Friday, July 6, 2012

From Ramen To Filet Mignon: Becoming A Better Chef

Lots of people consider cooking troublesome. This article gives you suggestions on how to do that.

Stir-fry recipes require meat to be sliced very thin and at an angle to the grain. This process may take a very long time, and it takes practice. When it has firmed (not frozen), take it out of the freezer and then cut it against the meat grain at an angle of 45 degrees.

To find out if your meat is cooked properly, measure the temperature with a meat thermometer. There is a minimum internal temperature to which a meat needs to be cooked so that it is safe to eat. If your meats are not cooked to the proper temperature, bacteria can stay alive within the meat and make you and your family sick if they are consumed.

You can cut cinnamon rolls with ease. If you have made cinnamon rolls, it can be hard to prepare them for baking by slicing them. To easily cut the dough, place a strong piece of thread under the roll where you want to make the cut. Grab the thread and pull it up around the roll, cross the ends of the thread, then quickly pull the threads in opposite directions. Just remember to make sure it is thawed out before cooking.

To ensure that your shells stay firm when making twice baked potatoes or loaded potato skins, use thick-skinned potatoes, such as russets. Red potatoes are not suitable, because their skin is not thick enough and the filling may break through.

You should always use nylon, silicone or rubber cooking utensils when using nonstick cookware. If you use a utensil that is hard, such as wood or metal, you will probably scratch the nonstick coating. This will make the cookware less effective, and it can cause the surface to flake off into your food. Not only will this ruin your pans and make for some some unappealing food, but it could also be dangerous to ingest.

Trussing refers to the method of tying a turkey up with string for baking. It pulls the legs and wings close against the bird, which helps the turkey to cook more evenly. If the legs and wings aren't tied down properly, the tips of them could easily burn while the remainder of the bird does not cook.

Fresh ingredients are always preferable to dried or frozen ones in all of your recipes. Use fresh ingredients, as they bring out the flavor in a dish, and they are also less expensive.

To get some extra bang from your pasta sauce, reserve some of the water you cooked the pasta in. Remove approximately a quarter of a cup and set it aside. When you're ready to combine the pasta and sauce, pour in a bit of the water. Starches present in the retained water can contribute to a creamier sauce when combined.

Wash your dishes as you use them, when you are cooking. With a two-bowl sink, you can keep one side full of hot suds and run clear water for rinsing in the other. Since the easiest time to clean bowls and other implements is right after you have finished with them, you will save yourself a lot of time and effort since you won't have to scrub them so much.

Use cooking oil for measuring sticky foods! Take the measuring spoon, dip it into a lightly flavored oil, like canola, and then pour on the substance to be measured. The foodstuff will easily move from the spoon once measured and cleaning up will be a lot easier. This works for honey and peanut butter too.

Cooking a meal for an important occasion or a large number of people can be stressing. Cut vegetables and fruit, measure ingredients, and marinate meat up to 24 hours before cooking. You can get all the equipment you need out, store perishable items together in the fridge, and put the nonperishable ingredients on a spare counter. You may even be able to measure out some of your ingredients ahead of time.

If serving salad, keep the dressing on the side, rather than pouring it on the salad. This will allow your guests to control how much dressing they want to put on their salad. It is also a good idea to offer several dressing choices.

When sauteing, don't put too much into the pan. With too much in the pan, you will find some foods steaming as opposed to sauteing, which destroys the intended integrity of the dish. Keep the burner at a low setting during this process, as well.

When you make food that contains seasoning, only put a little bit on at a time instead of putting it on all at once. In this way you will give your food all the flavoring you can as well as using your ingredients more efficiently.

Purchase meats and fish with the bones intact. After removing the bones, store them in freezer-tight bags and keep them on hand in your freezer compartment for use as needed.

Do you feel guilty when you toss rotten, uneaten fruit in the garbage? You may wonder if it's okay to salvage them by trimming away the moldy parts. The truth is that a rotten spot often signifies that the whole fruit is bad. They need to be thrown out, due to the fact that mold is much deeper than just skin level and could make you or anyone who eats it very ill.

Avoid adding salt and garlic to dried beans that have not yet softened. Salt and garlic can both cause your beans to stay hard instead of softening up, and this is even more likely to happen if you are using older beans. The texture of your dish will be enhanced if you use seasoning about halfway through the cooking process.

Include some salt in the water when you make pasta. This will allow the pasta to take on the seasoning more efficiently. If you try to salt the pasta after it is already cooked it will not hold the seasoning as well.

It is vital for cooks to have their supplies organized when cooking. An unorganized kitchen is an unhappy kitchen. You will have difficulty finding what you want to make your delicious recipes. Put like items with other like items. Keep your herbs and spices together and follow this grouping rule with other supplies as well.

As the article shows, there are many ways to make cooking less of a drag and more interesting. When you use these tips, you can use your creativity to enhance an activity that you once viewed as a chore.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.