Lots of people enjoy cooking as a relaxing, rewarding and creative hobby. A kitchen full of yummy aromas and fresh ingredients can lift anyone’s mood. It can sometimes seem difficult, though, to pinpoint recipes that work for you or advice that leads to an ultimately successful meal. Here are some great tips that will support you in learning to cook excellent meals.
Beautiful pies start with beautiful crusts. You might have cracks in your crust because you’ve overworked the dough. Add several drops of water to the flawed crust, which will help moisten and soften the corners. If there are cracks on top of the crust, brush milk on it and then sprinkle sugar over top. Once baked, your crust will have developed a golden brown glaze that disguises any cracks.
Mushrooms will soak up a large amount of water. Instead, you want to wet a clean cloth and use that to wipe the mushroom off.
Take the extra fat out of stews and soups. If you feel your stew is excessively fatty, an easy fix is to stick it in the fridge and let the fat solidify and float on top. Put an ice cube on a spoon and skim it across the surface. The ice draws the fat and it collects on the cube. Another option is to soak up the fat with a paper towel.
Cutting Board
When it’s time to chop fresh herbs, you should sprinkle a bit of salt on your cutting board first. This gives extra flavor and helps to hold the herbs in place. Remember to use moderation; you don’t want to add too much salt to your ingredients. If you put salt on your cutting board it will give your herbs a little more flavor.
Buy only good quality knives for food preparation. In addition to the practical benefits, you will also improve your safety when cutting foods with sharp utensils. This is due to the fact that there is a higher rate of accidents when using dull utensils.
If you are having people over to your home to eat, and you are including a salad with the meal, allow your guests to put the dressing on themselves. People vary in the amount of dressing they like on their salad, so it is helpful to let them do this on their own. Also, give a variety of different dressings.
Make sure that you never use a wine in your food that you would not normally drink. Because wine will have a big impact on the flavor of your food, a bad wine can result in a bad meal. There are cooking-specific wines available at the supermarket.
Invest in a knife sharpener to make cutting any ingredient simple. When you cook using knives that are dull, you create more work for yourself because they make cutting more difficult. It is also a safety hazard to use them. The chance of accidentally cutting yourself while using a dull knife to cut steak is way higher than using a sharp knife to cut the same steak.
If your family is bored with eating frozen corn night after night, vary your recipe. Mix your corn with coconut flakes for Thai-inspired flavor that everyone will love.
Make sure you use silicone or rubber utensils if you cook with nonstick pans. Metal or wooden utensils can potentially scratch the nonstick coating, this will reduce its effectiveness over time, and even worse, could lead to food contamination. Not only is this unappetizing, but it could be dangerous.
It is best to buy all of your fish and meat while it is still on the bone. Raw or cooked bones can be frozen and stored in durable Ziploc bags.
As this article has discussed, cooking is revered by many as an excellent and enjoyable hobby. However, some people don’t know where to start, in terms of picking the right recipes or using the proper techniques. Follow this article’s advice and you will be on your way to cooking great food.