If your efforts in the kitchen are not bringing the desired results, you are probably making one of these eight mistakes. Check yourself to always cook deliciously and enjoy the process.
Save on ingredients
There is a huge difference between a quality product obtained at a good discount and a low-grade or spoiled analogue. For example, replacing butter with cheap margarine does not always go unnoticed, and whole wheat pasta is easy to distinguish by texture and taste from the cheapest ones, which can turn into mush during cooking. Frozen meat stuck to the far wall of the freezer, alas, will not be a feast for the taste either. Take care of the quality and freshness of the products – and the result will definitely please you.
Forgetting to preheat the pan
Usually, even recipes remind you that the frying pan should be heated with a small amount of oil before frying, or even without it. In a hurry, it is tempting to skip this step, but in this case, you can spoil the products. Thus, the meat will stick to the cold frying pan, and the syrniki will leave their delicious golden crust on it. Fry – be sure to heat the utensils over medium heat before cooking.
Ignore the recipe
It is not by chance that kitchen scales exist, and the food in your favorite place meets your expectations time after time. Sometimes it is better not to be lazy and weigh the ingredients than to wonder later what went wrong and why the taste of your cooking leaves much to be desired. If you are often dissatisfied with the result of cooking, leave improvisation to the professionals and use proven step-by-step recipes, observing the technology.
Ignore time
Not every housewife uses a clock, many determine readiness by eye. In some cases, you really have to make sure it is ready visually, but most often you should accurately time it to avoid culinary failures. It is not necessary to buy a special timer for the kitchen, it is enough to activate it on your smartphone or at least place the clock in a visible place.
To make a mistake with the temperature
Not to mention a gas oven, where you won’t be able to set the desired temperature and it’s important to constantly monitor the readings of the built-in thermometer, even a simple microwave oven can operate at different power levels. Did you do everything according to the recipe, but the result is still not very good? Perhaps you forgot to check the temperature or chose the wrong microwave or multicooker mode.
Choosing the wrong “caliber”
Have you ever noticed that foods taste different depending on the size of the pieces? A slice of orange and a spoonful of orange puree will give you different taste sensations. A salad will taste different if you cut the vegetables into quarters instead of small cubes. Some recipes provide cutting recommendations, but it often depends on your taste – try different options to find your favorite format.
Do not taste the dish during the process
Even the most precise recipe cannot take into account the parameters of your products. For example, tomatoes can be both sweet and very sour, and the required volume of products is not always clearly indicated: three medium apples or two cucumbers – how much is that? Even meticulous adherence to the recipe cannot guarantee the ideal taste. Try the dish during the cooking process to make adjustments in time. In short, the plan is as follows: sour the sweet, sweeten the sour, dilute the salty.
Overdo
One of the main secrets of cooking is not to overdo it. Fresh herbs and spices, for example, are usually added to hot dishes at the end, so as not to kill their aroma. Any products, if overdone with their processing, will simply be spoiled. Therefore, it is so important to stop in time.