healthy cooking
How To Cook Like A Great Chef
Do you ever find yourself wishing that you could recreate a favorite restaurant dish? Perhaps you have even tried to recreate the dish at home. Here are some pointers that may not make you a master chef right away, but can guide you toward creating meals to be proud of. Healthy Cooking can be a rewarding hobby for nearly anyone.
If you would like to start healthy cooking more food on your own, take a trip to a local library or bookstore where you can find many cookbooks with recipes you can enjoy making at home. Try making three or four of the recipes that appeal to you the most, and give yourself plenty of time to perfect your newly acquired skill.
Golden Color
When baking crust for pie or tarts, leave them in the oven to bake a little longer than you planned. The crust should turn a golden color, not simple blonde. When you see the golden color it indicates carmelization, which lends a crisp, sweet flavor to the pie crust.
There is something you can do to rescue your sauce and use it as planned. Put some corn starch into water and mix it in your sauce. Then, stir the resulting solution with the sauce to thicken it. However, it is important that the sauce is stirred often while the mixture is being added so as to stop it becoming too thick.
Making a meal for someone important, such as a romantic partner or a boss, is not the time to experiment with new dishes. Stay away from using new ingredients, or a new recipe. This will help you feel less stressed when preparing your meal.
For crispier French fries, put raw potatoes into cold water and let them sit there for about half an hour before frying. Vegetables fibers can breakdown under high heat conditions. Soaking reinforces these fibers to produce better results.
If you are looking for a nutritionally beneficial way to cook your vegetables, try sauteing them in a small amount of chicken broth. Broth will flavor the vegetables, and less oil will be needed to saute them. Do this and you will find that your vegetables are delicious and easy to prepare.
You should read the labels when you are buying ingredients for a recipe. Unwanted additives are sometimes placed in many healthy cooking staples, and this may be unhealthy. Make sure the ingredients you get don’t contain too much sugar or sodium, because each may account for certain health problems if overused.
Healthy Cooking
When certain recipes call for milk or water, try adding some other liquids that you would see fit to experiment with flavors. For example, you might try chicken broth or beef broth instead of water in a meat dish. You might even try fruit juice when healthy cooking certain veggies. As an alternative to milk, try using thinned sour cream, yogurt, soy milk or buttermilk. Using liquid substitutions in your healthy cooking can increase nutrition and give a standby dish a new flavor.
When making a dish that needs to contain garlic, purchase the best and most fresh garlic you can. A rule of thumb for garlic: Fresher means sweeter. If garlic isn’t fresh, it will be shriveled and soft.
Many popular veggies and herbs have a strong residual odor that can remain on cutting boards well after use. Get two different cutting boards or mark one side of your board and make sure you use it for certain ingredients only.
You should let your meat rest prior to serving. Many home cooks do not realize how important it is to let the meal rest. It is highly tempting to serve the food as soon as you take it off the grill. If you serve immediately off the grill, you will lose most of the juices in meat when you cut into it. Always wait a awhile before eating your meal; allow it to cool slightly before digging in.
Prepare the meal the night before to reduce any stress when you’re going to have a complicated meal. Use this time to gather all needed ingredients, chop veggies and measure seasonings. Make sure you have everything you need. This way, you won’t have to do the tedious tasks when you are ready to cook.
Pasta Salted
Use salt liberally in the water used to cook pasta. This allows the salt to be absorbed by the pasta. Pasta salted during healthy cooking tastes better than pasta salted after the fact.
If you plan on using raw onions in your salsa, rinse them with cold water after dicing and then proceed to blot them dry. If you use fresh onions, they are going to release a sulfurous gas. Fresh salsa can be ruined by this type of gas. Rinsing the onions with cold water removes this gas.
When sauteing, don’t put too much into the pan. This will create extra moisture that will act to steam the food rather than adding that crispness that comes from sauteing. Saute at a lower temperature as well.
Cutting Board
Proper care for a wood cutting board. To keep your wooden cutting board in top shape, avoid exposing it to excess moisture. If you have to clean your cutting board, use a sponge rather than immersing it in soapy water. You can find oil designed for cutting boards to maintain yours. Make sure it is completely dry before you use it.
Don’t try out a new recipe on important guests or a special occasion. New or complex recipes will increase your stress level, and you can’t be sure how they may turn out. Please them by healthy cooking a recipe you are familiar with, and can cook very well.
If you’ve followed the tips in this article your healthy cooking skills should be much improved. Think of new and innovative recipes and techniques that will make your meals fit for a gourmet. With such a wide range of food out there, the possibilities are endless.
Take Your Healthy Cooking To The Next Level With These Simple Tips
Being a good cook is much simpler than you might believe. When healthy cooking, experimentation is a good thing and will make you meals more interesting. You can use this advice to help expand your comfort-zone and begin building a reputation as an excellent cook. You can grow as a chef by implementing these suggestions when you cook.
Prepare in advance as much as possible. You’ll be glad you have your prep work done when it’s time to cook. Trying to cook a meal that has to be on the table by a certain time can be stressful. Having as much prep work done as possible will save you both time and frustration!
Slice meats into thin strips on the bias when prepping for stir-fry. Cutting meat thinly can be difficult and time-consuming. Cut your meat as it is still a little frozen and cut it at a forty five degree angle, with the bias.
Replacing some of your mashed potatoes with equal amounts of cauliflower is a healthy alternative, reducing fat and calories. The taste of cauliflower will blend nicely with the potatoes. Cauliflower is also the same texture and color of potatoes when mashed so it’s a great way to add more veggies, while lowering calories from classic mashed potatoes.
Have you had difficulty in determining how long to grill your meat? A meat thermometer can give you a precise temperature, reassuring you that the meat is fully cooked. If the meat is greater than 1.5 inches in thickness, you should close the lid of the grill in order to decrease your grilling time.
You need to soak wooden skewers in water for approximately thirty minutes prior to using them. This helps them avoid burning when you cook. Use two parallel skewers as opposed to a single skewer to keep food intact.
Beans and tofu contain a lot of proteins. Both can be found at any grocery store. Tofu is great meat alternative when baked, broiled, or pan-fried with seasonings. To add some tasty protein to your plate, boil some beans with a touch of herbs for seasoning.
Saute vegetables with chicken broth to cook them in a healthy way. Broth adds flavor to the vegetables while reducing the quantity of oil necessary for sauteing. This is a great and delicious way to cook vegetables.
Baking Sheets
Before healthy cooking pumpkins, cut them up and place them on a baking sheet flesh side up. Take each half cut side down and place on different baking sheets. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Sprinkle a little bit of water onto the baking sheets, then bake for about one hour.
This will safely preserve them for up to a year. In addition, you’ll get to enjoy out-of-season fruits when no one else can!
Cater to your guests by serving salads with dressing on the side. Amount and type of dressing are personal tastes, so let your guests dress their own salad. It is important to provide your guests with a plethora of dressings.
It is important for every cook to have their healthy cooking supplies organized. If you do not organize them, you will be scrambling around to find where you put everything. Keep things that are similar in the same place. For instance, place parsley and basil in one cabinet, since both are spices.
Many veggies and herbs leave strong scents and plant oils on your cutting board that are very difficult to remove completely. Use a permanent pen to make a mark so you know which side you are using.
You’ll find that healthy cooking a big, complicated meal is less stressful if you handle some of the preparation ahead of time. Make sure you have every ingredient you need, and measure out spices or herbs. Cut veggies as necessary. When the time comes to actually cook the meal, you will just have to combine the ingredients in the right order and cook them at the proper temperature for the correct amount of time.
Raw Onions
When preparing a salsa that won’t be used immediately, rinse any raw onions you are using in cold water and dry them well. If you use fresh onions, they are going to release a sulfurous gas. Your salsa can be ruined by this gas. By running cold water over the raw onions, the gas is removed.
Get your grill ready to go before you start to barbecue. This should be done about 30 minutes prior to putting any food on it. The coals should have a coating of ash and be at a medium heat. This is the best temperature for grilling.
Invest in good cutting utensils to use in the kitchen. In addition to the practical benefits, you will also improve your safety when cutting foods with sharp utensils. Dull knives actually cause more cut fingers and accidents than sharper ones.
Sauteing with too much food in the pan can lead to unwanted issues. Too much liquid in the pan will result in steamed, soggy food and not the crispy texture you were trying to achieve by sauteing. Also, make sure that this is done at a temperature that is low.
When herbs and seasonings are prominent in a dish, use fresh ones if possible. Dried herbs, such as oregano and basil. are only good for dishes that are complex and have many different flavors going on. However, herbs that are fresh are superior and provide a more flavorful, stronger taste overall. If your situation allows, plant an herb garden, so that you are never at a loss for fresh herbs.
Healthy Cooking
Try out the tips from this article for improved healthy cooking experiences. You may want to try every idea her at least once. Practice them and perfect your healthy cooking skills. You can be a better chef in no time if you treat these tips seriously.