It's easier to have a basic grasp of how to cook. What I mean is that most anyone can put a meal on a plate, but it is so much easier, nutritious, and a lot more rewarding to:
- know how to put flavors together,
- how to read a recipe,
- how to prepare to cook,
- measure, and
- use basic kitchen tools, gadgets and appliances.
Cook Good Food. Home kitchen cooks want to cook healthy food and enjoy the delight and smiles at the sight of the plate. Cooks also want to avoid cross-contamination, store food properly to avoid spoilage, and store leftovers safely.
Healthy Cooking and Storage. There are basic rules that go along with being a cook. Rules about proper cooking, reheating food and storing food so it doesn't make you sick. Cooking food properly makes sure that harmful germs are killed. If you eat food that isn't properly cooked, reheated or stored... you can get sick.
Types of Cooking. There are types of cooking such as cook at food and cold food.. For example, dietary cooking, such as cooking for a diabetic, or someone with food allergies or someone on a low sodium diet. There are rules for certain types of cooking such as religious cooking or cooking kosher, or cooking vegetarian and so on. There are traditions such as holiday cooking, eating certain food on New Year's Eve; or not eating certain food such as on Good Friday. This is important if we have invited guests to our table.
Before you begin to cook, you want to understand the types of cooking. You can more easily plan, choose recipes, make a grocery list, establish a budget, shop, organize the kitchen, stock the shelves with basic kitchen tools, basic supplies and staples.
How to Cook Food. Consider that if go to the trouble to cook nutritious food, such as fish, but fry it in saturated fat oil, all the good gets gone. It's common sense that cholesterol is not only affected by the food I choose to eat, but also by the way I cook the food. In other words, you not only need to choose good foods, but you also need to prepare your food for the good and healthy life you want.
For example, use a rack when you cook foods, it drains any fat. Instead of pan-frying, focus on the healthier result by boiling or grilling. Don't forget to remove the skin from chicken, as well as, all the visible fats from beef, pork and turkey. Now that's moving in the right direction.Meat Thermometer
Check if meat has been properly cooked. Use a good, reliable cooking thermometer. Measure the internal temperature of cooked meat, poultry, and egg dishes to make sure that the food is cooked properly and safe to eat.
Cook ground meat to 160°F.
Cook beef roasts and steaks to a safe minimum internal temperature of 145°F.
Cook pork to a safe minimum of 160°F.
All poultry should reach a safe internal temperature of 165°F.
Cook eggs until the yolk and white are firm, not runny. Don't use recipes when eggs remain raw or partially cooked.
Casseroles containing eggs should be cooked to 160°F.
Cook fish to 145°F or until the flesh is opaque and separates easily with a fork.
Bring sauces, soups and gravy to a boil when reheating.
Using a Microwave to Cook. Make sure there are no cold spots in food (where bacteria can survive) when cooking in a microwave oven.
This is essential, even for the most accomplished home chef. You need to make sure your food reaches its correct internal temperature.
Information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) links eating undercooked ground beef with a higher risk of illness. The CDC also reports that "color" is not a reliable indicator of when food is safe to eat.
Using a Microwave to Cook. Make sure there are no cold spots in food (where bacteria can survive) when cooking in a microwave oven.
Cross-contamination
When preparing food to cooking, take care to not cross contaminate. Cross-contamination spreads bacteria. When handling raw meat, poultry, seafood and eggs, keep raw foods and juices away from fresh food and cooked foods.occurs when two or more different types of food touch including the surfaces they touch to come in contact with.
For example, raw chicken contains bacteria that is safe when cooked. But if the raw chicken [or the surface the raw chicken rested on] comes in contact with other foods such as fruits and vegetables, then the bacteria can cross over, contaminate and live on these fruits and vegetables. This provides a health hazard for anyone who eats the food that has been cross contaminated with the bacteria.
Bacteria spreads quickly throughout the kitchen when on hands, cutting boards, utensils, counter tops, and food. Always start with a clean kitchen. Wash hands with warm water and anti-bacterial soap at least 20 seconds before and after handling food. Wash cutting boards, dishes, counter tops, and utensils with hot soapy water after preparing each food item and before you go on to the next food.
Use paper towels to clean up kitchen surfaces. If you use cloth towels wash them often in the hot cycle of your washing machine. Keep kitchen sponges clean by washing and then putting them in the microwave for 2 minutes.
Spritz counters and surfaces often with antibacterial kitchen cleaner, or make your own and save by filling an empty spray bottle with 1 cup water to 1 tablespoon bleach.
Keep books, backpacks, purses, computers and shopping bags off the kitchen table or counters where food is prepared or served.
Food Storage
Food storage can stretch the food budget and save time cooking in the kitchen. You want to store and reheat food properly to maintain food safety. Take time to store food in the proper containers so when you do eat what you stored, it won't make you sick.Only reheat leftovers once. Make sure that the reheated food is piping hot all the way through. Spores of bacteria can cause food poisoning and these "spores" can survive the cooking process.
Reheating won't get rid of these food poisons.
Store leftovers (within an hour, two at most) in a proper airtight container in the refrigerator. Refrigerate foods as quickly as possible.
If food is left standing at room temperature too long, the spores can multiply, and if eaten [then or later] it can cause nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps, and diarrhea.
Cold temperatures slow the growth of harmful bacteria. Also... do not over-stuff the refrigerator. Cold air must circulate in the refrigerator to help keep food safe. Freeze food you do not plan to eat within a day or so.
When the masters of culinary cuisines choose ingredients, especially spices, for the courses they create, it's cooking magic that elevates simple and dull food into exciting and memorable bites that deliver incredible pleasure. They know that flavors compliment each other and transform into new and different flavors.
As a home kitchen cook, you want to imitate these masters. Combine spices and bring out incredible flavors that delight and satisfy those who enjoy eating the food you make. It's not difficult.
1. Are so many ingredients important? Home Economists in test kitchens spend many hours testing recipes with varying ingredients in varying measurements in a process called 'tolerance testing.' This means that a recipe still tastes good and looks appealing even if the measurements are not precise, in some cases, omitted.
If the recipe fails tolerance testing, it shouldn't be published. Even though the recipes in cookbooks are usually 'tolerant,' which means that even with a bit of inaccurate measuring, the recipe still turns out okay, edible. Ideally, the cook should follow basic rules of measuring.
"It's a buyer beware," type of common sense. If you want a certain result, you follow the list of ingredients and preparation suggestions. Otherwise, it's not the recipe's fault. Don't be disappointed when you have to trash the dish.
Successful cooks add all the ingredients to a recipe, properly measured as the recipe lists.
2. Is measuring important? It's common sense, isn't it? Measuring is important. In fact, it's probably the most important cooking skill in the kitchen.
All over the world, people know the importance of measurement. What would the Empire State Building look like with not enough cement? How safe would a bridge be with too few steel bars?What would coffee taste like with too fee or too many grounds for every cup. What would a pie taste like with 2 cups of sugar instead of 1/4 cup?
Measuring is more than a good idea -- it's essential, especially with food and drink that you put in your body.
There are probably hundreds of big and little kitchen utensils, enough to fill all your kitchen drawers, the pantry and cupboards, too. I love my kitchen gadgets, and I love to buy kitchen gadgets, but I don't use many of them.
Measuring spoons, measuring cups for dry and wet ingredients, kitchen scale, meat thermometer, 3 different scoopers make cooking a lot of convenient, 3 different size graters, too, a few mixing bowls, clock or timer, oven thermometer, cooking thermometer.
It's not something I invented, but it is the secret to following a recipe with pleasure.
When I have a recipe I want to follow, the first thing I do is set out my cooking tray, and put my little prep glass bowls on top. I measure out all the ingredients I need to make the recipe.
It may sound like a bother, but once you do it, the cooking part is a snap. Everything's ready to "add" as the recipe calls for it.
Slice, chop, mince, crumble. Measure out each ingredient, even a cup of water, and add each ingredient to its own individual bowl.
Never measure anything above a bowl or pan that already includes other ingredients. I did that once. I had to dig out all the over-added salt. Ugh!
When measuring butter, unless the recipe calls for melted butter, start off with room temperature or softened butter. Scoop some up on a knife, and press it into the measuring spoon. If it's hard or frozen butter, such as in biscuit recipes, try running it over a cheese grater.
To measure liquid, hold the measuring spoon level and carefully trickle liquid into the bowl of the spoon until it comes up to the top of the rim.
Keep in mind, that taste and flavor vary with the added ingredients as well as the measured or unmeasured amount of each ingredient. That's why some chef's insist on measurement precision when preparing their recipes.
Whether it's everyday spices such as oregano, garlic, paprika, thyme and rosemary or not so everyday flavorings such as anise hyssop, cardamom and the vanilla bean, spices have magical ability to add depth and dimension to food beyond ordinary taste and way beyond the typical aromas that make the mouth water with anticipation.
As you gain experience, remember the most important ingredient for any recipe is you. You can alter recipes, create your own recipes and experiment with food and beverages, but as you cook always measure and write down any change you make to an existing recipe.