Cooking Tips

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Cooking Tips Too Make Your Life In The Kitchen More Enjoyable!

As you nightly struggle in your kitchen laboring and distressing over dinner preparations for your family of four, do you wonder how the professionals do it? How do they manage to feed dozens and even hundreds of hungry mouths at a time? How do they accomplish it all with class and elegance while making it all seem so effortless? Do they know something that you do not? But of course they do—they have earned the diplomas and certificates in fancy culinary schools that you have not.

A better and a more relevant question, in my opinion, would be, “Are the kitchen connoisseurs willing to share their wisdom?” And the answer is, “But of course!” The following are some very helpful cooking tips for home cooks like you, gleaned from various expert sources:

1. Prepare, prepare, prepare. Having all your tools, appliances and ingredients ready at your fingertips before you begin will save you the time and stress of scrambling around.
2. Has your family been complaining about your lumpy mashed potatoes? Buy yourself a potato ricer. It is inexpensive and will impress your complainers with the smoothest mashed potatoes they have ever seen.
3. I will bet that you have been limiting yourself to the use of iceberg letters. But did you know about red leaf lettuce? It will add a nice colorful touch to your salads.
4. Do you on occasion puree your soups by transferring them to your food processor? Try using a hand blender. You will find it easier and you will save yourself some cleanup time.
5. Leeks are full of dirt and sand and are difficult to clean. Do yourself a favor and chop them first then give them several baths in cold water and drain in a colander.
6. When selecting cabbage, opt for the head that is heavier and more solid than it looks. Break off the top most leaf to check for crispness.
7. All the pineapples at your grocer’s look great but has it been a hit or miss process for you? Do you often find yourself opening a pineapple that is not quite ripe yet? When selecting a pineapple, pluck a leaf from the bunch. If it comes off readily, the pineapple is ripe.
8. You bought a pineapple whose leaves pluck out easily but you are not quite ready to open it yet. To store it, cut off the leafy bunch and stand it up where the leaves had been. This will drain some sweet juices throughout the entire pineapple.
9. Steamed vegetables should not be immersed in water. Get yourself a folding steamer platform. This little appliance is very inexpensive and will fit just about any pot in your kitchen. Fill the water to just below the platform where the vegetables will be steaming.
10. Mushrooms are like sponges that absorb water. If you are intending to fry them, wipe them clean with a damp paper towel rather than washing them with running water.
11. Have you tried to roast garlic because you have had it in a restaurant and loved it? You have not been able to get it right, have you? Well here is the trick of the pros: sprinkle the entire bulb with a little olive oil mixed with white wine, salt and pepper and wrap in aluminum foil. Roast in 350 degree oven for about an hour.
12. Do you throw your brown sugar out just because it has hardened and you do not know what else to do? Adding a piece of white bread in with the hardened sugar. It will help soften it.

Happy cooking!

Posted in Culinary Articles