Cooking Tips Overview - cooking resource

Cooking Tips Overview

Ever hear the phrase ¡°there are too many cooks in the kitchen¡±? Although a crowded kitchen often means there are too many people putting their two cents in, cooks at every level from amateur to professional can benefit from great cooking tips. In fact, there are certain cooking tips that when applied to all recipes, guarantee a tasty meal and compliments to the chef.

Wise cooking tips include: be careful not to over-season certain dishes. When preparing a delicacy that calls for a strong and pungent flavor such as jerk chicken, garlic mashed potatoes, or sesame beef, using too much seasoning like curry or orange flavored glaze can hurt as opposed to helping, the outcome of your recipe. Always season according to taste; you can always add to your flavorings, but it's next to impossible to dilute certain spices.

Other key cooking tips include being sensitive to the tastes and palate of your guests and staying attentive to dietary constraints. Be sure to ask potential dinner companions if they have any food allergies or if they would prefer fish and seafood to beef or pork

One of the most important cooking tips is to pay close attention at all times to the required cooking temperature for your recipe as well as keeping a close eye and nose on your stovetop to avoid burning and ruining what you've spent time and effort on preparing. All too often, a perfectly good meal is charred beyond recognition and replaced with a take-out order or pizza delivery.

Finally, try to gather as many cooking tips as you can from a variety of sources including friends and family, internet recipes, and television chefs. Often the cooking tips that you use most frequently will be applicable to most of your dishes, and by closely following these cooking tips, your reputation as a cook who takes sound advice and pays close attention to detail will pay off in full, happy bellies and requests for your own set of cooking tips.

Cooking tips for busy people

Australians spend about one third of their household budget on convenience foods such as takeaway and supermarket ready-to-eat meals. There are many reasons why people are cooking less often. People's lives are busier; the two-income household can mean that neither partner has the time or energy to cook every night. There are also more people living alone, who often don't want to cook for themselves.

However, convenience foods are expensive and some are notoriously high in fat and salt. If you lack the time or motivation to cook, the following suggestions may be helpful.

Your pantry

You may be tempted to order takeaway if your pantry is bare and you can't face the thought of going to the supermarket. The secret is to stock long-life ingredients that can be combined in any number of ways to create interesting dishes. Suggestions include:

• Buy extra of long lasting vegetables like potatoes, carrots and onions, which can form the basis of soups or casseroles. Stock plenty of dried pasta, such as spaghetti, fettuccine, macaroni and spiral varieties.
• Keep a selection of other long-life carbohydrates like rice (stock different varieties such as white, brown, arborio and jasmine), Asian-type dry noodles, lentils and couscous.
• Use tinned tomatoes, tomato paste, tinned corn and other vegetables (look for 'no added salt' varieties) for pasta sauces, soups or casseroles.
• Stock a range of canned meats including tuna, salmon, ham, crab meat, sardines, beef and chicken.
• Keep tins of legumes on hand (for example kidney beans, three bean mix, chick peas).
• Include canned and packet soups.
• Have a stock of oils and vinegars including olive oil, sesame oil, balsamic vinegar and red wine vinegar. You can make a wide range of salad dressings or marinades with these ingredients if you include a dash of herbs and lemon juice.
• Stock dried herbs including basil, coriander, mint, thyme, oregano and mixed herbs.
• Useful condiments include tomato sauce, mustard, mayonnaise, relish, stock cubes, ready-made stock, soy sauce and chilli sauce.
• Dried goods to stock include pine nuts, curry powder, sun-dried tomatoes and shiitake mushrooms.
• Store a variety of nuts - these are a great meat alternative, especially in pasta or rice dishes.

Your freezer and fridge

• Keep your fridge and freezer stocked with handy healthy food. For example:
• Buy frozen vegetables. Contrary to popular belief, these products retain a high proportion of their nutrients.
• Fresh crushed garlic and ginger are available in jars to keep in the fridge and fresh herbs are available in tubes to keep in the freezer.
• Citrus fruits like oranges have a long life when refrigerated.
• Fresh lemon and lime juice can be bought in bottles and stored in the fridge.
• Grated cheese can be sealed and stored in the freezer to increase its shelf life.
• When buying fresh meat, choose de-boned varieties. Divide the quantities into meal-sized portions and freeze separately.
• Buy red meat and chicken already sliced or diced or marinated.
• Buy bread in bulk and keep it in the freezer until needed. Bake-at-home rolls can also be kept in the freezer to have as an accompaniment to many different meals.

Please visit Better Health to get your more cooking tips.

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