When you season a piece of meat, try it out before you start to cook it all. Meats such as meatballs, hamburgers and meatloaf need to be seasoned carefully. You should not cook the dish entirely after seasoning it. Cook a small portion first to sample. Doing this allows you to test the seasonings and make appropriate adjustments.
Make homemade stock to create tastier dishes. You can make this in large batches, and freeze some for later use in resealable freezer bags. This way you will always have flavorful homemade stock on hand when you want to make soups or other dishes. If you make your own stock, it will be much healthier and not loaded with preservatives. As you get a better feel for what you are cooking and your own personal tastes you will just know what does and does not work.
Lately I have been creating all kinds of decadent deserts and yet I don’t usually taste them. I pretty much know what it will taste like and I have always been pleased with the sounds of joyful groaning as people consume whatever it is that I have managed to create in the kitchen on any particular day.
Soaking raw potatoes for 30 minutes prior to frying will produce the crispiest French fries. The soaking process will reinforce the vegetable fibers, and they will be better able to withstand heat when you fry them.
If you do not have time to cook for your family, prepare things in advance. You can cut up ingredients, measure spices, marinate meat and prepare sauces 24 hours in advance to avoid the stress of preparing a more complex meal. This way, you will be completely ready to cook and less stressed when you have to complete the meal. I also read and then re-read the recipe to make really sure I know what I am doing and when it is that I am supposed to complete a step. Of course all that said I do manage to leave something out or mix it at the wrong time. I’ve been lucky so far that most everything comes out quite nicely. And I can’t remember the last time I had a complaint about my cooking.
Apples are used in cooking mostly during the fall, but you must make sure they are properly kept so that they do not rot. You can keep apples fresh by storing them in a cool basement or refrigerator as warm or dry air makes them rot. Check them frequently, since if one apple goes bad, the rest will quickly follow. Since I live in Maine I have been able to store the apples outside on the back porch. I have learned recently that I need to put them up on a shelf or maybe on top of the woodpile because one evening I was going to step out there to get some apples but fortunately I saw the skunk before it saw me and was able to quickly shut the door in the nick of time.
If you’re dealing with a vegetable or fruit that you aren’t familiar with, you should take the time to learn more information about it. You may be surprised, with a little research, at the versatility of a new food. You will be able to find the best way to cook this new ingredient and have more fun.
If you start applying some of the advice contained in the tips above, you can improve your cooking skills very easily. So, take heed of the information you have just read, enter your home kitchen and start cooking! You will surely cook much improved dishes everybody will love.
You might be wondering why it is that I don’t indulge in the fabulous deserts that I create. Well, in December of 2009 I finally found a diet program that has worked fabulously for me. I lost 30 pounds that first month and then totally over a period of time lost 121 pounds. Here’s what I looked like back in 2009.
And while this next photo was taken in Central Park when I was there in April, 2012 I look about the same. I do have friends that comment once in awhile that I look better now. But I don’t know. If only I had a full head of hair. 🙂
I appear to have found a nice balance between eating healthy and having a taste of this and that from time to time and getting the exercise that helps me to keep the weight off and feel as good now as I do. There was a time that I thought I was just going to keep getting bigger and bigger until I popped. Thanks goodness for things that work. In future posts I will share some of the cheesecakes I have made. Oh, and I taught myself to cook although I think I might like to take some cooking classes so that I can be even better.