Are you a beginner in the kitchen? You’re not alone. Around 1 in 6 Americans admit to lacking good enough kitchen skills. However, just because you might not be the best cook doesn’t mean you can’t improve your skills and turn your meal times around.
If you want to get ahead in the kitchen, these tips can help you to go from kitchen nightmare to top chef in no time.
Check your tools
It goes without saying you are only as good as the equipment you use. This means you have pots, pans, knives, cookers, etc. The better the quality of products you can afford, the better the outcome. And not only this but learning how to use your kitchen equipment to get the best from it is vital. Whether you are using a food processor to chop and dice your ingredients or you are doing it by hand, getting the basic skills down before you try anything adventurous will give you a head start.
Learn the basics
Skipping steps and overlooking simple kitchen rules will hamper your progress no end. It can be tempting to skip steps, but this isn’t recommended. Instead, strip it right back. Learn how to chop and dice food properly and brush up on your knife skills. Learn the different methods of cooking. Boil an egg, roast a chicken, whip up a salad, learn how to cook pasta and rice correctly, and so on. Once you have these skills, you can then build on them to make more adventurous meals.
Use flavor
Once you have sorted your basic prep, you must start experimenting with flavors. No one wants to eat bland, boring food, so adding herbs, spices, and seasonings to your meals will go a long way. Get into the habit of adding flavorings as you go while food is cooking, not at the end. Taste your creations and adjust as you need to. From adding more salt and pepper to combining different flavors, for example, add a herb rub to your salmon fillet with a citrus dressing and give your fish some added taste, or create your own chicken seasoning using a variety of herbs and spices to really penetrate the meat.
Experiment
Once you have your basics in place and understand how to get the best from your equipment and the food you are cooking, you can develop your skills by using tried and tested recipes or even coming up with some meal combinations of your own. Once you become more confident in the kitchen, you can experiment with new meals and food combinations, from whipping up this mexican corn salad recipe for a BBQ to perfecting your steak and stirring up a chicken curry with a twist or attempting a souffle for dessert.
Conclusion
Cooking doesn’t come naturally to everyone; some people need a bit more help in the kitchen than others. If this sounds like these tips can help you to get more confident when cooking and help you to expand your skill set slowly so you can create some fabulous meals at home.
