Have you ever gone out and thought about how the chef made the food taste so good? Have you tried to duplicate your favorite restaurant dishes at home? Use the tips in this article to help you learn about making your favorite meals for any occasion.Cooking can be enjoyable hobby for many people.

Keep all dried spices in a location that is cool and dark. If they get exposed to any light, heat or humidity, these items will begin to lose their flavor. Ground herbs and spices can retain their flavor for 12 months under normal circumstances. Spices which are kept whole can retain their flavors for 3 to 5 years. Storing your spices in glass containers with a longer shelf-life for your spices.

If you have decided that you might like to cook more food at home, look for a great book that can help you. These books can be found in many places: the library, online or even a family member. Try a few recipes, and be patient with yourself as you are mastering this new skill.

Bake pie and tart crusts for a longer time than you would think they should be baked. They need to be a golden caramel in color rather than pale blonde. The darker color results when the sugar from the crust has caramelized and will have a sweet and crisp flavor.

This will give your food maximum flavor when it is ready to serve.

Make sure that you cut your meat extremely thin as well as on the bias for stir-fry. This can get a little tricky and does tend to take up some time. Cut your meat as it is still a little frozen and cut it at a forty five degree angle, with the bias.

Partially freeze meat so it becomes easier to slice into thin strips. This is especially helpful when you are preparing an Oriental dish. Allow the meat to thaw prior to cooking though, so you can be sure that the strips all cook evenly.

Try adding cauliflower to your mashed potatoes to cut some calories and fat. The taste of cauliflower will blend seamlessly with your potatoes while picking up the potatoes.Cauliflower has the same texture and color as potatoes, so the dish will be transformed into one that has more vegetables and fewer calories.

It is important to add oil to the side of the pan when you are cooking so that it is already warmed when it finally gets to the delicious food you are preparing. This helps to boost the food’s flavor when it is done.

Cooking Vegetables

Quickly cooking vegetables allows them crispier and more nutrient-filled. Vegetables that are cooked slowly lose their taste and nutrition. These speed-cooking techniques will yield vegetables that are healthier and taste great as well. Cooking vegetables for only a short amount of time possible.

To make slicing meat into thin strips a little easier, partially freeze it. This works well when cooking many oriental meals. When the meat is partially frozen, cutting becomes cleaner as the meat fibers are less likely to tear or stretch. Make sure that you let the meat thaw before cooking, so the meat is cooked evenly.

Do you enjoy cooking with the flavor of fresh basil? Put a some of fresh basil in a glass. Add water to cover the stems are covered. Put the basil on top of your counter and it will be fresh for weeks! The basil may even start growing roots if you occasionally change the water regularly. You should also trim the basil so it grows even more.

Beans or tofu are excellent sources of protein that you need to add some to your diet. Both can be found at almost every grocery store. Try frying tofu with some interesting seasonings and adding seasoning to replace meat. Beans can always be cooked with herbs is a flavorful source of protein.

Many people like to cook with apples towards the end of the year, but if they aren’t stored properly they can spoil. Apples are extremely perishable. In a warm, dry environment, they will quickly go bad. Store your apples in an airtight container in a cool, preferably humid place. Sort your apples carefully before storing them, as one bad apple will end up spoiling the rest.

Sauteing veggies in a little chicken broth is a healthful way to cook them. This technique is a great and delicious way to easily cook healthier while not skimping on flavor.

If you are having people over to your home to eat, and you are including a salad with the meal, keep it on the side. Some people enjoy lots of dressing than others; let guests pour their own dressing. Make sure you have a selection of dressings to choose from as well.

No matter what you are cooking, fresh ingredients are always much better than dried or frozen ingredients. Use fresh foods any time you can, as they bring out the best flavor of the dish, and can be real money-savers too.

Place unripe fruits in a plastic bags you buy them. If you put them in the bag with holds the air will go through the bag, and the gas will stay in, keeping the fruit fresh and tasty.

To avoid burning your food, it is of the utmost importance to stay organized. Having an organized will ensure that you are productive when cooking. Being disorganized can make it quite easy to make it impossible to find things when you need them, wasting valuable time and money!

Garlic’s only disadvantage is that it transfers smell onto your hands. Try rubbing your hands against stainless steel to get the odor of garlic and other foods off your hands. While ridding your hands of the garlic odor, it will also have the added benefit of preventing its transfer to other foods, as you cook.

If you plan on using fresh herbs, such as dill or parsley in your meal, form them into bunches and cut them with scissors. This will keep the herbs drier and less heavy than chopped with a knife.

If you are going to cook a complex meal, try doing prep work the night before so you are less stressed. Get all of the ingredients that you will need, and chop or measure anything you can in advance. You can reduce a lot of recipes to a matter of mixing everything together and putting heat to it if you to cook.

If you are going to be making chicken stock, it is best to go big or not at all. Plan on preparing a large batch so that the excess can be frozen and used later. Stock is perfect for many dishes like stew, soup, and even casseroles. Allow the stock to cool, then split it up into heavy duty Ziploc freezer bags.

Congratulations! With these tips you are now closer to becoming a wonderful home chef. Be creative and experiment with a wide variety of recipes and meals. There is no limit to the different ethnic cuisines you can try to help spice up your cooking.

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