Cooking Anything From Apple Pie To Zwiebacks With These Tips

Clean up made easy! Don't make washing up a chore - if you have a dishwasher you really don't need to hand wash the dishes first. Simply rinse off the large chunks of food with warm water. The hand-washing detergent used on dishes can leave a film inside your dishwasher. Load the machine according to the manufacturer's instructions, turn it on and relax!

Use your freezer to firm up supple meats. When cutting bacon or pancetta into thin strips used to lard other meats, put them in the freezer for 10-15 minutes to make the meat firm before cutting. This will make it much easier and much less messy to cut into pieces that you can work with.

To save time on busy weeknights, cook ahead on the weekends and stock your freezer with meals that are ready to heat through. Lasagnas, enchiladas, and other casseroles are great for freezing, as are many soups. Alternately, you can cook an extra batch of dinner any day of the week to freeze for a day when you don't have the time.

When picking out a melon for purchase, make sure that it is still fresh. Many times, people get sick from melons that have gone bad. You can check its freshness by checking the part of the melon that was connected to the vine. If it is soft, then the melon is still good.

When you are planning to cook a big meal try prepping all of your foods the day before. This will help you save time and it will also be less mess to clean up after the big dinner. Chop all vegetables and cut up all your meat and store appropriately.

Simple techniques to reduce the salt in bacon too make it healthier. Cooking with bacon is an excellent way to season your food, but if you want to watch your salt intake it can be hard using bacon as a seasoning. Blanching the bacon in boiling water for one minute will reduce the salt in the bacon.

If you cook using only recipes from your favorite cookbook, try something new. Getting a few new cookbooks of different varieties is the first step towards diversifying the meals you cook. Experimenting and playing around with your current recipes is the second step towards not just making new meals, but becoming a better cook.

Don't overcook cruciferous vegetables like cabbage, broccoli, and brussel sprouts. While lightly steamed cabbage that still retains its crunch is delicious, particularly in dishes like coleslaw, and lightly steamed broccoli is great in salads, when either are overcooked, they liberate stinky sulfur compounds and lose a lot of nutritive value and texture.

Store vegetable trimmings in the freezer for a tasty vegetable stock. Save money and increase the flavor of your dishes by making your own vegetable stock. Throughout the week or even month, place vegetable trimmings and peels into plastic bags and store them in the freezer. When you have a spare afternoon, throw them in a pot with some water and let simmer. Once strained, you will have a flavorful broth that can also be frozen for later use.

Decorate the top of your apple pie. Make decorative cutouts in the top crust of the apple pie before baking. Not only will this produce an attractive looking pie, it allows steam to escape during cooking. This means the underside of the top crust won't become soggy. For a rope edge, pinch the dough with your fingers, pushing forward in a slanting motion.

To make grating blocks of mozzarella, Colby, cheddar and other cheeses easier, place the block of cheese in the freezer for ten minutes prior to shredding. The freezer will stiffen the cheese a bit without freezing it solid, so you can grate it without as much sticking, crumbling or becoming rubbery.

Cooking is a daily activity that is more than it seems. Cooking can be a great way to put on a little show for guests or even yourself. Create a wonderful meal and be proud of what you've done. Use these cooking tips to give you inspiration to express yourself through food.

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