If you want to become a better cook, then you are already taking a positive step towards making happier and healthier meals for your family. Take a look below to find out more.

Collect Skills

Home cooks should try and develop a repertoire of tried-and-tested recipes. It’s important to collect skills as well. When you have mastered everything, you can then apply them to several different recipes.  You should ideally know how to make an omelet, a steak, and a simple pan sauce. Other skills you need to master include making classic gravy and short crust pastry. If you can do this, then the world is your oyster when it comes to your cooking journey.

Emulate Professional Chefs

If you want to become a better cook at home, then you need to try and emulate the professionals. You can usually tell if someone is a good cook or not by simply looking at their kitchen. Everything should have a place and ingredients should be stacked, labelled and finally, organized. Your kitchen should be free from clutter, and you should also have a time plan for when you’re cooking. Not taking the time to read the recipe from start to end is a major mistake. You need to know in advance if you need to be leaving something overnight, so keep that in mind.

Invest in your Equipment

If you have a budget, then spend the whole thing on some new knives. Knives should be comfortable, and they should also have a good weight. Store them in a knife block and never put them in the dishwasher. You should have a large cook’s knife for meal prep and a paring knife for things that require greater control. This is especially the case when it comes to cutting up smaller ingredients. A serrated knife is great if you intend to cut up bread and cake too. If you haven’t got one already, then make sure that you invest in a sharpening steel. This will help you to keep your blades nice and sharp.

Choose Gadgets Wisely

If you go to a professional kitchen, then you won’t find gimmicky gadgets. You will find labor saving appliances, such as spice grinders, food processors, mandolins, and meat thermometers. Micro graters are also great to have. If you want to experiment with cutting gadgets then these fall salad recipes are great, as you can practice cutting up different vegetables with ease.

Taste Everything

You need to taste everything again and again. Sometimes a sprinkling of chili flakes ruins a dish, but other times it saves it. Take care when using salted butter in your recipes as it is very difficult to over season this way. Most chefs will use unsalted butter for this very reason. If you are cooking using a white sauce then white pepper seasons the dish while stopping it from having large black lumps, like you’d get with black pepper. You’ll pick up little tricks as you go, so make sure that you keep this in mind.

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