It is common knowledge that humans require food to live. But eating should be much more than just having food in order to live. Cooking great food can be even more rewarding than eating good meal. Here are some great tips that will kick your cooking skills up a new level.
Your spices should be stored in a cool place that is free of light. If the spices become too hot, or moist from humidity, it can shorten their shelf life. Too much light exposure also does this. Storing your spices in a cool location far from direct sunlight will help them last longer and taste better. You can prepare tastier meals if you use fresher spices.
Keep herbs and spices in a location that stays room temperature. If they get exposed to any light, heat or humidity, they will lose much of their flavor. Ground spices can retain full flavor for about a year. Spices which are kept whole can retain their flavors for between three and five years. Storing spices properly can help you achieve a longer shelf-life for your spices.
Bake pie and tart crusts a little longer time than you would think they should be baked. They need to be a golden brown instead of pale in color. The golden color indicates that the sugar in the crust has started to caramelize and this will give a sweet and crisper flavor.
The smell of garlic can transfer to your hands easily. After you have finished doing your prep work with the garlic, run your hands along the stainless steel interior of your sink. Doing this will remove the scent from your hands, and keep it from spreading to the next food you touch.
Boiling and other long preparation methods strip vegetables of their important nutrients. To keep them loaded with nutrients that are beneficial to your body, prepare them quicker by steaming or sauteing, or even serving them raw.
You can avoid stress by sticking to familiar recipes you don’t have experience with. This can lessen the stress of your meal preparation.
Do you have a difficult time figuring out how long you should grill your meats? A good quality, digital, meat thermometer is a good investment for your kitchen as it can tell you precisely the internal temperature of the meat, and this will let you know when it is cooked to perfection. To reduce cooking times on thick meat, lower the lid on your grill.
Mushrooms soak up a large amount of water. Wipe them off each mushroom with a clean wet cloth to clean them.
Oil or butter add more fat that is often unnecessary. You can use non-stick cooking spray instead to keep your foods from sticking but still tasting great.
Always read the labels of the ingredients you buy. A lot of items you purchase at the grocery store will have a laundry list of unwanted substances in there. Two of the main culprits are added sugar and sodium. Avoiding both as often as possible, and especially in large quantities, is vital to your health.
Measure the amount of cooking oil you use when cooking! This will help you reduce how much fat in your foods while cooking. This will enable you greater control over the amount of exactly how much oil you want to use.
Learning to cook can be as much fun as eating. Absorb the tips below, and then add twists to make them your own. Your skills will get better and people will bug you to cook for them!
When serving salad to guests, you should never put salad dressing directly on it. You should have it to the side so that each person can use as much or as little as they want. Some people like to put more salad dressing on their salads than other people do; let your guests put their own salad dressing on. Give them a choice of salad dressings.