In cooking, history sheds light on the very origins of human settlement, and its variety and traditions reflect unique social, cultural, and environmental influences.
Cooking Safety: Keep an eye on your cooking and stay in the kitchen. Wear short or close-fitting sleeves. Watch children closely in the kitchen.
Clean cooking surfaces regularly to prevent food and grease build-up. Keep curtains, towels and pot holders away from hot surfaces.
Read recipes before cooking: Recipes are guides for cooking. It is important to read the whole recipe before you begin cooking.
This helps you know how the dish is made. Measuring correctly is an essential part of learning to cook successfully.
Tips to keep the knives sharper for longer: A page of the newspaper with black ink is all you need. Simply run your knife a few times over the newspaper while keeping it flat.
Do this slowly and steadily. The black ink acts like a fine polish due to the presence of carbon, and the grit in it has a sharpening effect on the knife.
· Wash the knife afterwards
· Dry the knives immediately to protect them from rusting. Grab a dry towel and run it perpendicular to the blade.
· Choose cutting board surfaces such as wood or plastic rather than metal surfaces such as Granite, Aluminum and Stainless Steel.
· Knives should always be kept covered, ideally in a utensil drawer.
· Don’t scrape them along the cutting board.
· Knives should always be hand washed because dishwasher’s wash cycle could cause damage to the blade or the detergent might be abrasive.
Use the right pans: When a recipe says to use a certain type of pan, use that pan. If you only own one nonstick pan, then buy yourself a stainless steel pan and a cast iron skillet.
It’s also smart to replace cheap nonstick pans every few years, as the coating can wear down.
Don’t overcrowd the pan: You might think you have enough room in your skillet for an extra piece of chicken, but if it’s questionable, don’t risk it.
There’s a chance the heat won’t distribute properly to the rest of the food in the pan, thus affecting flavor or, worse, creating a health risk.
As a preventative measure, leave a few inches between each item to ensure they cook thoroughly.
Keep the root of the onion intact to help with slicing:
Onions can be difficult to slice into without making a mess. To cut them evenly, do not remove the root.
While keeping it intact, peel the onion and slice in a horizontal direction. Then, cut down vertically to create perfectly minced pieces.
Peel Ginger with a Spoon: Ginger can be tricky to peel with all its bumps and irregularities. Rather than using a paring knife or vegetable peeler, reach for the spoon.
Scrape it against the skin, and it'll come right off, following every contour and minimizing waste.
Over-Mixing Dough’s and Batter: Over-mixing dough’s and batters can result in chewy, slightly tough cakes and muffins.
Using a good kitchen machine or food processor is an easy way to make sure that you get the consistency you want – just follow the instructions for the right dough or batter texture.
Store spices in the right location: To prolong the life of your spices, keep them in a cool, dark place. Don’t store them on top of the stove, as heat and humidity can alter their flavor.
Cooking continues even when it's removed from heat: Heat will remain in your food after turning off the stove, and it will continue to cook, so pay attention to your timing.
For example, when you want to add cheese to your omelet, cheese should melt in a plate with the heat of the eggs, otherwise you will have over dried omelet.
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