It can be something you hadn’t considered before or a little piece of information that can help improve your cooking skills. You may need to get outside of your comfort zone when handling food, but a small change in how you prepare food or handle ingredients can mean the difference between a good dish and a truly great one.
Knife Technique
Proper use of the knife can greatly affect your control over it and how well cuts can turn out. You may need to choke up on the handle a bit more than you’re used to, to the point where your index finger and thumb are touching the blade. Your grip will be stronger and your slices more accurate.
But that technique won’t do you much good if the blade is not sharpened. Make sure that the edge is not dull; otherwise, you run the risk of ruining and wasting food.
Don’t Be Afraid To Get Rough
This can mean a few things; the first trick is to be rough with your cooking area. Don’t be afraid of making a mess in the kitchen to create a dish. It’s normal for a mess to occur when you’re in the process of cooking and trying to prevent those inevitable messes can result in lackluster food. Don’t waste time and energy cleaning the bulk of the mess as you go; finish up your dish and thoroughly clean when all is said and done.
Know When To Be Rough and Delicate With the Meat
There will come a time when you need to prepare meat, and that will require you to tenderize it. There’s a whole science behind tenderizing meat, and knowing this can help you understand how much pressure you need to apply. Too much pressure results in mush while too little makes it feel like rubber.
Know How Ingredients and Spices Interact
Like tenderizing meat, cooking is a science. Each new piece you put into the pan changes flavor in some way or another, whether for better or worse. Some spices are better than others in certain circumstances and knowing how flavors interact will completely change how you prepare dishes. Knowing that interaction will give you the ability to play with recipes and add your own unique spin onto dishes.
Experiment
Knowledge comes from doing and finding new and better ways to do things comes through experimentation. If a dish does not work out or a flavor becomes too powerful after adding a spice, then you know not to use that for next time. Learning the basics is the first order of business. After that, experimentation is how to improve your cooking skills.
