If you follow us on twitter (@GingerSkyLtd) you know I’ve been ill for most of last week, and if you don’t follow us on twitter, why not? You should J. Anyway, because of this there hasn’t been much progress here at Ginger Sky. I’m looking to catch up this week and next so hopefully have some exciting news to bring you in the coming weeks. But this gave me a dilemma, as I haven’t been able to do much what can I blog about? Well, I’ve got together with a couple of local chefs I know and have put together some top tips for beginner cooks.
I love my food, but for a long time I relied on others to do the cooking, although I wasn’t afraid of throwing some inspiring recipes and ideas their way. Over the last couple of years I’ve slowly begun to cook for myself but still would not profess to be any kind of expert. Having just learned to be a bit more adventurous I thought I’d share some of the tips and advice I’ve found really useful.
Use the right equipment:
Make sure you have the right pans for what you’re trying to make. It’s important to use the correct equipment so your food is cooked in the right way. Following on from this….
Get a good set of knives:
A good set of sharp kitchen knives really helps make light work of the food prep, just be careful with your fingers.
Use good, fresh ingredients:
This way you can be sure you're getting the best out of your recipe. By using fresh ingredients it means that they are still full of all the nutrients and flavour that you need when you're cooking.
Be patient:
It takes time to learn how to cook, but also takes patience while cooking. Cook on the correct temperatures, don’t be tempted to turn up the heat to cook it quicker, you’ll only burn the outside and keep the inside raw, never a good idea.
Taste your food:
Throughout your cooking (apart from when the meat is raw) it’s a cook idea to taste your food. This way you can find out if you’ve over or under seasoned, if your sauce is too thick or thin etc. If you’ve over salted a stew or similar, try adding a few potatoes that can soak up the salt. Or if your sauce is too thin, try using some cornflour to thicken it up a bit. It does all depend on the recipe you’re trying but there are ways of fixing things while they’re still in the pan. If you don’t taste until it’s on the plate then it could be too late.
Experiment:
Don’t be afraid to experiment in the kitchen, mix flavours together, don’t be afraid to go off-recipe (although this is a lot trickier in baking). The important thing to remember is what works and what doesn’t. So long as you learn from both your successes and failures then any experimentation is worthwhile.
Keep takeaway numbers handy:
With the experimentation comes the odd disaster. Do not get down-heartened, get yourself a takeaway and try again tomorrow. This is possibly the best tip I had in the early stages till I started to get the hang of what worked and what didn’t. An alternative to the takeaway is some simple foods, like noodles, eggs etc, just keep a backup stash and before long you won’t be needing them at all.
These are just some simple things to keep in mind when you’re starting out, they may sound obvious, but can be easily over-looked. For specific recipes and tips check out our mid-week blog entries where we post delicious recipes for anyone to try, from beginners to experience cooks looking for new flavours. Any recipe we’ve posted can be found on the right of the homepage, categorised by their main ingredients and style.
I’ll try and do a series of more specific cooking techniques over the coming months, such as baking, stir fry, braising etc. If you have any cooking tips that have helped you out along the way the please feel free to share by leaving a comment.
No comments:
Post a Comment