Monday, June 16, 2014

Improve Your Cooking Arsenal With These Easy Tips

Do you find your kitchen boring? You can change that feeling by turning cooking into a hobby. Your kitchen will transform into a place that you like to be, and you'll be able to make delicious meals the whole family will love. The tips below will get you started.

Keep your herbs in a place that is both dark and cool. If light, humidity and heat are present, these items will begin to lose their flavor. A lot of the time, you can expect an herb or a space to retain flavor for about a year. Spices that are not ground can keep their flavors for 3 to 5 years. When stored properly, they will stay fresher longer.

The prep work comes first. Try to have the prep work completed before cooking; this is important. Of course, cooking under a strict deadline can really increase stress levels. Try to complete your preparations, so you can avoid scrambling later on.

If you are looking for new ideas for meals to prepare for yourself or your family two great places to look are the library and the internet, where you can find a vast array of options. Create at your own pace and allow for patience as you get the trick of cooking down.

Your spices should be stored in a place that is cool and dark. By storing them in excessive light and heat, their shelf life will decrease. Try to find a cool, dark cupboard if you want to increase the flavor and lifespan of your favorite spices. Meals prepared with fresher spices are simply more delicious.

Freeze meat partially to facilitate slicing meat into thin strips. This is ideal for Asian meals like Chinese or Thai dishes. When meat is slightly frozen, it becomes simpler to slice because the fibers won't stretch and tear that easy. Make sure to let the meat thaw before you cook it, frozen ice and hot oil do mix well together.

There are many dishes you can make with apples, especially in cold-weather months. But if stored improperly, well, one bad apple does spoil the bushel. Dry warm air will cause them to rot, so make sure they are stored in a loose plastic bag in the fridge or in a cool basement. Remember the rule, one bad apple will spoil the bunch.

Save time and money by freezing leftover sauce in ice cube trays in the freezer. When you feel the need to create another meal, you will have them handy to heat up. Don't worry, your sauce will taste great even after having been frozen.

Do you have trouble determining how long you should grill a piece of meat? You may want to consider investing in a meat thermometer so that you know when your food is properly cooked. For a steak, or any other meat, that is more than one and a half inches thick, you can speed up the cooking time by covering it with the grill lid.

Use the ideas presented here as a jumping off point for your own ideas. Fix awesome dishes that everyone in the family will love and talk about for days to come. If you cook as a hobby, it can help your life and your diet. The heart of many a great home is in its kitchen; make yours one of them.

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