5 Tips to Level Up Your Cooking Skills

Cooking is a skill that everyone should have. By knowing how to prepare delicious and healthy meals, you’ll rely less on takeaways and save more money—without sacrificing taste, texture, and quality and resigning yourself to eating bland, flavourless foods. Amp up your cooking skills through these tips:

Get all the basic tools

Invest in a high-quality 8-inch chef’s knife that’s sturdy and well-balanced. This tool will get you through almost all recipes and will last for a long time when properly washed and maintained. You should also get a big wooden chopping board around 18″x24″ in size, which is less likely to move around than a smaller board and is therefore safer for your fingers. A bigger chopping board also lets you prep multiple ingredients without having to place them into separate bowls. This will make cleanup much easier and help you save time.

Obtain saucepans, frying pans, baking trays, and other cooking equipment aside from getting yourself a chef’s knife and a large chopping board. Don’t forget to purchase a kitchen scale, vegetable peeler, stick blender, and other tools that make cooking easier.

Practise mise en place

Many people believe that doing mise en place (which is the process of measuring and preparing all ingredients before cooking commences) isn’t really necessary, especially when they’re just preparing food at home. However, mise en place isn’t just for commercial kitchens; it can also help home cooks become more efficient while ensuring that no ingredient goes to waste.

Master basic skills

Learning how to properly hold and use a knife is important since it lets you cook more quickly and efficiently while reducing the risk of injuries. You should also master flavour pairing concepts and learn how to season food in each cooking stage so you can prepare delicious dishes that will delight your taste buds.

Watch cooking videos

Modern cooks-in-training are incredibly lucky to have access to social media and video sharing sites. By watching cooking videos on these platforms, you’ll learn helpful tips and tricks from trained chefs and experienced home cooks, and you can use their advice to become more efficient in the kitchen. You’ll also have access to step-by-step guides that will teach you how to cook a dish from start to finish, which is greatly helpful if you’re a visual learner.

Take inspiration from books and magazines

Subscribe to Gourmet Traveller and other food and lifestyle magazines that provide enticing recipes with eye-catching photography aside from watching cooking videos. You’re assured that they’ll result in tasty dishes and desserts because these recipes are created by food development experts. You can also check out cookbooks and other food-related books as well! You can buy classic cookbooks that are well-loved by many cooks or purchase cookbooks written by your favourite celebrities.

Cooking is one of the most important skills you need to have. Fortunately, by using these tips, you can take your cooking expertise to the next level and learn how to prepare wonderful dishes for yourself and your loved ones.