Do you want to improve your cooking prowess a bit? If the answer is yes, read the tips we have gathered for ways to easily make tasty meals that your family and yourself will look forward to!
Try making your own dried tomatoes. Try slicing a Roma in half lengthwise, or cut larger tomatoes into 1/2 inch slices. Put the tomatoes, cut-side up, onto a cooling rack and give them a light salting. Use a cookie sheet to hold the rack and set it in the oven at 190 degrees for at least 10 hours. You can then freeze your tomatoes in Ziplock bags. Another option is to store dried tomatoes in a jar that contains fresh, flavorful herbs and olive oil. Put your canned tomatoes in the fridge and be sure to use them in the next two weeks.
Many times your burgers can stick to your grill and it could be nearly impossible to free them without destroying them. Try brushing vegetable oil on the cooking surface prior to cooking so that food does not stick.
In order to ensure your meats are being cooked properly, you should make use of a meat thermometer. Each type of meat has a minimum recommended internal temperature to be considered safe for consumption. Since bacteria is all around us, especially on meat, it is important that you cook your meat thoroughly to kill off this bacteria and therefore prevent you from getting sick.
Not all fruit freezes well, but this way, you can prolong the freshness of certain fruits and enjoy them later. It will also allow you to have the fruits you love even when they are not in season.
Soaking raw potatoes for 30 minutes prior to frying will produce the crispiest French fries. Doing this increases the strength of the fiber in the potatoes, which means that they don't break down as quickly during the deep frying phase.
It is always recommended that you use a fair amount of salt, when you are boiling water for a pasta dish. This way, the flavor is able to fully permeate the pasta. Pasta salted during cooking tastes better than pasta salted after the fact.
Eat hearty winter greens. Once the first first has occurred, certain winter greens, including broccoli rabe, collards and kale, taste a lot sweeter. You should always remember to choose only greens with a bright, rich color. Make sure you avoid limp and discolored leaves. By nature, these greens are more prone to dirt collection, so wash them thoroughly and carefully before consuming them. Fill a bowl with cool water, and then dunk the greens in the water. Shake them off, and then cleanse with running water until it runs clear.
Make stews and soups even healthier by using nonfat stock or broth. Your soup should contain mostly vegetables and lean meats to keep it low-fat. When your soup is done cooking, put it in the refrigerator to chill. This will cause the fat to congeal and rise to the top. You can then remove the hardened fat and discard. The calorie savings is around 100 per tablespoon you remove.
When you are contemplating cooking for a large event, it is likely that you feel a bit overwhelmed. Rather than allowing yourself to panic at the last minute, you should complete all of the preparations on the night before. Put together everything you'll need, chop veggies, marinade ingredients and get bowls and utensils ready.
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.
If you are getting ready to cook for a big family get together, it is probably causing you a good amount of stress. Instead of succumbing to panic, do as much of the prep work as possible on the preceding night. This means setting out measurements, ingredients and marinades.
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.
If you follow this advice for cooking, you will be eating tasty homemade meals in no time. You will become more experienced over time and you will see how tasty a home-cooked meal can be. And your pocketbook will thank you. Often times, home cooked meals are more nutritious, resulting in a better life for everyone at the dinner table. There is no better time to start preparing your own meals than right now.
