Cooking Made Basic To Fit Your Busy Life

Cooking can be one of life's great pleasures. Whether you're baking or grilling, you can always findsomething new to create for a meal and can always use tips. Here are a few tips for you to keep inyour arsenal and use when you're looking for great cooking advice.

Have you ever wondered how your neighbor's pie crusts turn out to be golden brown and glossywhile yours is always pale? There is a trick to learn which guarantees the desired result every time.Beat some egg whites and brush it over the pie. You will take out beautiful, glossy, golden brownpies from your oven.

Slicing hot meat is often challenging, so consider partially freezing joints before you attempt to cutthem up. This method is especially useful when preparing Chinese or Thai entrees. Partially freezingthe meat will help the fibers to stay together when it is being sliced. However, to make sure that themeat cooks evenly, take the time to let it thaw out prior to cooking.

When storing ingredients that you will use for cooking it is a good habit to stock them in largequantities and freeze them in plastic bags. This will make preparing food easier and faster. Forexample, when preparing vegetables, you can just pull them out of the freezer and simply boil them.

Use a collapsible steamer basket to make the best steamed vegetables. These devices are availablewidely and cheaply. They can slip into almost any pot you already have and can be used for almostany vegetable you would like to enjoy. Be sure to watch your cook time to avoid getting mushyvegetables.

If you are always in the kitchen cooking, invest in a knife sharpener. This will ensure that yourutensils are sharp at all times, which will give you the ability to maximize the quality of your cuts.Keeping your utensils up to par is very important when cooking in the kitchen.

Some recipes call for peeled half or quarter peaches. In most cases peeling is not easy, as the skinsticks to the fruit and doesn't come off. The easiest way to remedy the problem is to place thepeaches in boiling water for 30 seconds. After removing the fruits, place them into ice water to stopthe boiling effect. Their skin will come off easily.

Cooking tip "� sweet treat for smelly fingers! Cleaning fish or shrimp is a messy task and leaves adistinctive smell on your hand for at least a day. There is an effective way of removing the smell.Squish a few fresh strawberries between your fingers for a couple of minutes and rinse your handwith soapy water. The smell will disappear instantly!

When you are cooking a dish that requires it to be sauteed, add oil around the edges of the panrather than directly on the food. This gives the oil a chance to heat up before it reaches the cookingfood that is in the center of the pan. Hot oil will give you improved results and makes your dish tastebetter.

When chopping fresh herbs, you should shake some salt on a cutting board. The salt will give theherbs more flavor and prevent them from sliding of the board as you cut. Don't over-salt; save theextra salt for the dish itself. Salt is known to boost the flavors of the items you use in your recipe,

including herbs.

Have you ever had to eat a cauliflower that wasmore off white then actually white? It can makepeople turn away from this wonderful vegetable. Tokeep that white color in your produce, add somemilk to the water when cooking. This will notchange the taste, just the look.

Next time you make a dressing at home, swap halfof the amount of mayo with an equal portion ofGreek-style yogurt. This increases not only therichness of the dressing, but it gives it the creamyand smooth texture that we all love to see on our salads and other dishes.

On a Sunday, try to make a meal whose leftovers you can eat during the week. For instance, saveany left over roasted beef and make it into a sandwich on a week night. Not only does this help yousave time by not having to cook, but it is a good way to not waste food.

Timing is everything when cooking several courses. Anything that has to be baked for a long periodof time should go in the oven first. If you have to have a pot of boiling water to whip up some instantpotatoes put it on next. Then gather up the rest of your ingredients for various stove top dishes thatare quickly prepared.

Placing eggs in water can let you know if they are fresh. Eggs that lie on the bottom, on their sidewill be fresh. Eggs that stand upright in the bottom are losing freshness and should be usedpromptly within a day or two. Eggs that float on top of the water should be discarded immediately.Always check eggs for freshness before using.

Buy your Thanksgiving turkey fresh not frozen! The frozen birds taste ok but who has the time orenergy to thaw one out? A fresh turkey often costs little more than the frozen variety. When youcalculate in the time easy chicken pot pie with puff pastry you have to spend just getting it ready togo in the oven it's just not worth it!

Although it might feel great to impress your guests, avoid preparing a meal that you have nevercooked before when entertaining someone important. Whether you are cooking for new in-laws, yourmanager or a date, you want them to be impressed with your culinary skills. Spend additional timepreparing the dish to make it extraordinary for this special person.

To get a firm shell for twice baked potatoes or potato skins, use a baking potato with a thicker skin.Red potatoes contain skins that are too thin to hold very much filling.

A great way to save money by cooking is to substitute similar items. For example, let's say that youwant steamed green beans at dinner. Fresh green beans cost about $1.50 a pound even during theseason, but frozen green beans, which have much the same color and texture, cost less than a dollara pound.

Without an education in cooking and an understanding of techniques and ingredients, cooking willbe difficult. Cooking is both an art and a science and there must be a foundation for both, in order to

succeed. Take http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cake these tips and get yourself into the kitchen and startgetting those pots ready to boil!