Cooking Tips for the Soul

Here are some cooking tips that may be helpful for your everyday meals.

  1. Preparing is the key. By doing the prep such as seasoning the meat the night or day before so it gets to marinate in the juice’s that it creates. It also saves time the next day when cooking dinner.
  2. Store spices in a cool, dark place and not above your store. Humidity, light and heat will cause herbs and spices to lose their flavor.
  3.  When buying large amounts of meat, separate them accordingly and put into freezer bag, avoiding unthawing the extra meat you wont use.
  4. After working with strong seasonings, onions or meats, wash hands with lemon to remove odor from hands.
  5. When seasoning meats and fish, spread out seasonings evenly to avoid clumping or ending up with too much seasoning in some areas and none in others.
  6. If following a recipe, read thoroughly before you begin.
  7. Recipes are only guidelines; you are not restricted to the exact ingredients listed. Feel free to replace ingredients with other similar ingredients that you like.
  8. To avoid tears when cutting an onion, place the onion in the freezer for two - five minutes which reduces the amount of the acid enzyme released into the air and has zero effect on taste.
  9. When baking always measure ingredients.
  10. When using ime or lemon, roll it under your palm to soften it up or put in microwave it for 10 – 15 seconds to optimize the juice for easy use.

 

ADVICE FROM CHEF BRIANA COOK

Chef Cook, owner and founder of Cook’e Soiree went to Washburn Culinary Institute & French Pastry school. Briana had already had some tricks up her sleeve and culinary school introduced her to many more useful tricks and tips that she would love to share with everyone.

I asked Briana what does she think is most challenging for at home cookers?

“Cooking meats are usually challenging for people because they sometimes do not know when the meat is fully cooked but there is ways to test it to see if it’s done. If your are cooking fish you will know if its done or not by the color; fish goes from pale to opaque once cooked. If you are cooking meat then you can test if it’s done by its firmness”

Briana learned as chef you develop and learn your own tricks and techniques and sometimes you have to keep them a secret. Every chef has something signature that they do or a special ingredient. As you cook more you wil develop your own style.

“My advice for cooking any dish is to taste, analyze, and adjust. This is the key! You have to have the right amount of spices to make a meal tasteful”