Having to cook every day can be dull after awhile. Learning more about the intricacies of cooking can spice up your meal plans. Cooking can become an enjoyable activity when you are able to produce tasty, exotic, restaurant-standard dishes in your home kitchen. Keep reading to learn some of the best tips to take your cooking from ordinary to amazing!
Layered bar cookies, fudge and chewy brownies often fall apart or get torn up from trying to evenly cut them into squares. A good rotary pizza cutter can be used to accomplish this task without worrying about a sharp knife slipping and causing an injury. Make some light guidelines in your food with the tip of a knife first and follow up with the pizza cutter for perfectly cut bars, brownies and fudge every time.
Do you enjoy using fresh basil in your dishes? Take the basil and place it in a glass. Add some water to cover the stems. This will help to keep it from going bad for quite a few days. With some care, you may even be able to encourage the basil to grow roots. By cutting or trimming the basil on occasion, it will grow even further, so you can have fresh basil for quite a while.
Cooking a big meal? Do the preparations the day or night before! This way, you will have less to do on the day you are going to make your meal. For instance, if a salad will be part of your meal, make it the night before.
If a recipe calls for milk or water, try some other flavorful liquid to enhance the flavor of your dish. As a substitute for water, try broth. Juice can work as well. Some people use the water left over from boiling vegetables. As an alternative to milk, try using thinned sour cream, yogurt, soy milk or buttermilk. Varying the liquids that are in your recipes is an excellent method of adding nutrition and variety to a dish.
When you are going to the butcher to get meats or fish, do not be scared to ask to smell the product before purchasing it. Sometimes the meat or fish is bad and the butcher does not even know it, which is why it is important for you to smell it.
If a particular wine's flavor is unknown to you, then you shouldn't use it as an ingredient in your food. Using a wine that you dislike could ruin the taste of the food. They make wines that can be used only when you're cooking food.
To maximize the shelf life of dried spices store them in a cool, dry place. This will preserve the flavor of the spices, resulting in more flavorful dishes. Do not store them in the cupboard directly above the stove, the heat makes the spices dry out and lose flavor.
When you are making casseroles, roasts, and other things that may stick to the bottom of a baking sheet, you should line the bottom of the pan with foil. This is a good idea because after you are done cooking you can throw the foil away and you will not have a lot of cleaning up to do.
When cutting corn kernels on the cob, try this tip: Use the side of the knife that is not sharp to scrape the cob. This will extract the excess sweet juices from the cob, which can be applied to your corn dish and add a hidden burst of flavor to it, creating a new taste to the dish.
Store vegetable trimmings in the freezer for a tasty vegetable stock. Save money and increase the flavor of your dishes by making your own vegetable stock. Throughout the week or even month, place vegetable trimmings and peels into plastic bags and store them in the freezer. When you have a spare afternoon, throw them in a pot with some water and let simmer. Once strained, you will have a flavorful broth that can also be frozen for later use.
When shopping for meat, always get the freshest cuts available. If you are shopping for meat at the butcher shop the meat is being fresh cut or ground. However, when shopping at the grocery store try to find out when the store typically cuts meat for the day and try to arrive near that time. Otherwise ask at the meat counter for a fresh cut or grind if you do not know the time of the last cut.
If you are preparing a whole chicken or turkey, take the time to season under the skin as part of your preparation. By gently sliding your fingers between the skin and meat in the breast area and thigh area, you can create room for seasoning. Blend your preferred herbs and spices and slowly rub them against the meat under the skin. The skin will lock in juices and allow your seasoning to absorb into the meat.
When it comes to cooking the fresher the better. Sure the bottled and shaker spices cost less but there is no taste comparable to the taste of fresh cut spices such as garlic and parsley. So make sure that you spend the extra fifteen minutes cutting your spices, instead of shaking them.
To give your pasta sauce some additional flavor, use some of the water that the pasta was cooked in. Measure out one-fourth of a cup and place it to the side. When you mix the pasta with this sauce, add the water as well. Through a process known as amalgamation, the starch in the pasta water creates a creamy texture in your sauce.
Cooking is a stylish hobby that anyone can enjoy. You can learn a lot about foods and tastes by practicing your new cooking techniques. Chances are, you'll discover a thing or two about yourself that you didn't know before and open new possibilities. When you have fun and enjoy cooking, your enthusiasm itself will enhance your dishes.