subject: 5 Tips To Cook Better [print this page] I can cook better than I ever have because I don't follow recipes anymore. They've let me down too many times.
However, if I don't have written instructions, how do I create amazing meals at home? There are 5 elements, or necessary skills that I use to be able to cook the way I want, with the ingredients I desire.
The first way to cook better is to change your thought process a bit. You must admit to yourself that recipes are good simply for ideas. Blindly following someone else's idea of how something should be cooked is destined for frustration.
There are too many variables in recipes for the home cook to duplicate them exactly as the photo shows. First, the test kitchen and the photo studio are two separate places, they did not meet. Secondly, products can be different sizes, stoves different temperatures, pots and pans of different materials, making recipes difficult to duplicate.
If you want to make a nice salad with lots of juicy veggies, the food processor is the way to go. You can make a fresh salad every day, or put in a few extra minutes and put together an adequate amount to last quite a few days. The things that are tiresome to chop do fine in this appliance: carrots, celery, radishes, green and red onion, and bell peppers, as well as bigger pieces such as broccoli, cauliflower and squash. Tip: Chop plenty fresh vegetables to get you through most of the week, and then add them to the lettuce when you are ready.
Everybody adores a full-bodied soup, but not everyone loves to prepare it. Vegetable preparation can be a hassle. But with a processor, you don't have much cutting to do. Just cut large potatoes and squash into quarters, and the appliance will do the fine-tuning. You can even you use to puree the soup for you later. Tip: To thicken a soup, puree a few cups of the liquid and vegetables from the pot, then add them back. Potato makes a great thickener.
Lastly, sauce-making is a very important skill in the kitchen. A good sauce can help a badly cooked piece of chicken, but a bad sauce will ruin the best one.
Actually, all of sauce making comes down to one concept, gelatinization of starches. Quick and easy pan sauces are made by starch molecules absorbing liquids and swelling. This is what makes sauces smooth or lumpy.
You will definitely cook better when you stop trusting recipes entirely, use your kitchen knife, stock your pantry, use the correct heat, and learn how to make sauces. Then, an endless supply of dinner ideas will be at your command, now able to cook from anything you have on hand
