Thoughts on Cooking
I've been cooking out of my new cookbook and thinking about the process. I have a few things I wanted to say and didn't have a place for in the cookbook. I'm not a professional chef, by any means. Just a proficient home cook. But I love food and I cook a lot. So here's my few cents worth on cooking. I'll say them here.
There is freedom in cooking. That's why I love it. It's also why I am a TERRIBLE baker. To me, a recipe is a guideline. When you cook enough and follow enough recipes you kind of get an idea of what goes together. Trust yourself. If the recipe calls for an ingredient you don't have, go google it and see what a good substitution for that ingredient is. If you don't have chicken stock, use beef. If you only have two cans of beans and the chili recipe calls for three, that's okay. Just use two and add a can of something else. Or not. Add more vegetables. Or different vegetables. I almost never follow recipes exactly. I adapt them to what I have in the house or what I think would taste better.
What else?
Taste as you go.
Add salt at the end rather than in the beginning.
You can adapt most soups and stews for the crockpot.
Fresh garlic tastes better than the kind in the jar, but the kind in the jar is easier. Same sentiment is true for stock. And ginger. Okay fresh is better pretty much all of the time. Then frozen. After that canned.
Try roasting your vegetables. They taste better that way. Even vegetables you think you don't like.
Making your own low sugar ketchup and salad dressing is easy and worth.
Get thee an immersion blender and a toaster oven. I use both every day.
Sharp knives make a big difference.
Cumin is good in so many different things. Spike seasoning is also a secret ingredient.
The book by Michael Ruhlman, The Elements of Cooking is awesome. It's so good. Get it.
And that's what I have to say about that. For now. I've got to back to the stove. I'm making chili.
There is freedom in cooking. That's why I love it. It's also why I am a TERRIBLE baker. To me, a recipe is a guideline. When you cook enough and follow enough recipes you kind of get an idea of what goes together. Trust yourself. If the recipe calls for an ingredient you don't have, go google it and see what a good substitution for that ingredient is. If you don't have chicken stock, use beef. If you only have two cans of beans and the chili recipe calls for three, that's okay. Just use two and add a can of something else. Or not. Add more vegetables. Or different vegetables. I almost never follow recipes exactly. I adapt them to what I have in the house or what I think would taste better.
What else?
Taste as you go.
Add salt at the end rather than in the beginning.
You can adapt most soups and stews for the crockpot.
Fresh garlic tastes better than the kind in the jar, but the kind in the jar is easier. Same sentiment is true for stock. And ginger. Okay fresh is better pretty much all of the time. Then frozen. After that canned.
Try roasting your vegetables. They taste better that way. Even vegetables you think you don't like.
Making your own low sugar ketchup and salad dressing is easy and worth.
Get thee an immersion blender and a toaster oven. I use both every day.
Sharp knives make a big difference.
Cumin is good in so many different things. Spike seasoning is also a secret ingredient.
The book by Michael Ruhlman, The Elements of Cooking is awesome. It's so good. Get it.
And that's what I have to say about that. For now. I've got to back to the stove. I'm making chili.
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