For many people, edible holiday gifts cooking serves many purposes. It allows people to test their creativity by constructing new culinary masterpieces, improve their skills as they become better chefs, or simply to eat their favorite dish. Whatever the reason is for you cooking, the tips found in the following article will help you with cooking.
To make it easier to peel boiled eggs, run them under cold water immediately after removing from them the stove. Once they are cool enough to touch, tap them lightly to crack and roll on a counter. Once you begin peeling and have an opening in the shell, run this under cold water and you will find the rest of the shell will peel off with the greatest of ease!
If you have a family, you will want to implement a process for cleaning up after you cook your meal. This is very important as you will want to conserve the excess food that you do not eat for future servings. Post meal cleanup is just as important as pre-meal preparation.
When shaving vegetables for dishes such as a vinaigrette or a salad, use a coarse microplane, also known as a grater or zester, to grate them into smaller pieces. The flavors of the vegetables are truly unlocked when grated with the microplane.
Don’t forget to clean your grill before you use it by scrubbing the grilling surface with a wire brush while it heats up. This way the removed food and grease burn off. Built up food on the grill doesn’t add flavor to the meat, but make the fresh food stick to the metal much easier.
True butter should be used when cooking. Butter is typically not purchased by the average consumer because of its cost. It is well worth the investment because it is not filled with unhealthy oils or trans fats. You can buy the butter in bulk when it is on sale and freeze it in your freezer.
If you are a big fan of having baked potatoes with your meal but do not like the long cooking time, you should soak them in salt water for twenty minutes before you bake them. They will take only about half of the usual time to bake after being soaked.
Use cast iron pans when you cook your meat. Cast iron imparts the best flavor to the meat and avoids any chance of sticking. You also get the added benefit of your meat having a higher iron content from using the cast iron. Sometimes old fashioned ideas are the best.
Check your meatloaf or meatballs by test cooking a small piece. You want your meat to taste perfect, so when you make a mini hamburger patty, and fry it up to taste it, you can decide if the seasoning is just right or if you need to add more flavor. Doing this ensures your meatloaves and meatballs are perfect when you pop them out of the oven.
Don’t skimp and use cheap olive oil. More expensive olive oil is not only fresher, it often has a richer flavor. High-quality olive oil can draw the flavor out of all your favorite dishes, including pizza, pasta and many types of fish and meat. Even a small drizzle of more expensive olive oil can make the difference that takes your meals from drab to fab!
While cooking is fun, generally, the cleaning up that follows, is not. To avoid having to deal with a big mess after a day of experimenting or meal preparation in the kitchen, keep your sink filled with hot soapy water (refreshing when necessary) and clean up as you go along. Besides keeping your end of day cleaning down to a minimum, you will also have clean hands as you touch and prepare food throughout the day.
In order to save time when you are cooking, you can create beforehand your own blend of spices for different dishes. There are different spice combos for Asian, Italian, Mexican, or Indian cuisines. An easy “American” blend would be combining cinnamon and sugar for a quick cinnamon toast as a nice morning or evening treat.
One way to ensure that you are cooking in a nutritional manner is to make sure that you do not over cook your vegetables. This is important because overcooking can actually draw the nutrients out of your vegetables and also cause them to lose taste. Try steaming your veggies instead of boiling.
If you like to bake for the holidays and give home-baked gifts from the kitchen, consider packaging your goodies in any of the readily available, multiple-use plastic storage containers instead of holiday print metal tins. The recipient of your tasty treats will not only love their cookies, but will also love the very re-useable container your baked goods came in. Fancy tins are pretty, but often get tossed away because they are rarely air-tight and tend to rust after washing.
If you envy the straightness of restaurant bacon, here’s an easy tip that will help you get the same effect. Simply dip each slice of bacon into cold water before you place it in the frying pan. This keeps the bacon strips from becoming curly and gives a straighter edge.
As stated before, cooking serves many purposes. It tests creativity, improves skills, and delights your friends and family. The tips from the article above should help you with cooking, no matter the reason. You will be able to successfully create your favorite flavorful dishes, and have a wonderful time preparing and eating them too!
