When people got busy with their jobs and women started to work eating out started also to increase as well. Restaurants increased in number and provide us with a variety of choices. Seafood, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, American and so on. All of these reasons made cooking at home be difficult and hard to implement. So restaurants became a solution for these problems.
What happened next was interesting! A revolution came .. people started to prepare their meals again. That happened because three reasons. The first, rising of awareness. People came to know that how much is the quality and the way of cooking food may effect your health “you are what you eat”. The second was money issues, costs became too high and the income is not enough. The third, missing the taste of home made meals.
The question here is how to reach that and in the same time cook something easy, simple and delicious (compared with top restaurants)? This was an issue. So a need of recipes resources increased. A lot of cooking books were published, and still the number increases every year. Cooking websites and blogs have been created. Magazines articles and TV shows were also involved. All media types are talking about one topic cooking.
Cooking became an art more than three meals everyday. An art every body enjoy, kids, adults, teenagers, men and women. So because cooking is important this much some techniques and tips are provided in many places to improve the way of cooking any meal. In this blog I will list some of them occasionally to create a reference for me and you which makes cooking life easier. Wishing for all of you the best.
The first technique I’m introducing today is Preparing and Cooking Ahead.
The best thing about many dishes is that they can be prepared in advance and cooked when required. This advantage do two things, the first keep stress levels low. The second, ensures that success levels remain high.
Let us start with dishes that does not require cooking such as Salads. In this types of dishes preparation is the critical point. In this case you can wash the salad leaves and dry them, one leave at the time. Then bag and put in the refrigerator”personally after drying I will cover them with paper towels”. This step will not ensure only that the leaves are ready at the last minute, but it also will make them become crisper on standing.
Although that is good to speed up the preparing the salad dish, but the valuable nutrients will be lost. So my advice is to use the advanced preparation only when you know you will be in a hurry later.
Dishes like stews, curries and casseroles often benefit form being made a day before they are to be served. This allows time for the flavors of the different ingredients to meld.So you can cook dishes like this even further ahead and freeze them.
Some points should be considered before freezing any dish. First, the food must be cold before being placed in the freezer. So if you have a hot dish or a hot pot let it cool down first, then place it in a sink full of a very cold or even iced water. That will accelerate the chilling process. Although some dishes can be used in ovens and in freezers but it is not recommended to switch between the two without allowing the hot food to cool or the frozen food to thaw.The best way to let frozen food thaw is to place it in the refrigerator overnight.
When you want to freeze a meal, cool food rapidly then wrap securely and label with a description, date, and number of servings. That will make it easier for you to remember what you have in your freezer and for how long.
Soups and stews in most cases freeze well, but if they contain chopped potatoes, rice, barley or pasta you will notice that they will become mushy while freezing and will lose texture. To prevent that add them after thawing, then simmer the soup or stew until these ingredients are fully cooked. Also don’t forget to leave a little head room in the container to allow the liquid to expand during freezing.
Before freezing dishes that contains fat, try to remove any surplus fat before freezing; especially for long time freezing. It is well known that fat will become rancid in long time freezing.
For any meat or poultry dishes that includes sauce or gravy, make sure that the meat or poultry pieces are fully dipped into the liquid. That will reduce of drying out in the freezer.
For fish in sauce, the taste after freezing and reheating will not be the same as the original taste, Although it can be frozen. So the best thing to do with dishes like this, is to prepare them in the same day of serving.
If you want to freeze rice it is recommended to to be cooled quickly and thoroughly after cooking and before storing. And do not keep cooked rice warm for long periods. When you want to preheat it make sure that it is very hot and serve immediately. These precautions will help to avoid food poisoning.
updated on 2/12/2009
To be continued.
Source: 365 Main Courses
enjoy with love,
Maryam