Tag Archives: dried tomatoes

Handy Advice To Aid You In The Kitchen

Are you jealous of the meals that other people fix and wonder how in the world they do it? This article has some great tips to help you have a magnificent presentation of your own.

When you are cooking food on skewers, there are some basic guidelines to know. If you are using metal skewers, the square or twisted kind are much better than round ones for holding food in place.

When preparing a meal for someone who is important such as a new date or your boss, you should cook something that you are really good at making. You can avoid stress by sticking to familiar recipes and food you enjoy. This will take the stress out of the cooking.

Texture and taste don’t have to suffer when you are trying to lighten up your mashed potatoes. Cauliflower makes for a great substitute to help drop the fat and calorie content. You will not even taste the cauliflower in with the potatoes, because it is so bland. When they’re mashed, cauliflowers have the same appearance and consistency as potatoes, too. Adding a little cauliflower can take calories out of your favorite mashed potato recipes and add in a little vegetable goodness, too.

Garlic, like lots of other foods, has the unfortunate characteristics of absorbing into your hands. To avoid the lingering, strong odor from working with odoriferous cooking ingredients, thoroughly rub you hands on the stainless steel surface of your kitchen sink. Not only does this clean your hands, but it also prevents the odors from carrying over to whatever food items you make contact with next.

You can use this on other foods besides meat! Add this savory seasoning to snack foods like Chex mix, or use it to spice up your omelet. All your guests will be left wondering where the delightful flavor came from.

Burgers cooked on the grill are delicious; however, many times they stick to your grill. To prevent this, brush the grill with a bit of vegetable oil to keep your foods from sticking.

When cooking pumpkins, stand them upright and cut them halfway down the middle. Next, take each half and place them cut side down onto separate baking sheets. Sprinkle a tiny bit of water on them and bake at 350 degrees for about an hour.

Whenever you have a meal to cook, if you do your all your prep work ahead of time, it will be much less stressful and quicker. Check recipes to find out what can be prepared ahead of time without risking spoilage. Lots of prep work can be completed the day before cooking. This can make harder recipes easy, and complicated ones a fun, fast experience.

When you need to season your food, add your seasoning a little bit at a time instead of all at once. It is easier to add more seasoning to taste than to take some away, and you’ll more evenly divide your ingredients.

Do not dress your guests’ salads. Serve the dressing on the side and allow your guests to dress it to their liking. The amount dressing that people prefer on their salad varies so allow guests to add their own dressing. Offer many different types of salad dressing as well.

Mushrooms absorb large amounts of water, and this excess water will go into whatever you are cooking with. Use a clean cloth to wipe them off.

Dried Tomatoes

Dry your own tomatoes. Start by cutting full-sized tomatoes into 1/2″ slices or by halving Roma tomatoes. Using a cooling rack, lay the sliced tomatoes with the side that is cut facing upward, and then sprinkle them lightly with salt. The rack should then be placed on a baking sheet in an oven set to 190 degrees for no more than 10 hours. Finally, place your dried tomatoes in freezer safe bags and store in the freezer. Alternatively, dried tomatoes can be packed in a jar filled with olive oil and fresh herbs. Place in the refrigerator and consume within two weeks.

Pumpkin preparation involves slicing it in half, from top to bottom. Take each half cut side down and place on different baking sheets. Toss a little water on the pans, and bake for roughly an hour at 350 degrees.

To improve the flavor of your dishes, mix your own broth and other stock. Store extra stock in bags in the freezer that are resealable. By doing this, you’ll always have homemade stock available whenever you are in the mood to cook soup. If you prepare your own, homemade stock, you will be cutting out all of the preservatives of canned versions.

Add plenty of salt to the water when you are cooking pasta. This will help season the pasta as it cooks. Salting the pasta after cooking it does not allow it to hold seasoning that well.

Get the most from garlic by buying only the freshest bulbs you can find. Fresh garlic has a sweeter taste than old garlic. Fresh garlic usually has a firm skin and no bruises or soft spots.

For an improvement to your pasta sauce, save some of the water used to cook the pasta. Reserve a small quarter cup portion of the water you cook the pasta in after you cook it. When the time comes to add the sauce to the pasta, add this water as well. Amalgamation will take place in your sauce when you add the pasta water. The starch will give it the “creaminess” you desire.

Get your grill ready to go before you start to barbecue. You should try to have everything ready 30 minutes prior to your cook time. You need to allow the coals to reach a medium heat. Once the desired temperature has been reached they should be covered with ash. Once the coals have reached this point, they have reached the prime grilling temperature.

Organization while cooking is necessary in order to avoid disasters, like under done or burnt food. When your station is organized, you will be more productive. Being disorganized can make it quite easy to make it impossible to find things when you need them, which makes you miss out on the goodies that you could be indulging in.

Wooden Cutting Board

Be sure to care for your wooden cutting board properly. Heat, dryness, and excess moisture can cause a wooden cutting board to warp and split. Don’t submerge the board in the sink when you clean it. Instead, use warm, soapy water and a sponge. If you have a damaged cutting board, you should purchase an oil product that is designed for cutting board restoration. Let the board dry thoroughly before you use it.

Leave your meal to sit for a short while before serving. Most people are unaware that it’s a good idea to have a meal sit out for a few minutes before eating. It may be tempting to get the food to the table as quickly as possible. If you do this, you will really be missing out. Always allow your meal to rest and cool down a little.

Utilize all of the suggestions you can from this article. In no time, family and friends will be begging for the secrets to your culinary success.

Cooking Advice To Help You Make Better Food

Have you ever eaten at a dining establishment and thought about how they created their food dishes? You may have wondered if it would be possible to create this dish at home. The advice that follows will give you some practical pointers for not only making better versions of what you can already cook, but making new dishes, as well. You’ll love the results you taste after using these tips, and you will have found a new hobby to enjoy too!

There are a few things you need to know if you are considering cooking with skewers. If you are choosing to use a metal skewer you can choose from round or flattened skewers. Skewers that are not round will better hold food in place on the skewer.

Before cooking with skewers there are a few things that you need to know. If you are using metal skewers, stick to twisted or square designs, as this can grasp food more effectively.

Always store your spices in a cool and dark place. Common kitchen conditions, such as heat, light, and humidity, will destroy the flavor of herbs and spices. It is normally the rule that spices that are ground lose their flavor after they keep for around a year. Spices that are raw, or whole, can keep the original flavor for as long as five years, though it usually falls somewhere between three and five. The freshness can last longer if they are stored correctly.

To make a delicious beef stir-fry, slice your meat thinly and across the grain. It is possible that you may have a little trouble doing so in a time efficient manner. When the meat feels firm, pull it from the freezer and cut across the grain at a 45 degree angle.

The prep work is a very important part of assembling a home-cooked meal for family or friends. This will allow you to make sure that all the necessary ingredients are accounted for. Check the day before you start to cook to make sure that you have everything that you need to cook the dish you have planned. This will allow you to cook without having to worry.

A good cooking tip when you use oil is to put it on the sides of the pan so it gets real hot by the time it hits the food. This will make your food more flavorful when it is ready to serve.

When cooking for someone that you want to impress it is important to make sure that you are preparing a meal that you have prepared before and know you can prepare well. This is not the time for testing new recipes or new ingredients. This can keep your stress levels in check while you cook.

Anytime you use meat for a stir-fry, make sure to slice the meat as thinly as you can and make your cut on the bias. This can be quite tricky and time-consuming. Remove the meat when it is firm (but not frozen) and slice at a 45 degree angle across the grain of the meat.

Have you felt bad before when you have had to throw away your moldy fruit? Do you wonder if you can still use the fruit by simply cutting out the part that seems overripe? If you have fruit that is just a little rotten, throw it away. Mold goes a lot deeper than you see and it can make you ill.

Soaking raw potatoes for 30 minutes prior to frying will produce the crispiest French fries. Allowing the sliced potatoes to soak up more cold fluids helps to reinforce the fibers that are in the vegetable, that way when they are deep fried, they are better able to stand up to the heat and won’t completely break down.

A little-known tip for cooking with oil is to introduce it into the pan from the side; this will allow the oil to heat on its way down. The already heated oil will do a much better job at cooking and flavoring your food.

When you are cooking, it is important to remember that a fresh ingredient is always better than a frozen or dried ingredient. Your recipe will be more flavorful if you use fresh ingredients, and the cost can be lower as well.

Beans and tofu contain a lot of proteins. They can be bought at pretty much any grocery store. Tofu is great meat alternative when baked, broiled, or pan-fried with seasonings. Beans boiled with herbs is a flavorful source of protein.

It is absolutely essential that you have sharp knives whenever you cook. Dull knives, in addition to being ineffective, are actually very dangerous. It is more likely that you will cut yourself while trying to get a dull knife to cut something than when you use a well-sharpened knife.

You must read the food labels when you’re purchasing ingredients for any given recipe. Many common cooking supplies contain hidden ingredients that can be unhealthy. Keep track of the amount of sugar and sodium in the staple products used for your recipe, and make adjustments by omitting additional sugar or salt, to avoid diet-related health issues.

Dried Tomatoes

Apples are a popular ingredient for cooking during the cool autumn and winter months. However, if they are not stored correctly, apples can spoil very quickly. Store them in your fridge or basement, in plastic bags that are loosely tied, as they tend to spoil in dry warm areas. Watch them, because it will only take one rotten apple to ruin the others.

Try drying your own fresh tomatoes. Slice tomatoes 1/2″ thick to dry. Romas should be cut in two lengthwise. Take a cooling rack and place the tomatoes on it. Sprinkle them with salt. Put the rack on a baking sheet, and slow-bake in an oven that is set to 190 degrees for about 10 hours. The dried tomatoes can be put in plastic bags and frozen. You can also pack dried tomatoes in a jar with some fresh herbs and olive oil. This will be good for up to two weeks, and should be refrigerated during that time.

You are on the road now to home-cooking success. Unleash your inner cook and take your meals to a whole new level with these tips. With such a vast amount of food available from all over the world, there is no limit on the meals you can create.

Regardless of the recipe, you can always bet that a fresh ingredient is better than its dried or frozen counterpart. When you use fresh ingredients you can bring out the true flavor of your food, and they can sometimes be cheaper in the end.