Your kitchen can seem boring sometimes. But approaching cooking as a hobby changes how you feel about it. The following tips below will get you started.
If you are cooking a dish in oil and need to add more to the pan, drizzle it around the sides. This way, the oil heats up before it reaches the food. This helps to enhance and maximize the taste of your cooking.
Keep herbs and spices in a location that stays room temperature. If they get exposed to any light, humidity or heat, these items will begin to lose their flavor. Ground spices will retain their flavor for around a year. Whole spices have a longer shelf-life and can hold their flavor for around 3 to 5 years. Storing spices in glass containers with a
Bake pie and tart crusts a little longer time than you think is really necessary. They should be a golden caramel color rather than pale blonde. The darker color indicates that the sugar in the crust has started to caramelize and will give a sweet and crisper flavor.
There is a great trick to thicken up your sauce so it isn’t wasted. Mix two tablespoons of water with one tablespoon of cornstarch in a small bowl. Thicken your sauce by stirring the mixture into the simmering liquid. Make sure to introduce the starch slowly while stirring constantly to make it not be too thick.
Slice meat very thin when you are making stir fry. This can take some time and be hard to do.
Sharp knives are an essential to cooking. Dull knives can be dangerous and difficult to use.
Adding cauliflower to your mashed potatoes is a great way to reduce the amount of fat and calories they contain. You should use equal portions of potatoes and cauliflower when making this delicious side. Cauliflower’s subtle flavors blend in with the potatoes and other ingredients easily. You’ll still be able to enjoy mashed potatoes, but with less fat and calories!
You can avoid stress by sticking to familiar recipes you enjoy. This makes cooking less of a chore.
Apples are used a great deal to cook in the winter and fall months, but they will spoil if not properly stored. Apples will spoil in warm, dry air, so make sure to keep them in plastic bags in a cool place. One rotten apple will spoil the whole bag so make sure you keep a close eye your apples.
Complete as much of the preparatory work as possible for your meals ahead of time to speed up the process of cooking. Look at your recipes before starting and clue in on the steps that can be done ahead of time without having any spoilage issues. A lot of the preliminary work can be done a day before you cook the meal. This can make it even easier to cook complicated dishes and make them more enjoyable.
Use fresh foods any time you can, as they make the food more flavorful, and can be real money-savers too.
Oil and butter both have lots of fat. Try using nonstick cooking sprays that will help your food not to stick and works just like oil.
Properly frozen fresh fruit can stay good for up to a year. An added bonus is that you are going to be able to eat fruit that is not in season and is therefore unavailable elsewhere during certain periods.
Apply these concepts, and try thinking of some of your own, too! Focus on making foods that allow you to savor them with your family over a nice relaxing dinner. The process of cooking can contribute largely to your overall health and nutrition as well as your lifestyle. Allow your kitchen to become the warm, fragrant core of your home.