Cooking is a skill that many aspire to hone, but the good news is that isn’t necessarily difficult to improve. Anyone can be a better cook if they put their mind to it – it’s all about learning a few tips and tricks to achieve culinary success. Regardless of whether you have spent a great deal of time in the kitchen or have no cooking experience at all, this guide will give you some helpful pointers on how you can become a better cook.
1. Use herbs and spices
When you want to give your dishes some flavor, don’t always resort to salt and pepper. There are hundreds of different herbs and spices you can experiment with to give your dishes unique and mouth-watering tastes. Herbs and spices can transform a basic chicken dish into a spicy Indian number or even an Italian classic and what’s more, they elevate the meal without adding extra calories.
2. Have a set of good knives
If you are serious about becoming a better cook, you’ll need to invest in a set of good knives. Doing so can make your culinary journey much easier as you’ll be able to achieve accurate cuts of vegetables and meats. You may be surprised to know that sharper knives are much safer than dull knives, as you’ll be using less force to chop foods and therefore, be less prone to injury.
3. Get the right barbeque wood
While you may not believe that there is much to cooking on the barbeque, there are certain aspects to keep in mind to give the food more flavor. In the same vein as adding spices and herbs to meats, the type of wood you choose for your barbeque or smoker can instantly transform your dishes. It’s advisable to find out more about wood for smoking and the different flavor profiles that each can achieve.
4. Start with standard recipes
Don’t try and polish up your cooking skills by throwing yourself in the deep end and aiming to whip up a dish that you’ll struggle with or potentially very rarely eat. It’s best to start at a basic level with beginner recipes so that you build a solid base to work from to create more experimental dishes. When first starting out, always ensure you’re following the recipes closely so that you have a vague understanding of the key steps before becoming more confident with putting your own stamp on the classics.
5. Check the temperature of your food
If you have no experience in the kitchen, it wouldn’t be a good idea to guess when the food is fully cooked. This can lead to the dishes being over or under-cooked, the latter potentially even causing food poisoning. Meanwhile, overcooking meat can lead to expensive mistakes, especially when dealing with the finer cuts of beef like fillet steak. Therefore, you should invest in a thermometer to take the temperature of meats, as different types of meat are considered cooked at different temperatures.
