Article by Corrie Duana

If you are into cooking, you are probably always looking for ways to improve your style or just be able to do things in the kitchen more efficiently. These gourmet cooking tips are practical but they may also come in handy when you are preparing for a fancy meal.

Gourmet Cooking Tips On Eggs

For quick egg whipping, add a teaspoon of cold water to the egg white. This will not only make the egg whip quickly but will also increase its quantity. When making hard-boiled eggs, add a little salt to the water so that the egg shells will not crack. Eggs can help make a golden pie crust. Simply brush the pie crust with some beaten egg white before baking. How can you tell if an egg is fresh? Immerse the egg in a small pan of cool and salted water. A fresh egg will sink.

Gourmet Cooking Tips On Dairy

Keep cottage cheese fresh longer by storing it upside down in the fridge. Doing this slows down oxidation. To extend the life of milk past the expiration date, add a pinch of salt per gallon. Salt effectively slows down bacterial growth.

Gourmet Cooking Tips On Fruits And Vegetables

If you have a vegetable or fruit garden, harvest your produce in the morning to get maximum flavors. Do not throw out carrot tops, broccoli or celery stalks and onion peelings. Wash them thoroughly and add to stock for extra flavor to sauces and soups.

Pecans and Brazil Nuts are tough nuts to crack so to make shelling easier, immerse them for 10 minutes in boiling water. Alternatively, soak them in a cup of water and place this in a microwave set on high. Leave it for 5 minutes.

Corn is naturally sweet and to bring out this taste in corn on the cobs, add one tablespoon of sugar to the water when boiling. Apple is not only good to our health but it can also be good for keeping cakes fresh. Put half an apple in the same container as the cake and the cake will stay fresh longer.

Gourmet Cooking Tips On Barbeques

When grilling meat, avoid piercing the pieces with fork but instead always use tongs for turning meat. This way, the meat will not lose its juices. When marinating, remember that white meat takes less time to marinade than red meat. Marinade chicken, fish, shrimp, and vegetables for 3 to 4 hours in the refrigerator. Ideally, you want to marinade pork and beef overnight but if you do not have time, 6 hours of marinating will work fine.

The above are just a few of the secrets of professional cooks. Discover more gourmet cooking tips by browsing through cooking websites, magazines and books.

Find insightful and useful information about Food and Drink or Cooking Tips at ArticleMash.com.

Corrie Duana, an expert in Cooking Tips, is a writer for ArticleMash.com.

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Article by Elsie Shan

A cooking recipe is a series of instructions on how to prepare a meal. It will list down the ingredients required as well as preparation instruction and other useful information to make your cooking a success. By following the instructions the cooking recipe, you will be able to come up with new dishes. Cooking recipes are used not only by novice but by professional chefs around the world.

In order to take full advantage of the cooking recipe, it got to be used in the right way. Many people do not know how to use a cooking recipe correctly. They usually jump right in and before you know it, faces problem with their cooking.

Browse Through The Cooking Recipe

The right way is to browse through the cooking recipe briefly from the beginning to the end. Familiarize yourself with the methods or processes involved and try to visualize it in your mind. After you have understood what is needed out of you do you start it. By taking this initial step, you will save yourself from trouble because you can give the recipe a miss if it’s too difficult to cook. It will spare you the embarrassment of failure. You will also be able to plan what to buy before actually starting to cook. Therefore it is important to browse through your cooking recipe before you actually begin cooking.

Preparing The Ingredients

After the preliminary reading of the cooking recipe you will have a general idea of how the dish is cooked and what ingredients to buy. Make sure that all the ingredients are ready before you begin your cooking adventure. It is very frustrating to realize that you have run out of the ingredients half-way through your cooking. You will loose all the momentum and enthusiasm once this happen.

You will also need to have the right type of ingredients. For example, if the cooking recipe says prepared mustard, do not assume that you can substitute it with dried mustard. They are two completely different ingredients and substituting one for the other will have disastrous effect on your cooking. Another thing worth mentioning is make sure you have enough of the ingredients. Double check to ensure that you have enough of everything before you starts to cook. Imagine what will happen if you don’t have enough flour when baking a sponge cake!

Have The Equipment/Utensil Ready

Just as important and often overlooked is to have all the equipment and utensils ready before cooking. If you do not have the equipment or utensil, try borrowing them from your friends. You might only need to use the utensil mentioned in the cooking recipe once and so it is cheaper to borrow. If your friends do not have the items you are looking for or if you foresee that you are going to use it more than once, then buy it. Also, check that the equipment or utensil is in working order before starting your cooking.

Conclusion

Cooking is great fun for many people. It can foster relationships and improve family bonding. In order cook great dishes, you must make sure that you have followed the cooking recipe closely.

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Kitchen Tips: How to Deep Fry Chicken. Basic cooking techniques and tips for Deep Frying Chicken
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Chinese cooking expert Eileene Yin-Fei Lo shares recipes and life lessons she learned from her grandmother with the Early Show’s Tracy Smith.
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