Easy Cooking Tips For Newbies

When you become and adult and you finally have to live on your own for the first time, it can always be a

little difficult for you to learn how to do all those basic house chores yourself. Doing the laundry, cleaning

your bathroom and pruning the garden can be things which you have never done before, but there is

no skill more crucial to learn at this time than cooking. I was very fortunate my dad was a chef and I learned to cook from a very young age and was capable of baking and making roast meals by myself time I was ten years old. There is no greater pleasure than cooking and I personally find baking good stress relief.

If you are a newbie in the kitchen this year and you want to learn some simple skills, here are our tips tips

for cooking which will help you be a whizz in the kitchen and impress your family and friends.

Keep it clean

The most important thing you have to do when cooking is to understand

how to reduce cross-contamination in your kitchen. Every item of food you slice and chop and

cook will need care and consideration and you want to make sure that harmful germs cannot

spread through the food. For example if you are making chicken and vegetables for your dinner,

you will need to use a different chopping board for the chicken than the vegetables.

If you only have one chopping board make sure you clean it thoroughly before you cut up

your veggies. These are simple tips but they are the most important of all.

Season it

One of the things which you might forget to do if you are a relatively new cook is to season

your food when you cook it. For example if you were to make a meal such as chicken curry,

you might think that simply cooking the chicken and adding curry spices is enough, but you

can add a whole new dimension of flavour to the dish if you simply season with salt and pepper

first. Every dish can do with this from beef to fish to veggies and it can really elevate a

plain meal into something amazing.

Nail sauces

When you are cooking every day foods one of the easiest ways for you to add some flavour

and fun to a dish is a good sauce. As you start out cooking there are two main sauces you

will want to learn how to make: marinara sauce and bechamel. For tomato sauce based

dishes such as pizza and pasta a marinara is ideal and you can make this using some onion,

garlic, tinned tomatoes, tomato purée and a little basil. Cook off the onion and garlic first then

add your herbs and tomatoes and simmer for 20 minutes. Blend until smooth.

For creamy dishes such as lasagna and mac and cheese a bechamel will be your base and

you can add cheese and spices to it to make it more exciting. Start off with a tablespoon of

butter and melt this in a pan. Add a tablespoon of flour and stir until combined. After 30

seconds add half a pint of milk and stir constantly for 5-10 minutes, and you will see the

sauce thicken. Add a pinch of nutmeg to finish off and you have the ideal base for creamy

dishes.

This is a collaborative post.