Do you want to up your game in the kitchen? Or are you just starting to cook and want to learn a few things from the best sources? Don’t worry, we got your back. Cooking is not a talent, and it can be learned quickly and easily if you have the right tips in your hand. Use the following ones to improve your cooking at home and have delicious food for every meal.
Learn how to use your knives
Safety first, as always, so make sure to properly use your knives. Correct knife usage makes cooking faster but also safer. For the correct technique, grip the knife close to the blade and hold firmly yet don’t be stiff in the wrist. When holding the food, curl your fingers to protect the digits from the blade and use your knuckles to guide the chopping movements. It needs practice but once you get it, you’ll look like a total pro.
Use acid instead of salt
Salt is a great flavor enhancer, but when cooking for your guests, it’s easy to go too salty for some and not salty enough for others. To avoid confusion and still make a delicious and flavorful meal, use acid instead of salt. Accents of sourness will transform any dish, allowing you to keep salt at bay. A splash of lemon or lime, citrus zest or a dash of vinegar will brighten up any savory dish without hogging all the flavors.
Learn to handle the meats
If you want to boost your cooking skills and impress a carnivore or two, it’s essential to learn to disassemble a chicken and handle other parts of meat. There are many videos online on bird disassembly, some of them also covering different uses for different pieces of the animal. With this technique, you’ll not only get perfectly prepared chicken roasts but also have enough meat for other dishes as well. Using every piece of the animal gives you a lot of cred in the cooking community.
Buy quality ingredients
Technique, talent and dedication are important for good cooking, but the finest ingredients are what make the biggest difference between pro and amateur cooks. Using the best products will allow your dishes to taste amazing with minimal interference. Wholesalers like Alpha Fresh provide restaurants as well as homes with fresh veggies, fruit, meat and seafood. Create a relationship with quality wholesalers, and you’ll always get just the best products for good prices.
Plan out your meals
In cooking school, students are required to plan their daily menus, so you can start doing the same. Planning out your day in advance allows you to save time, but also learn time management, ingredient management and budget saving. And sometimes, if you see you won’t be able to cook that day, you can simply do leftovers or opt for meal delivery, no shame in that.
Clean as you go
Letting dishes build up will only create chaos in the kitchen and interfere with your cooking. Pros chefs know to clean as they go, especially when it comes to small dishes, measuring cups and containers—these need to be cleaned immediately. While waiting for things to cook, wash the bigger and dirtier pots and pans. This process of cleaning prevents cross-contamination and gives you access to clean tools all the time.
Taste test many times
Every stage of the recipe deserves a taste. If you choose to try things out only at the end, you risk missing the window to change something in the recipe along the way. During cooking, some flavors can fade, some can explode and some can disappear, so adjust the taste in real-time. After some time, you will develop a skill to recognize tastes better and become much braver when it comes to experimenting and adding your own twist to the dishes.
You don’t need to go to culinary school to cook like a professional at home. Use these tips to improve your kitchen game and you’ll start drowning in compliments to the chef.