Better at someones elses home everytime (Home Cooking - Helpful Hints and Tips)

Member Name: sympatic

Product:	Home Cooking - Helpful Hints and Tips
Date:	29/05/09 (27 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good knives are a must

Disadvantages: Cleaning up

Normally I would suggest the best tip for home cooking is to go to someone else home and let them cook that way you do not have to worry about the clearing up afterwards, you can make a half hearted offer but most hosts tell you not to worry and then you can sit back and relax with a clean conscience, naturally at some point you have to return the invite so you will have to cook.

My number one requirement for home cooking is a set of high quality and very sharp knives, that makes the perperation and serving of food so much easier in my opinion and it is worth the extra expense.

My other top tip is to make sure all your cooking appliances and utensils are at the right heat before you start cooking, that means to heat up the oven to the right temperature, if using a wok then it should be very hot, this helps seal in the flavours of the food when you drop them in, especially meat, and also keeps the veg crisp. The same goes for frying pan as well.

I find it ideal to have a nice big working space in which to work, cramped conditions lead to spills ad a greater risk of accidents in the kitchen, I try and cean as I go to prevent the pile up of pans and also to clean up any food spillages straight away.

Finally I find it pays to use good quality raw materials, the value mushrooms that Tesco sell are ok in a casserole or bolognese that is going to cook for a long time but rubbish for stir fry or if fried in garlic butter as they go soggy and have liitle flavour.

Summary: Home cooking tips