Whether you hate or love cooking, once you put yourself behind the kitchen, you’ll want to make the most out of your cooking prowess. It means that when you cook for those whom you love, you’ll want to give it your best shot all the time. While you don’t have to be a master chef, you can impress by improving and always cooking to the next level than you’ve done in the past.
Even when you’re just dining at home, it still pays off to perfect your cooking skills: from the bland, unbalanced, and flavorless meal you can finally have better-tasting and that aren’t repetitive. Leveling up with your cooking makes a difference from meals that taste like professional chefs to the average cooks at home.
Take Your Cooking To The Next Level: By These Four Steps
You can successfully do it like the pros and take your cooking to the next level, by following these four steps:
1. Practice Meal Prepping
Meal prepping refers to the process of preparing meals in advance so that throughout the week, all you have to do is reheat. If cooking for a party or hosting a dinner party, meal prepping is another effective way to ensure you get every dish ready and on time, without sacrificing the taste and quality of your food.
The reason why chefs in cooking shows are so relaxed is that they’ve already taken the time to prepare the ingredients ahead of time. Doing so may take a day off your weekend, but it’s worth the effort when, on busy days, you have everything ready to still have healthy and good-tasting meals for your family.
If you haven’t started already, here are some tips to help you ace your meal prepping game:
- Always start with a clean kitchen to focus on your meal preparations. It will save you from cleaning up here and there when everything is becoming a mess.
- Stock essentials in your kitchen to avoid never being out of stock. It includes one type of cheese, at least two to three protein sources, a quick cook whole grain, two to three types of fruit, two to three vegetables, and a bag of leafy greens.
- Plan a weekly menu, so that you can also effectively reduce food waste;
- Always have the best quality ingredients from SUPA Naturals or reputable sources among the many.
2. Take Time To Learn And Understand Various Cooking Terms
To take your cooking to the next level, it necessarily follows that you need to have a strong understanding of the basic cooking terms. Master it so that every time a recipe calls for you to go back to basics, this is already second nature to you.
If you want to master baking, then you should start making simple pastries. When you know the basics, it’s easier for you to venture out into more complicated dishes.
As you go back to mastering the basics, this includes knowing the different usage of kitchen appliances to use it to your advantage.
3. Always Start With A Clean Sink And Complete Tools
You can’t focus on cooking when you’re also bothered by a dirty and messy sink. So, before you even start, at least make sure you already have a clean sink. It’s to ensure that all kitchen tools you need are clean and ready. You won’t have to stop in between cooking simply because you find out you have a kitchen tool that isn’t clean.
So, what are the kitchen tools you need to clean and prepare before cooking? The essential kitchen tools include a non-stick pan to cook breakfast meals such as pancakes and eggs, sear meat, sauté vegetables, and make sauces. You’ll need a stockpot to cook pasta, stew, and soup evenly.
Clean kitchen knives are also important. A chef knife is always involved when it comes to food preparation. Meanwhile, a serrated knife is for slicing bread and tomatoes with ease. Of course, don’t forget to prepare separate chopping boards for meat and vegetables.
Prepare a clean peeler, tongs, whisk, and preparation bowl. It’s also nice to have a set of measuring cups or spoons for precise measurements. You might need a salad spinner, colander, can opener, or a stick blender.
Also, cooking without dishes to wash is inevitable. When you start with a clean and empty sink, right after cooking (or while waiting for the food to cook), you only have to worry about cleaning the current dishes you used.
4. Select The Freshest Ingredients Possible
Going back to the pantry list on the meal prepping section above, there’s a good reason why the fresh produce is limited only to a maximum of three in your pantry. While you may want to stock up on other essentials, this rule doesn’t apply to fresh produce. If you have the time to go to your local market or have your fresh produce delivered weekly, you should. The fresher your ingredients are, the better.
It actually creates a very big difference in your cooking when you’ve made dishes out of the freshest ingredients. You can never make your food taste fresh when your ingredients themselves are bad, no matter how much you season it or how fresh your spices are.
Busy people can rely on meal kit providers to deliver fresh cooking ingredients right into their homes. A meal kit creates an enjoyable cooking experience without the stress and hassle of driving or commuting to pick up ingredients in the supermarket. Busy people can order meal kits with pre-measured ingredients, including meat, fish, vegetables, herbs, and spices straight from the farm.
Conclusion
Whether you’re still new to the kitchen or you’ve been whipping up meals for a long time now, there’s always room for improvement. You don’t have to stick only to your comfort zone or the basics of what you know.
If you’re willing to learn more, you can successfully be one of those home cooks who can elevate their cooking skills and take them to the next level. The tips above are only a few of the many, but as you continue cooking regularly, you’re going to improve until you become the king or queen of the kitchen. Keep cooking.
