Want to up your cooking? These 12 tips will help you create better meals, straight away! From prep shortcuts to flavor-boosting tricks, you'll learn simple ways to elevate your home cooking. Discover how to cook smarter, not harder, and enjoy more delicious results in your kitchen - all based on my experience as a professional recipe creator, and select foodies on a popular internet forum.
Keep Your Knife Sharp
A sharp knife is vital for cooking great food at home. Without one, you'll never be able to chop onions and garlic small enough - and the whole chopping procedure will become quite annoying. Apart from sharpening your knives every so often, something else that will help you is to use the back of the knife to scrape ingredients off the cutting board. Using the sharp edge will dull it faster, and the back is just as effective for this job!
Always Add Acid
Everything needs a bit of acid to taste better - even fan favorites like butter! Citrus or vinegar-based acids are valuable culinary tools that brighten flavors and cut through the richness of dishes, releasing a burst of taste. When a dish seems to lack that certain something, a touch of acid can often be just what it needs!
MSG is Your Friend
Monosodium glutamate, or MSG, is a secret weapon in the culinary world. While it has faced a lot of critique, many foodies still use it to enhance the umami flavor of dishes-not only Asian food but a variety of cuisines! It's maybe not a secret in itself, but I was definitely surprised at how many home cooks actually use it. I've never kept it on hand myself, but maybe I should?
"Secret" Recipes
Sometimes, the best-kept secret is right on the back of a product's package. As one foodie confesses, "The recipe on the back of the Tollhouse chocolate chip bag, follow it to the letter. Everyone thinks I have the best of the best chocolate chip cookies." This isn't the first time I've heard about "back-of-the-package" recipes being the best out there - apparently, the Reese's Chocolate Chips bag also has a great chocolate chip cookie recipe on the back.
Know Your Baking Techniques
Baking can seem daunting, but it really just comes down to meticulously following recipes, knowing your oven's quirks, and understanding baking terminology. And don't forget to weigh your ingredients! These techniques make it difficult to go wrong with baking, and people will ask you how you got so good at it!
Always Use Butter
Butter's magical ability to enhance flavors and create richness is often underestimated. Even a small amount can elevate a dish to restaurant-quality status! Some of your favorite restaurant meals likely rely heavily on butter for that unbeatable taste, and it's often what sets restaurant-quality food apart from home cooking. But as we mentioned above, don't forget also to add a bit of acidity to elevate the taste even further!
Cheat with Lipton Onion Soup
I'd never heard of this trick before, but apparently, Lipton onion soup mix is a common "secret" in the world of home cooking. Mix it with ground beef for burgers or use it in crockpot meals for added depth and savory flavor. No, it's not cheating to use halfway solutions like this, it's just really smart!
Everything Needs Salt
Salt is a transformative element in cooking as it enhances and elevates the flavors of other ingredients. Masterful cooks understand the delicate balance of salting their dishes to perfection, and a well-kept secret is that unless food tastes slightly salty, it's actually under-salted! But don't take my word for it; I actually heard this from Björn Frantzén, the Swedish chef who's managed to create several three-Michelin-star restaurants.
Microwave With Water
A splash of water before reheating leftovers in the microwave can prevent drying out, especially with meats and rice. This simple trick ensures that your reheated food remains juicy and delicious, and can bring some foods back to almost as good as new!
A Lot More Vanilla
Most baked goods get better with a dash of vanilla extract, and some foodies take it to the next level by using much more than what's specified. This bold approach results in a richer and more flavorful outcome, and even more so if you use a high-quality vanilla extract. Speaking of which, did you know it's super easy to make vanilla extract at home? It's a must for the deepest flavor!
Season with Feeling
Precision in seasoning can be crucial at times, but don't be afraid to season with feeling as well. Trusting your taste buds and adjusting seasonings as you go is the best way to achieve a perfectly balanced dish; not following the recipe to a T. As long as you taste as you go and just add a little bit at a time, you probably won't destroy the dish! (Probably.)
Practice Makes Perfect
Finally - practice really does make perfect. When it comes to impressing others with your cooking, it's often best to stick with a recipe you've mastered through practice. When you're confident with a recipe you can make it consistently well and leave a lasting impression on your guests, every single time!
Source: Reddit
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