Excellent food is many things. Use the following tips presented in this article so you can bring your cooking to new heights.
Pie crusts and tart crusts should be cook a bit past the point that you think they should be cooked. Go past the usual pale tan color and take them to a caramel gold. This indicates the sugar has turned to caramel. Your crust will have a sweeter and crispier flavor.
Cooking a large meal for friends or family requires a great deal of preparation ahead of time. Gather all the ingredients beforehand. Get everything set to cook the next day. Determine if you have you got the right utensils, etc. Doing so allows you to focus on the cooking itself.
To make slicing meat into thin strips a little easier, partially freeze it. This works well for Asian dishes, like Chinese or Thai. When the meat is partially frozen, cutting becomes cleaner as the meat fibers are less likely to tear or stretch. After you have sliced the meat, allow it to thaw out before cooking. This keeps the meat cooking evenly.
If you want to reduce the amount of calories and fat in a mashed potato dish, substitute cauliflower for some of the potatoes. Cauliflower has little taste of its own, so it will blend right into your potatoes and pick up flavors from whatever other ingredients you use. Cauliflower mashes into the same texture and color as potatoes, so no one will notice, and you you will get the benefits.
If you’re cooking pumpkins, cut them in half by positioning them upright and slicing down the middles. Put each half with the cut side facing down on their own baking sheet. Place a tiny bit of water on each sheet, then bake the pumpkin for about an hour at 350 degrees.
This allows the fruits to stay fresh throughout the year. In addition, it will allow you to eat fruits that are not currently in season when you crave them.
The stress of making dinner can be alleviated by prepping certain ingredients the night before. You can cut your vegetables, prepare sauces, soup contents an many other things in the evening before you lay down for bed. This will take a great deal of stress off of your shoulders when it is time to cook.
Make sure you thoroughly clean your utensils before starting to cook. If there is food leftover after washing, this could ruin whatever you are going to cook. This can allow harmful bacteria to spread.
Consider creating your own stock, in order to add some customized flavor to your dishes. Make a large amount and store it in the freezer. By doing this, you’ll always have homemade stock available whenever you are in the mood to cook soup. If you make your own stock, it will be much healthier and not loaded with preservatives.
Food is essential to life and has amazing power over people. Using the skills you have just learned will allow you to impress your friends and family.