Need Help With Your Cooking? Try These Simple Tips!
Unfortunately, becoming a great cook takes time, practice and dedication. Regardless of the reason why you have decided to learn more about cooking, cooking is one of those skills where it is always good to know more. Follow these tips to improve your cooking skills.
When you cook vegetables for a long time, like boiling them, a lot of essential nutrients will be cooked away. If you are not serving the vegetables in their raw state, consider steaming, sautéing or even roasting your vegetables to protect their vitamin and nutrient content.
Cook your vegetables quickly to preserve flavor. Vegetables which are cooked slowly can lose their taste and valuable nutrients. These cooking techniques make the vegetables more healthy overall. Learning to give them just a quick steam is the best way to cook them.
Whatever you may be cooking, using fresh foods is always better than canned, dried, or frozen. Try to use as many fresh ingredients as you can, because they will bring out a lot more flavor in your dish, and they can be a lot less expensive in the long run as well.
Garlic is amazing, but comes at the cost of smelly hands. After you are done working with garlic and any other odoriferous ingredients, try rubbing your hands firmly on the inside of your stainless steel sink. This will remove the scent from your hands and stop it from transferring.
Chicken Stock
When you are making chicken stock, think big. Plan on preparing a large batch so that the excess can be frozen and used later. Good homemade chicken stock is a wonderful base in soups, stews, casseroles and more. Freeze premeasured amounts of your stock in freezer proof containers or bags when cool.
Add chicken broth to vegetables when you cook them. Chicken broth is great for preventing sticking of vegetables and incorporating some great flavor with them. Chicken broth can be bought at almost any grocery store, and is so inexpensive.
For a high-protein diet, meat isn’t the only source available. Tofu, lentils and beans are great protein substitutes. You can buy both items at almost any grocery store, and they will fit into any budget. Try frying tofu and adding seasoning to replace meat. Boiling the beans and then including them in a hearty vegetarian chili is also a wonderful dish for a cold winter night.
Always make certain to measure any cooking oil you use. This will help you reduce how much fat is present in your cooking. This is the best way to know the amount of oil being added to your food.
A good cook will have their utensils and ingredients well organized. If your supplies are disorganized, you will waste time running around trying to find everything. Organize your kitchen logically. For example, keep all of your spices in one cabinet. You can even organize them further by grouping them according to color, flavor, type or any other effective method.
It’s now time to try out what you have learned! By using the tips from the above article, you have all the tools necessary to start cooking amazing food! Regardless of why you are cooking, it is always a pleasure to serve a home cooked meal. There is no denying that skill is required in order to be a good cook. But, the end result is worth your hard work!