It won’t come as a surprise to most of you, that I disagree with a lot of conventional thinking on health and nutrition. Turns out I also disagree with a lot of conventional thinking on how to cook! When cooking, I tend to look for the easiest route to making delicious food and following rules is counter to everything in my philosophy, not to mention my character. So it is with great pleasure I reveal the fifteen things I’ve learned that you will never read in a how-to-be-a-great-cook book.
- Don’t stress about cutting back on the salt when you’re cooking. The salt to be concerned about is the salt you DON’T know you’re consuming, ie. that which is dumped in massive quantities into processed food.
- Go ahead and wash your mushrooms. Mushrooms are like sponges that are already water-logged. If you’re tempted to wipe the dirt off each one, you’ve got too much time on your hands.
- It does not matter if you add “wet to dry” or “dry to wet” when baking, it all gets stirred anyway!
- It’s ok to open an oven with a cake/muffins/bread in it, IF it’s already past the “rising” stage.
- One of the fastest ways to warm up leftovers is to steam them, in a pot, on the stove top, with the food sitting in a metal steamer basket, lid on the pot. If you want to avoid the food getting too moist, wrap it in tinfoil. I don’t own a microwave and use this method all the time.
- You don’t have to wash your cast iron every time you use it. I assure you, you will not die of bacteria poisoning. I wipe mine down with a paper towel after use, put it back on the stove top and use it again and again. And sometimes I don’t even wipe it down …
- The most important part of a great soup is the stock – most tinned or boxed stock is pretty dreadful. The very best way to get it – make it. (See link below)
- When roasting carrots, there is no need to peel them, ditto with apples when making apple sauce or apple pie.
- To radically cut the time it takes to roast vegs, steam them gently first, then sautee on stove top, in a big pan, with olive oil and salt. (Total time aprx 10 mins vs. 30-60min in an oven). You can barely tell the difference. (See image at top as proof.)
- Don’t waste half the broccoli by cutting off the stalk. Simply peel the outer layer and you’ll get rid of the woodyness.
- Technique is overrated – your pasta sauce will be just as good regardless of how elegantly you dice the onions, you just won’t get a cooking show.
- Good cookware is overrated – I still use my discolored, and now fully blacked-on-the-bottom, aluminum pots that I bought at a hardware store ($25 for a set of 3), fifteen years ago.
- A couple decent knives are not overrated. There is nothing less pleasant than chopping with a lame knife.
- When making quiche or frittata, cook the vegs first to eliminate some of the moisture which avoids soggyness in the finished product.
- You can never taste your food too much when cooking. If you’re still ravenous by the time you sit down to eat, you’ve not tasted enough …
What can you add to the list?
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