In the culinary field, every housewife can realize her own special tastes. However, there are general rules for making a dish tasty or inedible. It is worth highlighting a few common mistakes made by housewives in the kitchen. Having got rid of them, the food will always be at its best.
Simultaneous sautéing onions and carrots
One of the most common mistakes housewives make is the improper sautéing of vegetables for soup. Many put them in a skillet at the same time, while first it is necessary to fry the onions until transparent. Only then add the carrots, which, contrary to the opinion of the majority, cook faster. In fact, onions take longer to fry. And when it burns, it becomes bitter, thereby impairing the taste of the finished dish.
Baking potatoes directly after slicing and using a puree blender
Achieving a crispy crust on baked potatoes like the pictures can be tricky. But this is only because not everyone knows the secret of preparing such a dish. Before placing the potato wedges on a baking sheet, they must be soaked for a couple of hours in cold water. The excess starch will go away, and the dish will turn out no worse than in the illustrations of culinary magazines.
The use of a blender is advisable during the preparation of many dishes. But the most delicious mashed potatoes are obtained using a regular crush (and a fork for whipping the finished mass). By the way, professional chefs recommend draining all the liquid in which the potatoes were cooked. It will not be superfluous to dry it right in the pan.
Extinguishing soda with vinegar
Our ancestors also used the technique of extinguishing soda with vinegar. Doing so is wrong, because it evaporates the carbon dioxide, which should give the baked goods splendor. As a result, the dough rises only due to that part of the soda that has not reacted. It is much more effective to use a different technique to add fluffiness to the dough. In ¼ glass of liquid, you need to dissolve a spoonful of soda, and in another (with the same volume of water) - the same amount of citric acid, then pour into the dough.
Shredding onions in advance and cooking vegetables for a long time
Finely chopped onions quickly acquire a bitter taste. As a result, dishes with its addition begin to taste bitter. The same effect is observed if the vegetable is cut with a knife with a dull blade. Therefore, it is recommended to cut the onion just before sending it to the dish and always with a sharp knife.
It is not recommended to cook green vegetables for a long time. For their preparation, short-term heat treatment in a boiling liquid (for 2-5 minutes), called blanching, is suitable. Thanks to this method of cooking, vegetables retain their color, taste, and beneficial properties.
Cooking dough products in a little water
Dough products (dumplings, pasta, dumplings, etc.) are recommended to be boiled in a saucepan with plenty of liquid. If there is not enough water, the dough can turn into a paste, which will obviously spoil the taste of the finished dish. In addition, vermicelli and dumplings will stick both to each other and to the walls of the dish. And washing it afterwards is a dubious pleasure.
Plenty of pizza toppings
Some housewives believe that the more toppings they put in the pizza, the prettier and tastier it will be. However, this is a misconception. In the process of preparing pizza, it is recommended to adhere to the amount of products indicated in the recipe. This will create a crispy dough that won't sag under the weight of the filling.
Excess / lack of spices
It is believed that an under-salted dish is much worse than a salted one. This statement also applies to seasonings, spices. If you do not report them, the dish will turn out tasteless. However, you do not need to put all the seasonings available in the kitchen, you should use the "golden mean" rule.
Adding salt to the broth at the beginning of cooking
You should not salt the broth at the beginning of cooking, as the risk of getting a salted dish increases (during the cooking process, the liquid will boil away). By the way, to make the broth as tasty as possible, you need to put meat products in cold water. If the taste of meat is a priority, the water should boil during cooking.
Rinsing pasta
You should not rinse the finished pasta with cold water, since valuable starch is washed off from their surface, which contributes to better absorption of the sauce. In addition, the liquid in which they were boiled can be used to dilute thick sauces.
Disregarding Sugar When Preparing Savory Foods
It is clear that we are not talking about adding to soups the amount of sugar that is added when cooking jam. But a pinch of this product, added to goulash, borscht or hodgepodge, will significantly improve their taste. This recommendation is especially relevant in the case of dishes with the addition of acidic ingredients such as tomatoes. By the way, this rule applies in the opposite direction. A little salt added to the sweet dough adds to the flavor of the baked goods.
