Advice For Cooking Like A Pro
Cooking can be a lot of fun when you know what you are doing. This article will make your dishes more delicious and give you more confidence in the kitchen. After you have those, the real enjoyment can start!
As with many other things in life, one of the keys to making great meals for your family is preparation. Make sure you have all the ingredients ready. Prepare everything the day prior, including the correct utensils and other cooking tools. Having everything ready will take some of the stress off and increase the chances of your success.
If you want crispier and crunchier French fries, then soak the potatoes in a bowl of cold water for a period of at least half an hour before use. Soaking the potatoes helps to make the fibers within them stronger, which makes them better able to handle the heat during frying.
Nearly any recipe benefits from using fresh ingredients rather than the frozen or dried version. Fresh ingredients are often inexpensive, and can help bring a lot of flavor out of your dish.
If you have made sauce, put the leftovers into an ice cube tray and freeze. When you feel the need to create another meal, you will have them handy to heat up. This process doesn't cause the sauce to go bad, so reheat with confidence!
The downside of tasty ingredients like garlic and onions is that their flavors and smells transfer to your hands. To remove the odor, simply take your hands and rub them against the sides of a stainless-steel sink. This works for garlic and for other foods that leave behind a strong odor on your hands. Doing this cleanses your hands and won't allow the aroma to transfer to whatever you handle next.
If you want to lose weight or adopt a healthier diet, use less oil when cooking. Lots of unnecessary, and unhealthy, fats sneak into meals made with oils and butter. A great alternative to oils is a nonstick cooking spray. Not only does it provide the same results as cooking with oils, it also contains less unhealthy ingredients.
This way, you'll have fresh fruit to use for cooking all year long. This process also gives you easy access to seasonal fruits at times when they would not normally be available.
Leftover flavors and scents can remain on your cutting board, even after repeated washing. Mark one end, or side, of each cutting board so that you know which is which.
Always try to purchase the freshest garlic available. Usually, fresher garlic will have a sweeter taste. Stale, or old, garlic may be bruised, shriveled or soft.
For more flavorful dishes, make your own stock. If you cook large quantities, you could store the leftovers in resealable bags inside your freezer. This allows you to have savory homemade stock available that you can use for various dishes, like soup. Making the stock yourself will allow you to know that you are using a stock that is not loaded with preservatives.
Unfortunately, not everyone has the natural ability or the dedication required to become an award-winning professional chef, however, if you can read simple directions, you can become a great cook in no time at all. Cooking is neither a complicated nor difficult activity. Take the knowledge you have gained here, and apply it to your cooking. Within no time, you will be whipping up one culinary masterpiece after another.