idea to leave the dressing on the side of the salad rather than on it. Some people like more dressing on their salad than others do, so it is better to let them add the dressing themselves. For an even more considerate touch, provide different kinds of dressings.
Don't use bitter, sour, or tasteless wine in your recipes. By using a wine you do not like or one that you are unfamiliar with, you are jeopardizing the taste of your food. You can find wines that are made for use in cooking.
To maintain the flavor and freshness of spices and herbs, make sure you keep them stored in someplace that is cool and dark. If you put them above the oven, or in another warm place, the spices and herbs will not retain their flavor.
Foreign Country Recipes
It is a good idea to store unripened fruits in perforated plastic bags. Ethylene gas is produced when fruits ripen. Bags with holes will prevent already-ripened fruit from rotting, since the ethylene gas can escape; on the other hand, under-ripened fruit benefits from a bag without holes, since the gas that causes ripening is retained.
Having a clean and organized kitchen is essential to cooking a great meal or dessert. Having an organized cooking area will ensure that you are productive when cooking. Unorganized cooking stations may mean you lose money and valuable food that is better suited to eating.
Let your food rest a bit before sitting down to eat. Few people understand how important it is to allow the meal itself to rest before serving it. You may think it is best to serve your meat right off the grill so it is piping hot. However, you will miss out on great food if you do. Therefore, it is always best to allow the juices to redistribute by allowing for a cool down period.
Dessert Recipes
Use a substantial amount of salt in the water when you are cooking pasta. This way, the flavor is able to fully permeate the pasta. Salting after boiling your pasta will not give the same effect of absorption.
Get creative to make cooking fun. Sometimes its okay to deviate from following a recipe step-by-step. In some cases by making little modifications to the recipe here and there will result in a dish that is tastier than if you had used the original recipe. That's the true indication of a skilled chef!
To make pasta sauce even more delicious, save some of the water you boiled the pasta in. Set aside approximately one-fourth cup. The water should be added to the sauce and pasta mixture. The pasta water contains starch, which will give your sauce a thick creaminess.
Before chopping fresh herbs sprinkle some salt on the cutting board. The salt will give the herbs more flavor and prevent them from sliding of the board as you cut. Don't over-salt your foods. If you put salt on your cutting board it will give your herbs a little more flavor.
Purchase quality cutting utensils for the kitchen. It will help you to save time if you have cutting utensils that are not dull and it also adds safety to your kitchen because dull knives can cause you to cut yourself accidentally. You are taking the risk of getting frustrated and hurting yourself with old and dull utensils.
Take care of wooden cutting boards properly. Stressors, like heat or extremes in humidity, can warp or split a cutting board made of wood. Cutting boards should never be immersed in water, but cleaned with a soapy sponge and rinsed off. You can find oil designed for cutting boards to maintain yours. Allow it to dry completely before using.
Your spices and cooking herbs will last longer if stored in a dry, cool, and dark place. If your spices are exposed to light, moisture and humidity, they may lose their unique flavors. Exposing the spices to these kinds of conditions can enable them to lose their flavor.
Timing is a crucial element when baking a cake. Suggested cooking times are helpful to beginning bakers but experienced bakers know that they need to consider variables such as altitude when determining the optimum cooking time. Insert a toothpick into the center of the cake instead. If batter sticks to the toothpick when it comes out, more baking is needed; when the toothpick stays clean after insertion, it's time to eat!
In today's age of fast food and rampant obesity, the ability to cook fresh, healthy, tasty meals for your family or for yourself is an invaluable asset. You can make sure to consume an adequate amount of vital nutrients. When it comes down to it, home cooking is your best bet for a good meal.
hospitablelabyr59 Community Member 
|
|
