For many people, cooking serves many purposes. It allows people to test their creativity by constructing new culinary masterpieces, improve their skills as they become better chefs, or simply to eat their favorite dish. Whatever the reason is for your cooking, the tips found in the following article will help you with cooking.
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.
To maximize the efficiency of the cooking that you do, always make your food in large quantities and when you are finished with the meal, store the meats in freezer bags. This will allow you to create a meal the next day for your family that is still fresh and tastes great.
Take care when storing chocolate for use in cooking. As a rule, only buy as much chocolate as you can use within a few months. Chocolate contains fat, and under the wrong conditions, it can turn rancid. Store in a cool, dry place away from sunlight. A kitchen cupboard away from any heat sources is ideal. Keep the chocolate wrapped in foil or plastic and store it away from anything with a strong smell, as it absorbs odors easily.
If you are boiling pasta, make sure that you do not put too much in the pot. This will not cook your food all the way through and will taste very raw and thick. Try to limit the amount of pasta that you put in the pot to maximize taste and quality.
If you’re making a recipe with seasoned meat, sample a small piece of the meat before cooking the rest of it. Many types of meat require seasonings that are carefully chosen. Don’t cook the entire meat directly after seasoning it. Instead, make a small patty out of a little piece and cook that first. If you are satisfied with the flavor you can move on to the rest of the batch, or, if the flavor is off, you can add more seasonings to get the flavor right.
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.
One important tip to remember when cooking dishes focus on the size of the dish being prepared. The smaller the dish is that you are cooking, the higher the baking temperature and less time needed to cook the dish. Smaller dishes generally take only a few minutes at high temperatures to fully cook.
Saute tired salad greens. If your salad greens have seen better days, don’t discard them – saute them! Salad greens such as radicchio, arugula, and endive make a tasty side dish when sauteed. Cook them quickly in olive oil, chopped garlic and sea salt. Sprinkle with a little bacon and goat cheese, and you will be happy that you didn’t throw away those unused salad greens!
It is important to know that just because a recipe does not call for a certain spice does not mean you cannot add it. For instance, you may feel that garlic would make the dish taste better, which may be true. So do not be scared, go ahead and add it.
An easy way to skin nuts. When used in cooking, nuts such as almonds and pistachios need their skins removed. Blanch the nuts by boiling them in a pan of water for one minute. Drain the nuts, and place them on a clean dishtowel. Fold the dish towel over the nuts, and rub vigorously. The skins will rub off onto the towel.
Add a small pinch of sea salt to your ground coffee immediately before brewing. This will add a great punch of flavor to every cup. This process works well in either a traditional coffee maker or a french press. Don’t add the salt before brewing time though, or your coffee flavor will be compromised.
As stated before, cooking serves many purposes. It tests creativity, improves skills, and delights your friends and family. The tips from the article above should help you with cooking, no matter the reason. You will be able to successfully create your favorite flavorful dishes, and have a wonderful time preparing and eating them too!