Handy Kitchen Cooking Tips

Here are some tips to help you in the kitchen. 

1.) It is okay to make a recipe your own!  My family loves garlic, therefor I more than double the garlic that is called for in most recipes.  You can do the same. Just remember to taste as you go.

2.) Use Kosher salt.  Turns out that having salt blessed makes it taste better.  You end up having to use less to get the flavor you need.



3.)  Invest in a good garlic mincer.  Honestly, Pampered Chef has the BEST one I have ever used. Trust me, when it comes to a mincer, you get what you pay for!  (something I learned the hard way) http://www.pamperedchef.com/

4.) Always use fresh garlic when possible.  If you have a good mincer, it isn't even difficult to do, AND your taste buds will thank you.  That watered down jar of garlic that you can buy at the store is not going to do your dishes any flavors!

5.) You can always add more, but you can't take away.  Though you DO want to make a recipe your own, remember that it is best to add a little bit of spice at a time since you can not undo what has been done.

6.) Add a dash of salt to water to make it boil faster.

7.) Use Broth instead of water when boiling something. Boil in Chicken broth or a 1/2 broth 1/2 water mix instead of just water to add flavor to rice or pasta.  This really kicked it up the flavor for your dishes.

8.) Always pound your chicken breast flat.  Not only will they cook more evenly, but they will cook faster; this is always a good thing.

9.) Remember that dried herbs are STRONGER than fresh.  Here is the equation.  1/3 dry herb is equal to 1 whole fresh herb.  For example, if the recipe calls for a tablespoon of fresh basil, you can use one teaspoon of dry basil since 3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon.  Capiche?


10.) Don't bother your meat while it is cooking.  Some people suffer (I was once one of them) from CTD (Compulsive Turning Disorder); but I have rehabilitated, and you can too!  Once you set your meat in the pan, move it back and forth to make sure it isn't sticking THEN WALK AWAY.  You want that meat to brown, but it can't do that if you are constantly turning it over from one side to the next.  Walk away for a  few minutes, and then come back and check on it by lifting up part of it and looking to see if it is nice and brown.  


11.) Listen for the sizzle; love the sizzle. I was trying to keep the list down to 10, but this one is so important that I have to add it.  Let your pan with your oil in it get hot BEFORE you add whatever you are cooking.  If you add veggies to oil in a pan that isn't hot, the veggies soak up the oil and just get soggy.  The same goes with meat or anything else.  You want to hear the sizzle when you add your food to the pan.  


12.) Sometimes, homemade is just as easy or even easier.  It is almost always cheaper!


Now, go make something that is CHEWLY AWESOME!