Cooking can be a fun and challenging activity, a hobby for any skill level. Whether you are just learning how to cook basic meals for the first time or are proficient in the kitchen, this article provides helpful tips designed to make your time in the kitchen more efficient and enjoyable.
You should do the prep work for your meals in advance. Do not start cooking until the prep work is done. Of course, cooking under a strict deadline can really increase stress levels. Begin your meal preparations as soon as possible to avoid last minute stress.
Before preparing a nice meal for friends and relations, be sure to make a good plan. Take an inventory to be sure that everything that you will need is available. Prepare everything you need for cooking ahead of time, don’t forget the utensils! With a good plan and everything in place, you will feel far less anxious.
You should not boil pasta in water that has oil in it. When you add oil to the water that you are boiling your pasta in it keeps the sauce from sticking to the pasta. By leaving the oil out you can toss your pasta in the sauce and it will cling to it.
Damp paper towel and a plastic bag can extend the life of your greens. If you wrap your fresh herbs or fresh greens with a damp paper towel and then place them in a plastic bag, they will last longer. They will normally stay fresh three to four days longer if you do.
A good thing to remember regarding cooking is to store your ingredients and spices in a cool dark place and not on top of your stove. This is because humidity and light tend to cause spices and herbs lose their flavor. This is one of the things new cooks tend to forget.
Leave the bone in a roast to speed up cooking. By leaving the bone in, heat moves to the inside of the meat faster, speeding up the cooking process. Because the bone transmits heat, the entire roast cooks more evenly throughout the cut of meat by leaving it in rather than removing it.
An easy way to experiment with combining savory flavors in the kitchen and not spend a lot of money in food waste, is to turn your ideas into an omelet. Eggs, especially egg whites, are fairly flavor-free and provide a great “canvas” on which to “paint” the ingredients you want and then combining into a dish. Small batches of scrambled eggs that you can fold your ingredients into, will also give a neutral background for your flavor taste tests.
As mentioned earlier in this article, creating delicious and nutritious meals can be simple, fun and quick. Using the tips provided, get the most out of your time cooking, whether preparing a wholesome dish for yourself or a full holiday meal for your entire family. Use some of these tips to garner rave reviews from your guests for your creative kitchen creations!
