” Learn how to cook — try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, be fearless, and above all have fun!”- Julia Child
My favorite baking tip is # 15. Making your own buttermilk. I cannot tell you how many times I have bought a container just for one recipe and then the rest goes bad in the fridge. No need. You can make buttermilk on the fly without the extra spending!
1.To help cut the acidity in tomato sauce
Put 1/2 cup of red wine (if you don’t have wine on hand then a couple of pinches of sugar) in any tomato based sauce. It will cut the acidity of the tomato. Or try adding a dash of baking soda. I use that trick all the time.
2. Stop crying while cutting onions
If you wet your knife before cutting onions, it’ll reduce the crying. Hallelujah!
3.Time management
Preheat your oven when baking, it makes a big difference.
4.For the best cookie and pie crust
Use cold butter or vegan butter, and do not overwork your dough. Tiny pea size pieces of butter in your crust will create a flakey and delicious pie crust, biscuit, or cookie.
5.For the perfect rice
When steaming rice on the cook top, add less water than directed. My ratio is one cup of rice and 1 3/4 cup of water. This will give you the nice dry fluffy rice that doesn’t stick together. After your rice is done , turn off the heat altogether and let the pot rest for 10 minutes.
6. How long to cook marinara sauce
Marinara sauce tastes best when it has been simmering for half a day. I put mine in the crockpot on the low setting overnight.
7. Let your food breathe on the pan
Don’t crowd your pan when cooking steak, chicken or pork. Crowding the pan will result in boiling the meat instead of searing. Always make sure there’s about a 1/2 in of distance between your meats. Same goes for mushrooms. If you do not give your mushrooms enough room, they will steam rather than brown.
8. For the perfect steak
Patting your steak dry before applying your seasonings will result in a more golden/brown consistent crust.
9. Fixing over salted food
If you over salt your soup or sauce, drop a peeled raw potato in it for 20 min, it will absorb the salt. You can also dilute your soup or sauce with more water/ingredients.
10.Make sure you are cooking with the right oil
All oils have different burning points, your pan gets smoky mostly from burning oil, not burning food. Avocado oil has a particularly high burning point.
11. Seasoning as you cook makes for a more flavorful meal
Always taste your food along the way. Always try to season/salt your stocks and sauces before cooking is done, seasoning and salt is something that tastes better as it is being cooked with the food rather than added at the end.
12. Don’t be afraid to over season.
The worst that can happen is your food will be too spicy, which is easily remedied. For example, if something is too spicy/salty, you can add lemon. The acidity cuts right through the spice
13. Always opt for whole block cheese instead of pre-shredded.
It’s cheaper and the cheese is better since it does not have that powdery additive to keep the flakes from binding. It might take you a little longer to shred the cheese, but it’s worth it.
14. If you’re not doing a marinade for several hours, only salt the meat/veggies right before cooking.
This will keep the food from losing its moisture and getting sweaty before dropping it in the pan.
15. Make your own buttermilk
One cup of buttermilk = one cup of milk/non dairy milk with 1 tablespoon of white vinegar/apple cider vinegar/ lemon juice. Just let it sit for a little while(ten minutes) before adding to your recipe. I do it all the time while making biscuits.
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