subject: Trouble-Free Cooking - Steps for a More Graceful Cooking [print this page] Trouble-Free Cooking - Steps for a More Graceful Cooking
Eating delicious food is pleasurable, so must the preparation be. Being able to cook without the hassles of burning, spilling and cleaning-up is every cooks frequent wish and wouId be a very lucky thing. But believe it or not, there is no kitchen that does not have any single mess. This means one thing, cleaning-up is always a part of cooking. You simply need to make your own ways to steal trouble out of your cooking. Try these:
Select for recipes that you would enjoy preparing. Working within your comfort zone avoids stress during the preparation. If you are making a difficult dish, take time to understand every recipe directions in order to be certain of all the steps involved. Necessary ingredients and required cooking equipments should be ready before you start cooking. This will save you from the headache of last-minute shopping trying to find spices for your recipe. Remember that learning even the most complex dish can be easy when you are confident and at ease.
If you are baking, don't forget to preheat your oven. People may believe its only a waste of time and energy, but it is what is needed to if you want favorable results in your food. This allows the food to cook evenly. Most cooks do not get properly-cooked baked meals because they only use high heat. Not all foods require high heat for cooking, so you would be at much advantage if you always begin at a medium or medium high temperature and simply adjust accordingly.
You may hate cleaning-up but you have to. A lot of women claims that cleaning up after cooking is a burden. In fact some consider it the worst thing about cooking. Make all the work lighter by cleaning up as you go. Wash each pot, pans and utensils right after using them. If you find it hard to keep up with washing right away, at least take a moment to run water in the empty pots, allowing them to soak for much easier cleaning after the meal. I try to clean while foods boil or bake so when my dish is ready, everything is ready for the next use as well. Dirty pots and dishes from preparing the meal stacked high in the sink are very tiring to behold.
Wipe up any spills particularly hard-to remove sauces at once. This helps avoid hard to remove sauces to go deep and dry that are much more maddening to clean afterwards. As soon as you finish cooking, immediately clean the sink with plain soapy water so it would be ready to go the next time you will use it. Cleaning up as you go will help make things a lot easier than when you allow food to dry and harden. A clean kitchen is the best accompaniment to a great cooking.
Meaty, fishy and garlicky smell are oftentimes left in your hands after cooking. Rid your hands of the smell by washing thoroughly with a good hand soap, or by rubbing a stainless spoon. Stainless steel has that magical ability to get rid of spicy and meaty smells. Rubbing your hands in fresh lemon juice can get rid of the unpleasant fishy smell after handling fish. Whatever you use to clean your hands, make sure you rinse well with soap.
While these tips sound simple and very familiar, they are the only solutions if you want something like a trouble-free cooking. Life today is much busier than life before and these basic ways are what I find most helpful to make cooking and cleaning up easier. The more you try to make cooking as trouble-free as possible, the more graceful your cooking will be.
It only takes a little effort to do this and it takes only you to start it.
