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121 Cooking Secrets to Impress Friends and Family
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Chapter 1: General Cooking Tips
1. Add a little zest. When a recipe calls for a “zest” of a citrus fruit, it’s referring to the
colorful outer part of the skin, not the inner white part, which is known as the pith.
The zest contains all of the aromatic citrus oils and provides a hint of citrus tang to
the recipe. A simple method of obtaining a fine zest is by rubbing the fruit against
the smallest holes of a cheese grater.
2. Don’t be afraid to experiment. Good cooks are never afraid to deviate from a recipe
and add their own flair. Whenever you make a substitution or addition be sure to
make a note on the recipe so you remember next time whether you liked the change
or not.
3. Salted butter vs. unsalted butter. Butter is available both with and without salt. The
salt is added for extra flavor and to help preserve it so it has a longer shelf life. The
problem is that sometimes the salt in butter can be more than a recipe needs.
Choosing unsalted butter gives you more control over how much salt your dish
contains. If you only have salted butter, the best thing to do is omit approximately ¼
teaspoon of salt per ½ cup (one stick) of butter used in the recipe.
4. Use your kitchen scissors. Right now you probably only use
your kitchen scissors for opening packaging and bags of milk.
But next time you’re trimming fat from a roast, opening
pitas or cutting chicken into strips, consider using your
scissors! Chefs use them all the time for cutting meats and
other food items. It’s probably best to have a pair that are
designated as food scissors only. And be sure you clean
them very well after each use because they do have crevices
where bacteria can hide.
5. Keep your recipes organized. Nothing is more frustrating
when you’re ready to start cooking then not being able to
find your recipe. Keep things organized by finding a system
for filing your recipes that you can keep close at hand in the
kitchen. A great option is to buy one of those photo albums
where you peel back a plastic sheet and underneath is a
sticky surface. This makes recipes easy to find and at any
time you can remove or replace them!
6. Stop foods from sticking to the pan. To keep food from sticking to the bottom of
your pans, try to avoid ever putting cold foods into a hot pan. Also, don’t put food