Care to make a difference in the kitchen

Check out the 17 tips that can make food from day to day much more pleasant

by Roberta Malta, especially for iG

Preparing tasty dishes is not always so easy. But use caution, this is not a guarantee that the end result is flawless, but really helpful in making it so.

1 - Keep the vegetables crispy
Vegetables or raw vegetables should be served in a container with water and ice until the time it goes to the table. Thus, they are more crisp, colorful, with more subtle smell and taste.

2 - Choose fresh herbs
It is worth having vases of herbs in a corner of the house. Basil, mint and parsley can be used to combine in various types of food.

3 - Pay attention to food hygiene
Fruits and vegetables should be washed as they arrive from the market. Once cleaned, they must be soaked for fifteen minutes with bleach (1 teaspoon) and water (2 to 3 liters). Then just rinse them under running water.

4 - Use homemade broth
Homemade broths have mild flavor, not salty. The basic recipe calls for onion, carrot, leek, celery, water, a bouquet of garnish (bay leaf, thyme, parsley and celery leaf tied with leek) and forty minutes to simmer. To increase the muscle or carcass of chicken, cook two hours on the stove. It is important to remove the foam with a slotted spoon during cooking.

5 - Choose the right fish
Choosing fish has basic rules: the eyes have to be alive and bright, side gills, pink, the loin must have the texture of a human forearm, and the film inside the belly should be whole.

6 - Be sure to blanch the vegetables
The process is simple: just boil the vegetables and then transfer them to a container with water and ice. Thus, chlorophyll is set and the colors of the ingredients are still alive.

7 - Cook vegetables separately
Each ingredient has a cooking time. So when it comes time to cook, don't put everything together in the same pot.

8 - Salt water cooking
Vegetables should always be cooked in salted water, which prevents plant cells from bursting. This way, they turn out crisper.

9 - Do not overcook pasta
To make sure the pasta it at the right point, you just need to cut a piece off and see if the dough is transparent. If it is white, it is not ready yet. If it is to be served with sauce, you should remove it from the fire before it is fully cooked and finish the process in the pot with the sauce. Thus, the pores will be open and ready to be "seasoned." If it is dry, just add a little of the cooking water in the final preparation.

10 - Make sure your steak is just right

The steak should be sealed on both sides in a searing hot frying pan or griddle so as not to lose the juice. Then after searing, reduce the heat until it is cooked to your liking

11 - Care for kitchen knife
Do not cut blindly, tearing food A dull knife is the greatest enemy of the cook. First because rather than cutting the food, it tears the food. Additionally, you can slip and it might cause accidents.

12 - Respect the time of use of cooking oil
If the oil smokes or foams when encountering the food, it must be discarded. The color is also important: it has to be golden and not brown.

13 - Do dry frying
Dry frying needs hot oil. To find out if it is at 180º is easy, just dip a matchstick into it and if it lights, the oil is at the right temperature. You can start off by dropping a small piece of what you are going to fry into the oil. If it sinks down and comes up to the surface the oil is ready. If not, then the oil is too cold or too hot

14 - Cool breaded food items before frying
For a crust to firmly stick on the food, it must be refrigerated after breaded and then go to pan for frying. If you fry a breaded steak too soon after putting flour and egg, it is likely you run the risk of the skin and meat separating.

15 - Keep an eye on the flame of the stove
Unless it is to seal meats or reduce sauces, the flame of the stove should always be pleasant. High heat does not increase the speed of cooking, but the liquid evaporates and the food burns.

16 - Discover the perfect wine for your recipe
No need to use expensive wine for cooking. One tip is to use a label similar to grape wine to accompany the meal.

17 - Always use filtered water
Filtered water has less chlorine than tap. Therefore, its flavor is neutral and does not interfere with the taste of food.

Translated from the Portuguese version by:

Lisa Karpova

Pravda.Ru