Difference between revisions of "Cooking Guide and tips"

Revision as of 16:47, 10 January 2021

The main purpose of this section is to help out all the people that don't have much experience in cooking, and are trying out for the first time.
You might find useful stuff written here even if you're not new to cooking.

This is all practical advice, and it'll cover things from explaining how to cook ingredients whose preparation process is not self-intuitive (i.e. pumpkins), to giving advice on how to do things faster, and other safety advice.

Basics

Below you'll find basics explained for people that are new to cooking.

How to boil

Boiling food is one of the most common cooking methods.

To boil something:

• Grab a pot big enough to fit what you want to boil plus the water.
• Fill the pot up to a maximum of around 3/4 of the pot with water, as more than that will increase the risk for water to spill out as it comes to a boiling point.
• Turn on the stove on which you'll place the pot to maximum heat, so as to bring the water to a boiling point faster.
• Once it's boiling, drop in the food (i.e. pasta), and lower the heat so that the water won't spill over.
• Stir occasionally with a spoon (long enough not to burn yourself) so the food won't stick, only if the type of food you're using is likely to stick (i.e. pasta).
• In the meantime, prepare a strainer on the sink, to be ready to drain the food - this is only needed if you have to drain the food, if you don't (i.e. soup), there's no need to strain anything.
• Once the food is ready (i.e. pasta), turn off the stove, and grab the pot by being careful not to burn your hands - the handles of the pot might be hot, if that's the case, use kitchen gloves.
• Bring the pot near the strainer, and pour everything in the strainer slowly, so as not to splash boiling water on yourself.
• Put the empty pot aside, and shake the strainer a little bit to shake off and drain the water from the food.
• Bring the strainer next to the empty pot, and pour the now-dry food in the pot.

Thing to note/pay attention to:

• Fill the pot with water that's as warm as possible at the beginning to reduce cooking times. Although, you might want to avoid using hot water from the sink if your house/tubing is old, as there could be lead residue and other contaminants - in which case, just use cold water to be safe.
• Pay even more attention when boiling starchy foods, such as pasta, potatoes, or rice, as starch will make the water boil and spill faster - so, when dealing with starchy foods, control the heat and try to put only the necessary water amount in the pot at the beginning (less water, less chances of the water boiling over).
• To know if the food is ready to be drained, grab a fork/spoon to take a piece/part of what you're cooking to taste it, letting the hot water drain from the spoon/fork (or cool off in case of a soup) before putting it in your mouth, and being careful not to burn yourself.
• When straining the food, a lot of vapor might come up. Do NOT have your face above the pouring water while you're straining something, it's very easy to burn yourself - leave your face pulled back while bringing forward just your hands to slowly tilt the pot, and have the pot face away from you, not towards you.
• Until you've boiled a certain food enough times to know for sure, don't leave the cooking station to only return at a later date, as the food might stick and/or the water might spill over while you're away.

How to steam

To steam something:

• Grab a pot big enough to fit what you want to steam.
• Put only a little bit of water in the pot (try 1/6 of a cup, and adjust from there), being careful not to put too much - you can always increase the amount of water by simply adding more, but if there's too much the food will be soggy and full of water, and removing the excess water after steaming would remove taste and nutrients.
• Drop the food you want to steam in the pot.
• Turn on the stove to maximum heat to get it to steaming temperature faster, and place the pot on top.
• Once the liquid starts boiling/water starts evaporating, lower the heat to low to not burn the food/dry the water too fast.
• Stir occasionally so that the food won't stick, add more water if the pot is too dry at the bottom, and regulate the heat to make the water evaporate faster or slower depending if there's too much of it left or not.
• You can also cover the pot with a lid and turn the heat to low to maintain everything moist inside, so that you won't have to worry about the food sticking/too much water evaporating if you're cooking something else in the meantime, and by doing that you'll only have to check occasionally.
• Once the food is ready, simply turn off the heat and serve, as the vast majority of the water should be gone by now.

Things to note/pay attention to:

• Consider that the food you're going to steam will release water, especially in the case of frozen stuff and mushrooms (when using those, sometimes it's not even necessary to add extra water), so regulate the amount of water you're going to put initially accordingly - this is mostly a trial and error process, and remember that if there's too much water left, you can always increase the heat to make it evaporate faster.
• Add ingredients at the right time according to their cooking times - bell peppers, for example, cook faster, so add them towards the end, while onions/garlic take some time, so add them at the beginning.
• You can check if the food is ready by simply tasting a piece/part of it, being careful not to burn yourself, or you can check how cooked the food is by poking it with a fork (i.e. if you can barely get the fork through a carrot piece, it's not ready yet, if it's very easy for the fork to go through, it's overcooked, and if it's somewhat crunchy, it's ready).

How to stir fry

Stir frying is very similar to steaming.

To stir fry something:

• Grab a pot big enough to fit what you want to stir fry.
• Put only as much oil as needed to coat the bottom of the pot (usually no more than 2 tsp), with a bit in excess depending how much food you're going to stir fry - if there is a lot of food you're stir frying, you'll have to put a little bit more oil to make sure that there will be enough to lightly coat the food as well.
• Drop the food you want to stir fry in the pot.
• Turn on the stove, but keep it on medium/low heat so as not to burn the oil - oil heats up fast, so it'll get to high temperature quicker than steaming.
• Stir frequently so that the food won't stick, mixing in an extra dash of oil if the food is sticking too easily.
• Once the food is ready, simply turn off the heat and serve.

Things to note/pay attention to:

• If you want to add liquid to the mix, do NOT just drop liquid in hot oil, as it'll cause a small explosion - the water would expand rapidly because of the oil temperature, displacing the oil. Instead, take the stove off the heat for a little bit, and slowly add the liquid to the mix. Ideally, you would want to add the liquid/sauce initially, avoiding the problem.
• Stir frying is quicker than steaming, but also requires more focus, as the oil can quickly overheat - check often to see if you should lower the heat and/or stir.
• You can check if the food is ready by simply tasting a piece/part of it, being careful not to burn yourself, or you can check how cooked the food is by poking it with a fork (i.e. if you can barely get the fork through a carrot piece, it's not ready yet, if it's very easy for the fork to go through, it's overcooked, and if it's somewhat crunchy, it's ready). To taste something, you'll have to wait longer and blow on the food more than what you would have to do with steaming, since the oil can easily burn your tongue.
• Extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil are usually the best ones to cook with, with the former adding good flavor and the latter being the safest to cook with. High oleic sunflower oil is another good option. Do not cook with flaxseed oil and any oil that is high in unsaturated fats if you can avoid it, as unsaturated fats will turn into trans-fats when heated enough - trans-fats are much worse health-wise than saturated fats (oils low in saturated fats are instead best used not cooked, such as dressing in salads).
• Stir fry at low temperatures, not only for safety to avoid oil sprinkles jumping at your face, but also to avoid the oil from becoming more unhealthy (the higher the temperature, the more the oil is damaged and trans-fats are produced).
• Consider using spray oils if you have them, as they'll coat things more easily and reduce the amount of oil you'll have to use.

How to bake

How to blend

How to prepare/cook ingredients

Pumpkins