In many homes kitchen is equivalent to a sanctuary in which culinary masterpieces are born. Meals cooked there delight stomach not only during the holidays, but every day for breakfast and dinner. So it is not surprising that a lot of time is spent in the kitchen. Even if you are a regular in kitchen, it is hard to avoid certain mistakes.
Here are the biggest mistakes made by even the most skilled amateur cooks.
Not studying recipe properly
While flipping through the recipe book, people usually get attracted to a picture of a dish and decide to cook it without reading recipe to the end. Reading the recipe should be equivalent to studying a map before a journey – you need to make sure that you have all ingredients you’ll need, that you have right tools to produce the dish, and you need to know what actions and in what order will need to be carried out. Only then you can expect a new dish to be a success.
Not fresh ingredients
We all have different tastes, but we all associate delicious food with fresh ingredients. Even though some people successfully use yesterday’s leftovers to prepare a new meal, we should all pay particular attention to how we defrost frozen foods.
Common mistake is rushing to defrost food in a microwave without selecting appropriate program. For example, people simply place chicken breast in microwave and set maximum temperature. Such meat cooks from the outside, but remains frozen inside, so it is not suitable for meal preparation any more.
Not tasting food while cooking
Tasting food for professional kitchen chefs is an automatic action. It should be the same for home cooks. To avoid spoiling the dish, it is recommended to taste it continuously, because even accurate execution of all recipe instructions, doesn’t guarantee success. Results can be different due to the type of your cooker, used oil, water and quality of other products. Also our tastes are different: what one person may consider too salty, another may think it lacks salt.
Improvisations are not always justified
Sometimes people ruin dishes because of excessive desire to improvise. Before mixing different ingredients you should consider at least main food combining principles.
Inappropriate temperature
Overcooked or undercooked food won’t impress anyone. After purchasing an inexpensive kitchen helper – food thermometer – your culinary experiments will be much more successful, and the dish pulled out from the oven on time will preserve all its nutrients. Proper oven temperature should always be selected according to meat: for example, if you want fast and succulent chicken dinner, set oven to 350 – 400 °F and cook chicken until it browns.
Overladen pan
One of the biggest and frequently made mistakes is overladen pan, which causes many problems while cooking. For example, when cooking a stew, people often add too many different ingredients. Then the pan is filled to the top, making it difficult to stir. Result is really disappointing – poorly cooked dish, because the temperature will be distributed unevenly in a pan, also food will fall from the pan on the stove.
Too much spices
Saying “less is more” works also in the kitchen. Sometimes, if you close your eyes and put food into your mouth, it is impossible to guess what you eat – a plethora of spices overshadows the whole dish. It is therefore recommended occasionally put just enough spices that they do not dominate the dish and its ingredients and allow you to enjoy natural taste of food.
Food boiled, but not braised
Boiled meat becomes dryer and harder. Braised food has richer taste, besides it takes only a few minutes longer to prepare and it will be much juicier than boiled. If you are short of time, choose meats that takes only a few minutes to cook – chicken or turkey.
Use of inappropriate products
Every food product, like any other household item, has its composition and purpose, so before using it you should figure out what it is best suited for. For example, often attention is not paid what oil and with which products it is used. Canola oil is most suitable for frying of donuts, and extra virgin olive oil for salads only -when heated it loses its useful properties. You should also keep in mind that although you can freeze almost all foods, thawing finely cut vegetables or cooked rice will strip their flavor and texture, so it will be unusable.
Non compliance with hygiene
Sometimes to save the time meat, vegetables, and finally fruits are cut on the same cutting table. In food preparation it is very important not only to use a clean table for each product, wash your hands, but also to maintain overall cleanliness throughout the kitchen, especially in the refrigerator. Proper hygiene in the kitchen will ensure that bacteria do not multiply, so you do not risk getting food poisoning.