Best cooking tips

[crossy67]

Has anyone ever given you a simple cooking tip that has transformed a dish?

Mine must be vinegar and sugar in a curry, not a lot, just a dash of both but what a difference it makes.

What's your top tip?

[KrazyIvan]

2 from my mum

A dash of cinnamon with minced beef dishes

And you don't have to cook everything on full power

[6th Gear]

Use the very best ingredients you can afford.

Invest in a good set of pans and knives.

Experiment. Don't stick to recipes, rather use them as inspiration for your own ideas.

[HD Adam]

Brown is cooked - Black is fooked

[battered]

6th Gear said:

Use the very best ingredients you can afford.

Invest in a good set of pans and knives.

Experiment. Don't stick to recipes, rather use them as inspiration for your own ideas.

Hmm.
The best ingredients are not always the most expensive. Also experimenting is good, IF you know what you are doing and it's a familiar recipe. If not, it's easy to ruin stuff. I have a friend who is very good at this. Then again having ruined it she slathers it in sweet chilli sauce so it ends up in the same state anyway.

[Le TVR]

No chilli is complete without a few squares of plain chocolate.

[HarryFlatters]

Heat up your milk when making a bechamel sauce, it incorporates into your roux without any risk of lumps compared with cold milk.

Taste things, rather than blindly following recipes.

Don't wash food processor blades by hand, you end up with no feeling in your left index fingertip

[paulwirral]

Add salt and fat , makes everything taste good

[omniflow]

When peeling tomatoes - don't pour boiling water over them - put them in a pan of boiling water and keep the pan on the heat. The skin comes away much more quickly, and you're not left with a mushy layer.

[C0ffin D0dger]

Low and slow (Especially pork shoulder for the Sunday roast, nom nom).

[C0ffin D0dger]

From my continually evolving chilli recipe, chipotle chilli is a must, good slug of Bourbon adds a nice flavour.

[dazco]

Plenty os seasoning, plenty of butter

[BigJonMcQuimm]

Only pepper steaks once seared - or the pepper will burn.

[toasty]

paulwirral said:

Add salt and fat , makes everything taste good

The same could be said for cheese and bacon.

[NormalWisdom]

Gary marinading rump in a mix of balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, dijon mustard, salt&pepper. Transforms it (or any meat for that matter).

[anonymous-user]

Tofu, take out of packet and place in bin and cook something else.

[battered]

Good advice on the tofu.

[jas xjr]

try to avoid using cheap nasty oil

[TeeRev]

What's Tofu?

My tip for today is whenever you cook anything using tinned tomatoes or tomato puree always add a pinch of sugar to balance the flavour.

[NordicCrankShaft]

Home cooks don't make the best chefs

Balsamic vinegar......Don't waste you'r money buying the expensive stuff when it's exactly the same as the cheaper one, probably even from the same distillery. (Unless it's the proper traditional made stuff that is casked once a year)

Always toast your unground spices.

Make sure that pan is super smoking hot before cooking your meat.

Learn to use salt properly.

When preparing live mussels/cockles etc for consumption, soak them in water with pepper in it. As they circulate the water they will spit the pepper with any sand/grit that is contained in them.

Don't shallow fry with olive oil.

A dash of vinegar is always good for giving soups and sauces a hint of acidity.

Work clean.