Cooking is both a technical skill and an art form. While simple dishes tend to be fairly easy to master, more advanced ones can be quite intimidating, and many people don’t even bother to attempt them because of this.
The good news, however, is that many skills can be easier to acquire than you may think, and they’ll really take your cooking to the next level. With nothing to lose and plenty of future deliciousness to gain, let’s get right into the skills you need to master.
Finding The Right Tools
The first thing you’ll want to get the hang of is selecting the right cookware. Doing this before attempting to master any of the other skills on this list is important, as you’ll first want to figure out how to assess the best tools for each job.
For example, when working with things that need to be cooked in the oven, you’ll want the best ceramic cookware and bakeware in Australia, whereas meat searing should be done with a grill pan for those perfect lines. Meanwhile, vegetables should be cut with either a vegetable or paring knife, depending on the desired results.
Getting to know which tools work best in every cooking scenario may seem simple, but it’s a genuine skill—one that can elevate a meal or save your fingers from nasty knifing accidents! It’s the equivalent of a mechanic knowing the idiosyncrasies of all the different vehicles on the road, or a fire-breather getting comfortable with fire.
Sharpening Knives
Speaking of knifing accidents, sharp knives don’t just work better than blunt ones, they’re also much safer to use. For this reason, it’s vital that you learn how to sharpen your knives before getting into creating technically challenging dishes.
By taking the time to learn correct technique and then practising each time your knives need some attention, you’ll develop both your sharpening skills and your respect for these essential kitchen tools.
Eggs Any Way
Eggs may seem like a simple concept, but because of the many ways they can be prepared, they’re actually rather difficult to perfect. They’re also heavily influenced by the person you’re cooking them for, as everyone likes their eggs done a different way.
With all this in mind, it’s important to spend time perfecting different ways to cook these healthy ingredients. That way, you can cook like a pro, no matter who you’re cooking for or how they like their eggs.
Seasoning Your Food
Nobody enjoys a bland dish, but correct seasoning can be difficult if you don’t know what flavours work well together.
Some useful titbits to note:
- Fresh herbs will generally have a much stronger flavour and aroma than their dried counterparts.
- Salt and sugar can transform dishes you’d never even consider putting them in (e.g. a dash of salt can bring out the sweetness of porridge, while a dash of sweetener can heighten the savoury flavours of stir fries and omelettes).
Once you get a grasp of how certain flavour profiles work with each other, seasoning your dishes properly becomes far easier, so don’t be afraid to research and experiment.
Perfect Al Dente Pasta
Overcooking pasta is a common mistake, and it can completely ruin a dish. To ensure this ingredient is al dente, cook it slightly less than the instructions and finish it in your sauce. Not only does this help the pasta absorb the sauce’s flavour, but it also means you won’t have it falling apart (or worse, glooping together) when you serve it up on the plate.
Measuring Your Ingredients
Getting the right amount of each ingredient in your dish is vital to creating something that tastes good and turns out like it should, but a lot of people don’t actually know how to measure correctly.
For example, wet ingredients should be measured out with a different type of cup or spoon to dry ones, and sticky ones should always be measured in a warm, wet measuring device to help them come out more easily.
Mixing Up A Home-Made Vinaigrette
Finally, when making a salad, one of the most important elements is the dressing. Regardless of how delicious the ingredients of your salad are, the dressing is ‘make or break’, so being able to whip up a delectable vinaigrette is key to your success. From here, you can venture into more advanced recipes and create a whole host of dressings to suit any salad.
Learning these cooking skills will significantly level up your kitchen game, so why not start practising today?