Have you ever wanted to cook just like they do at a five-star restaurant and wanted to buy the secret recipe? Have you ever tried to make the same dish yourself at hom? Use the advice in this article to create your favorite meals at home and make new ones for any occasion. Cooking is so much fun and is a fun and relaxing hobby for lots of people.For crispier French fries, you should chill the peeled potatoes in water for 30 minutes or more before frying them. Letting sliced potatoes soak up additional cold fluids reinforces the fibers in the vegetable, so that when you deep fry them, they can better withstand the heat without breaking down completely.Cut your meat thinly across the grain when you are stir-frying. This can take some time and be hard.Do you enjoy using fresh basil in your dishes? Place some basil in a clean glass. Make sure the the stems are completely covered with water. Put the basil on your counter and it will remain fresh for up to seven days! Your basil will even send out new roots if you change its water regularly. Also trim the basil every now and then to facilitate growth. Enjoy fresh basil on a regular basis.Do not cook all of the meat immediately after you season it. Cook a tiny portion of it in a pan and taste it first.Regardless of the recipe, you can always bet that a fresh ingredient is better than its dried or frozen counterpart. Use fresh ingredients as often as you can; they offer more flavor and tend to be less expensive as well.Cooking vegetables for long periods of time causes them to lose a lot of the critical nutrients that make them a healthy choice. For nutrient preservation, cook them quickly by steaming or sauteing, or just eat them raw.You can make a lot of preparations when you are cooking to make it easy and fast. Complete as many steps in advance as you can without risking spoilage. Much of the preparations can be finished one day prior to cooking. Even if you are faced with a challenging recipe, it can make everything go quickly.Have you felt sorry for throwing out some moldy fruits? You may have wondered if it is okay to salvage them by trimming away the moldy parts. There are no way to salvage fruit that has begun decomposing. Mold grows inward to places that you can’t even see and can make you ill.

Mushrooms absorb large amounts of water, and this excess water will go into whatever you are cooking with. Instead, get a wet, clean cloth and wipe off the mushroom by hand.Oil and butter have lots of un-needed fat. Try using nonstick cooking spray instead: this product does not contain anything unhealthy and keep it free from fats that contribute little to a healthy lifestyle.There are few things more frustrating in grilling than going to flip a burger and finding that it has stuck to the grill. Brush the grill with oil so that food does not stick to it. Vegetable oil works great and will not make your grill greasy.Beans or tofu contain a lot of proteins. Both beans and tofu are easily available in most grocery stores. Try frying tofu with some interesting seasonings and you will have a tasty alternative to meat. Beans boiled with some spices and herbs for a meal full of protein.If you are on a diet, try cutting down the amount of oil you use in your food. Most of the time, the oils you cook with have high amounts of unnecessary and unhealthy fats. This is also true of butter. Consider using a nonstick cooking spray as replacement for oil.If the recipe calls for water, switch it up by using a broth, beef broth, or juice when suitable. Instead of using milk, try sour cream, yogurt or buttermilk. Using different liquids can add a bit of zest to a favorite recipe and even make it more nutritious.In recipes that call for milk or water, try substituting more flavorful liquids. For example, you might try chicken broth or beef broth instead of water in a meat dish. You might even try fruit juice when cooking certain veggies. If a recipe calls for milk, try using buttermilk, yogurt or sour cream. A good method for increasing your nutritional intake is by increasing the amount of liquids you drink throughout the day.You have now taken the steps to become a great chef at home. Use your imagination and consider each meal an experiment so that you really try new techniques and new recipes. There is no limit to the kinds of foods you can come up with, there are so many food varieties from all over the world.It is important to measure cooking oil. A simple way to reduce fat when you cook is to measure your oil, rather than pour it straight from the bottle. This will enable you to keep track of the amount of oil you are using.