Cooking Tips From Our Mothers

Plan Ahead

This simple piece of advice can go a very long way and it applies in many different situations. For example, if you have been invited to a party and asked to bring a dish, be sure to take this advice seriously. You will most likely want to try making the dish at least once in advance in order to see if you like it or if there are improvements that need to be made. You should also consider how many people you will be cooking for and how this will affect the preparation time.

In fact, many say that it is worth having a few dishes in your repertoire that you have completely mastered so that you can always resort to them in an emergency. You should also begin to get a sense of exactly how long different dishes take you to prepare and cook. Timing is everything in the kitchen and with proper planning, you can use the cooking time of one dish to prepare for another and ensure that everything comes to the table fresh and piping hot.

Allow Yourself to Experiment

There is real joy to be found in experimenting in the kitchen; however, we have to accept that not all experiments work. This might mean that you occasionally prepare something that is completely unpalatable; however, there is no shame in this. You can either try to find a way to rescue it or worst case scenario start all over again. While no one likes waste in the kitchen, experimenting with recipes and ingredients is a hugely enjoyable and rewarding experience.  

Making Food Go Further

It is amazing how you can make a little go a long way in the kitchen and you will likely come across many tips and tricks to help you do just that. For instance, if you are short of ground beef, then you can add diced onions and bell peppers during cooking as a substitute.

There are also tips that will help you reduce your kitchen waste. For example, many people will throw away a jar of mayonnaise that still has a little left in it as it is difficult to scrape the final few spoonfuls out. Rather than waste the mayonnaise, you could simply add the ingredients for a salad to the jar and eat it straight out of the jar. There are many similar tricks and if you ask older generations, such as those who experienced rationing, then they are likely to have loads of ideas.

Precision Matters

People often talk about tossing ingredients in, as if it was an entirely careless act. However, precision is actually extremely important when cooking and the subject of many a mothers tips. For instance, you have to ensure you fully understand the different measuring systems, the different ways of measuring liquid and dry ingredients, imperial and metric measurements, and so on.

Precision goes beyond measuring and weighing things. For example, if you are chopping vegetables then you want to make sure that the chunks are of roughly the same size, otherwise they will not cook evenly and the smaller ones may burn before the bigger ones are ready.

When starting a new recipe, it is always worth measuring out all the ingredients carefully in advance as even relatively small errors can have a big impact on the dish.

Keeping the Kitchen Clean

It is vital that a kitchen is kept clean, otherwise it can lead to all sorts of health problems. Many a mother will say that it is best to clean up the kitchen as you go. While it sounds obvious and simple, it is not always that straightforward and can require some serious multitasking ability. If you are not careful, before you know it you can find yourself surrounded by dirty dishes.

Ideally, by the time you have finished cooking your meal, the vast majority of the cleaning up will also be done. Of course this is not always possible, but you may be able to talk someone you live with into helping, especially if there is the reward of delicious food when they are done.