Monday, September 3, 2012

Better Cooking With Less Effort - Quick Ways To Brush Up On Your Kitchen Skills

Sometimes, your kitchen seems dull and uninspiring. With a passion for all things culinary, however, this can change. You will enjoy the time spent in your kitchen and gain something from it. You can become a skilled cook, eat better, and save money at the same time. The following tips can give you a start toward becoming an excellent cook.

Ketchup can be used to batter foods before they are fried. Dip the food in ketchup immediately before covering it in seasonings and bread crumbs. Ketchup provides excellent flavor to fried foods, and your friends will love it.

A good kitchen requires good knives. This can save you time so that you don't wrangle with dull knives, and it's safer for you to use a sharper one! More injuries, cuts and serious accidents happen as a result of blunt utensils than freshly sharpened ones.

Do you need to juice your fruit? Stick in in the microwave for best results. A quick zap in the microwave for about ten seconds is all you need with oranges, lemons, limes, and other citrus fruits. When you're done microwaving, roll it across a hard surface, like a counter, before you cut it open to begin juicing.

Before you start cooking, quickly inventory and gather all required ingredients, so as to to prevent unnecessary stress. If you do so, you can jump in at once; you won't get stuck in the middle of a recipe without a necessary ingredient. The process of gathering the ingredients may not be quicker if you do it prior or during, but it will save you time and headaches doing it beforehand since you won't lose your cooking focus when you are in the middle of a recipe.

It's natural to want to impress others with something original, but you're better off sticking with what you know when you are cooking for an important guest. Many people want to impress a loved one, new in-laws or a boss with their cooking. You can impress them with a simple delicious meal cooked to perfection.

An excellent cooking method is brine. Let poultry soak in brine for one hour before you prepare it for more flavor.

Improper storage techniques won't ensure they will last from harvest through the winter months, which is when they are most often desired for inclusion in recipes. To avoid rotting, store apples in open-mesh bags or baskets in a cool basement or in the produce drawer of your refrigerator. Sort your apples carefully before storing them, as one bad apple will end up spoiling the rest.

You might be very stressed out about preparing for an important family meal. Instead of panicking, try and do all your prep work the night before. For any dishes that can be made ahead, do so; for all others, prep the ingredients in advance.

A pantry or other cool, dark space will preserve the flavor of herbs and spices the longest. Storing spices in warm locations, such as above the stove, can cause the spices to lose their flavor and you to lose your money.

You should remove any excess fat from your soup or stew. If you notice an excess of fat in the stew or soup, you need to allow it to completely cool and then the fat will rise to the top of the dish. On a spoon, place a cube of ice and lightly skim it around the surface of the soup. The fat will be attracted to the cube of ice. You can also use a piece of paper towel to skim the fat off the top.

When you are barbecuing, make sure that you prepare your grill beforehand so it is ready when you are. You should start preparing your grill around 30 minutes before you put the food on. The heat should be moderate and the charcoal should be a little ashy. This is the best temperature to begin grilling.

Fresh garlic is ideal when preparing dishes that call for garlic. It's well-known that fresher garlic equals sweeter taste. If it isn't soft, bruised or shriveled and it has some firm skin then you know that the garlic is fresh.

There is no cook that knows everything there is to know about cooking. It is important to always try to learn new things to keep cooking easy and fun. Read up on the subject of cooking so you can get as much as you can out of your learning experience in the kitchen. The next time you're in the kitchen, consider trying out one of these tips. You may find that the more you learn, the more fun you will have while cooking.

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