As students and young adults, most of us lived on canned food and cheap takeaway junk food. Whether it was lack of money or lack of motivation, rare were those who would put on an apron and get dangling with pots and recipes.
But as we grow older, and hopefully mature and become wiser, we start taking more care of our health, because aging does have its side effects. And eating healthy is one of the fundamentals of a healthy life. At the same time, we might start appreciating the art of cooking and its soothing effects.
If you have decided to take up cooking, good for you! Here are 7 cooking tricks shared by professional chefs that will make that journey more enjoyable.
1. Prepare everything before starting
Make sure you have all the necessary ingredients measured, cleaned, peeled, chopped, and ready to go so you would cook without any interruptions. This way you will avoid having to measure mid-way and risk overcooking or burning some ingredients.
2. Place a damp cloth under your cutting board
When you start chopping all those fresh veggies and herbs you picked for your next gourmet meal, remember to place a damp cloth under the board, to prevent it from slipping.
3. Season while you cook
All the best chefs do not wait till the end to season their meal, or even worse at the very beginning. To achieve the perfect taste you need to gradually season and taste the whole time you are cooking because spices and herbs take time to balance each other out. And do not follow blindly the recipe, everyone has a different taste, so be free to experiment.
4. Don´t overcrowd your pans
If you have too many ingredients in your skillet/pan, the heat won´t distribute properly so some of the food will not cook properly or the flavor won’t fully develop. It´s safer to cook in batches than all at once.
5. Freeze oil olive with herbs
To improve the flavor of your cooking, instead of using only olive oil for sautéing, add some herbs. To make sure you have them on hand at all times, chop up your favorite herbs and pre-freeze them in ice cube trays.
6. Slice cherry tomatoes all at once
When making a meal with loads of cherry tomatoes, it can be time-consuming cutting them one by one. To ease this process take two plates, trap the tomatoes firmly in between and slice them through with a sharp knife. Something that would last 10 minutes is now done in just a second!
7. Peel garlic with ease
To easily peel and cut garlic, separate the cloves from the head and place them on a cutting board. Crush them with the side of the knife and voilà! Now you can peel them off without a hassle and cut them up quickly.