Just like in any other specialty, cooking has specific rules to help you get things done in the right way. Cooking can be fun, but again can be absolute hell. To come up with a successful meal, you need to understand the basic rules you have to abide by in the kitchen. If you’re new in the world of pots, pans, spatulas, peelers, strainers, and paring knives, you only need to master some amateur cooking skills, and then you can expand your culinary prowess by trying out recipes and dishes that excite you.
Here are a few things you need to know to upgrade your culinary skills at home.
Meal Planning
Planning a meal is a critical part of cooking that every chef should take note of. It would be best if you distinguished which foods compliment each other at the planning stage, which food combinations are good for your health and why, and finally, how you will prepare each dish to perfection. You need to consider the dishes’ color, texture, and flavors to come up with a lovely, cohesive, and visually appealing meal.
Understanding a Recipe
Reading is easy, and almost everyone can read well, but what matters to a cook is how you understand and interpret the recipe. Before you begin cooking, you must understand the recipe right from the ingredients to the main process. You need to carefully interpret how you can manipulate ingredients to suit your meal.
Starting with easy-to-follow recipes and practicing them regularly is an excellent way to build up a repertoire of go-to tasty meals that you can put together quickly. Mastering a simple recipe such as an easy chili is a great way to build your confidence in the kitchen and develop the skills and techniques needed to create a whole range of meals. Once you understand the recipe thoroughly, you will be able to make adjustments to suit your tastes and start to have fun with the balance of flavors.
Understand Terms
Baking and cooking have unique vocabularies that are only associated with the skill. As a cook, you need to master the language and terms associated with cooking to get you started. You can use a cooking glossary to learn terms like basting, folding, and cutting in, among many other terms.
Correct Measurements
Did you know that measuring is the key to cooking well, especially in baking? Your ingredients’ measurements have to be precise to produce a chemical reaction that you need to for that perfect and consistent result. You will need to measure both wet and dry ingredients using separate measuring cups or spoons.
Basic Knife Rules
Knives are one of the best tools in the kitchen, and you can never avoid using them. Learning how to use a knife, maintain it, and different cuts are critical to taking your culinary skills to the next level. It would be best if you start by learning the different types of knives and the various cutting styles (dice, chop, paysanne, julienne, and, among others.). Extensive knowledge of how to use a knife can significantly reduce your meals’ prep time in the kitchen.
Food Safety
When working in the kitchen and explicitly dealing with food, you need to understand the right way to keep food safe. Just slight improper handling of food can lead to severe food- borne illnesses, which could be lifelong in some cases. Knowing how long food can stay out, the right internal temperatures for certain foods, and avoiding cross-contamination is the right step to keeping your foods safe from contamination.
Understand When Food is Ready
In most cases, you can tell that food is sufficiently cooked by how it appears on the inside. But it can be hard to tell if some foods are well cooked or not, and that’s why you need to learn how to perform a doneness test. Different foods like cakes and pies have different doneness tests that will help your cooking be a success.
Kitchen Safety
Apart from proper knowledge of handling food safely, you also need to know how to handle kitchen equipment, yourself, and any emergencies that may occur while cooking. For instance, you should know how to put off the fire and use safe clothing like oven gloves to avoid accidents such as burns. A safe kitchen means that you can comfortably cook and produce a well-made meal.
Recipe Substitution
What makes cooking fun is the fact that you can substitute some ingredients to create something unique that interests you. But you have to be careful while at this because different ingredients react differently and need different measurements. You need to learn how to make suitable substitutes for different things readily available in the kitchen for a perfect meal.
Understand Food Science
Cooking is much more of a science than it is of an art. Different ingredients play different roles in a recipe, and that’s why different techniques are used when adding ingredients. You need to understand salt’s function in recipes, how various fats react in baking, and why alternating dry and wet ingredients in some batters are essential. Proper understanding of some of these things will help you confidently improvise substitutions.
Healthy Cooking Methods You Should Stick to
Many people don’t know that different cooking methods can alter the nutritional makeup of an entire meal. There are numerous simple ways to prepare juicy food while maintaining its nutritional value. Heat can typically destroy up to 20% of vitamins, folate, and potassium in some vegetables. Some nutritionists even suggest that you eat raw or uncooked food to benefit from all its nutrients. But in essence, some foods like spinach, carrots, and tomatoes need to be cooked since heat helps eliminate antioxidants giving way to nutritional components into the body.
Steaming
Steaming foods like fresh veggies allows them to cook in their juices, thus retaining all the natural goodness. The food also retains most of its moisture without the addition of fat-laden. While steaming, it’s advisable that you add seasoning, whether it’s salt or lemon juice, to improve the meal’s taste.
Broiling
Broiling involves cooking meals, especially tender chunks of meat, under direct and high heat for a short time. It might not be suitable for cooking veggies and other foods since they will quickly dry out.
Boiling
Boiling is one of the easiest and quickest ways to cook food. You only need to add water and salt to taste, then place your meal on heat. Be careful about high temperatures and water volume since they can dissolve some vitamins and minerals in certain foods. It is the safest way to retain nutrients in zucchini, broccoli, and carrots, among other foods.
Poaching
Almost similar to steaming, poaching involves cooking your food in a little amount of hot water. Although this method takes longer, it’s an excellent way to retain nutrients in delicate foods such as eggs, fish, and fruits.
Microwaving
Microwaving involves heating of food by the use of radio waves within a short time, thus very low nutrient destruction. To avoid food drying out while heating using this method, you can sprinkle a little water on the food before you begin heating. The best thing is that you can cook any meal using this method, right from rice and meat to veggies and eggs. Be sure to use a safe container for the microwave.
Stir-frying
In this cooking method, you only need a moderate amount of oil in your cooking pan to give your vegetables and meat a nice sear. This cooking method is best for small pieces of meat, quinoa, rice grains, and veggies like snow peas, carrots, and bell pepper.
Grilling
Grilling is one of the best options to help you achieve a tantalizing meal of maximum nutrition while retaining its flavor. It adds a smoky flavor to your meats and vegetables and keeps them tender with just a little added fat. Excessive grilling is not good since the reaction between protein and fat in high heat can create toxins, leading to inflammation in the body and other related illnesses. This method of cooking should, therefore, be done on specific meals and rare occasions. For BBQs, use lean meat, which can cook within a short time.
No Cooking
Yes! You read it right. Raw food diets have become popular recently, thanks to their numerous benefits. Some studies suggest that the rainbow diet dramatically reduces the risk of getting diseases like cancer. Since most foods that can be eaten raw are plant-based, you will get more minerals, vitamins, and fiber in their natural form with no extra additives from cooking.
Nutritionists highly recommend a healthy diet since what you consume will always show from the outside of your body. One interesting fact about food is that anything that you eat has a unique effect on your body. Different foods can be used to boost various functions of the body.
For instance, if you want to improve your eyesight and keep your eyes healthy, you are advised to eat lots of carrots, green leafy vegetables, eggs, fish, nuts, and milk. You may need a nutritionist to guide you on what to add to your daily diet. The right pair of glasses will also protect your eyes from harmful UV rays. When making the big selection, go for one that blocks at least 99% of UVA and UVB rays.
