Cooking Has Never Been This Easy Before!

Becoming a good cook is all about knowledge, as well as, a bit of trial and error. Knowing the correct methods and styles can be greatly beneficial. The advice given in this article, will give you the necessary knowledge and insight to help you become the great cook that you have always wanted to be.

When seasoning your food, remember that it is much easier to add more seasoning if needed, but you cannot take it away if you add too much. That is why its important to go light when seasoning with herbs and spices. You want to compliment the flavors of the food and not overpower them.

Ensure that your baked fish is moist and tender by cooking "en papillote". This is a French technique that refers to fish baked in a parchment-paper packet. Place the fish and vegetables of your choice in the center of a large piece of parchment-paper. Bring the edges of the paper together, crease them tightly to form a seal, and bake for 10 to 15 minutes at 450 degrees. The fish and vegetables steam in the packet, keeping them moist and tender, and creating a tasty, healthy dish. (Clean-up is just as easy - simply throw away the paper after eating!)

When you are cutting garlic, one of the things that you can do is to put it in a plastic bag before you cut. Then, slice the garlic cloves inside the bag to protect your board from smelling. This will help to reduce the pungent odor that garlic can give off.

You can reduce the fat and calorie content of regular mashed potatoes by substituting part of the potatoes with mashed cauliflower. This wont affect the taste but it adds a handful of nutrition. You will not taste the blandness of cauliflower, but notice a new interesting flavor instead. Cauliflower mixes easily with potatoes and will become hard to notice while reducing your intake of carbs.

When cooking steak, make sure the pan you are using is really hot so that it sears the outside of the meat and keeps all of the juices inside. This will make your steak taste great, and it wont be dried out, since all of the flavor is still sealed inside of the meat.

When you want to make a soup using stock, follow this tip. Be sure to make a large amount of stock, pour it in a plastic bag, and place it in the freezer. This will allow you to quickly make soup whenever you want to by simply thawing out the already made stock.

Nutrition

Many liquids are interchangeable within a recipe; try replacing the water or milk with something new. If the recipe calls for water, switch it up by using a broth, juice, or cooking liquids. Other dairy products such as buttermilk or sour cream can be used in place of milk. Using different liquids can add nutritional value, while at the same time punching up bland, old recipes.

To preserve more of the nutritional value of your vegetables dont cook them for too long. As you cook a vegetable, its nutrient content diminishes. Good techniques for quickly cooking vegetables are steaming and stir-frying. Slow cooking has its place, but dont neglect the quicker techniques with their greater nutrition.

As was stated earlier in the article, cooking skills are all about the knowledge you have of the processes and styles. Learning the best methods, as well as using experimentation, can help you understand the basics of cooking. The advice given in the article you just read, will put you on the best path to becoming a culinary genius