Be a Superb Cook with These Simple Tips
- One of the hardest things to master in cooking is how to bake. Baking requires time, patience, and practice. Try this tip to help you learn how to bake or how to improve your baking skills. If you use a convection oven, always reduce the oven temperature by 25°F. Best to reduce the baking time as well– for cookies, it’s around 1 minute less. For cakes, cupcakes, bread, brownies, bars, etc (items with longer bake times), it’s usually reduced around 5 or so minutes. If you stick to this tip and practice them, you should be able to bake breads, cakes, and pastries with ease.
- To remove the hard core from a head of iceberg lettuce, whack the bottom of the lettuce head on the counter in order to loosen the core from the rest of the leaves. You should be able to pull the core out easily, leaving you with lettuce that’s ready for sandwiches, shredding, and chopping.
- Learn to make a good roux. When you are learning to make the best cooking bases, consider learning the art of making roux. It consists of mixing oils, fats, or butters with flour. If you enjoy making Cajun or French foods, roux is a mainstay.
- When cooking with thick and sticky ingredients like molasses or honey, make it easier with non-stick cooking spray. Simply spray the inside of a measuring cup before adding the viscous liquid. When pouring, it will slip out completely and cleanly with no need to scrape the inside of the cup.
- Avoid using citrus to marinate your meats. Citrus sometimes creates a mealy quality to the meat texture. If you must use citrus, squeeze a bit of lime or lemon as a finishing touch instead. This will give you the flavor that you desire while keeping the integrity of the meat intact.
- When you are using herbs and spices, make sure that you store them correctly to keep the flavor fresh. Since humidity is a spice’s worst enemy, make sure to keep them in air-tight containers. Also, keep them in a dark place since light can negatively affect the taste of your spices.
- Cook your rice in vegetable or chicken stock instead of water. Choosing a stock will add both extra flavor and valuable nutrients. The cooking process and time are the same as with water; so, you won’t be adding any extra work by trying this method.
- If you enjoy having baked potatoes with a meal but do not like the long cooking time, you should soak them in salt water for twenty minutes before baking. After soaking, they will take only about half of the usual time to bake.
- Eggplants tend to turn black during the cooking process unless you treat them properly. Add a spoon of milk to the prescribed amount of cold water, then add the plant to the milky water. The eggplant will not change color during cooking, and your dish will be more appetizing when you serve it.
- Although there are many intricacies to baking, using these tips will help you become an excellent baker. There is no doubt that baking is a difficult cooking skill to master. Take your time learning, and do not be discouraged by minor setbacks. Practice these tips, and eventually you will get it just right!
