When it comes to cooking, knowing some cooking tips will help us cook better and more delicious dishes, as well as process and preserve food more effectively and even save time.
Surely, all of us have learned some amazing cooking tips from our own mothers. Let’s take a look at some interesting cooking tips below, you will definitely be surprised to see!
Preserving tofu in the refrigerator
When buying tofu, we can completely preserve it in the refrigerator. If you plan to eat tofu within a week, you just need to put it in the fridge. You need to pour clean, cool water into the tofu container, let the tofu soak in the water. Then, seal the container tightly or use food wrapping film to wrap it. Every day, use clean water to rinse the tofu, change the water in the container to keep the tofu moist, fresh, and not spoiled.
In case you need to use tofu after more than a week, it is best to put it in the freezer compartment of the refrigerator. Frozen tofu can be used for up to 3 months. Remember to put the tofu in a ziplock bag or a sealed container before freezing it. When eating, you transfer the tofu from the freezer compartment to the refrigerator compartment, until the tofu is completely thawed, use a gentle squeezing force to drain the excess water. Then you can proceed to cook as usual.
Using cooking oil to make food marinate faster
Before cooking, the food needs to be marinated to evenly absorb the seasonings, making the dish rich and more delicious. The marinating process takes quite a long time for the food to really absorb the seasonings. But if you are in a hurry and need to cook food quickly and don’t have time to wait for the food to fully absorb the seasonings, you can use cooking oil when marinating.
That is the important secret to make the food absorb the seasonings evenly and quickly. Just add 1 teaspoon of cooking oil to the marinade along with the seasonings, the oil in the cooking oil will help the food absorb all the seasonings in just about 10 to 15 minutes.
Soaking fish in milk to remove fishy odor
Before cooking fish, you can soak it in a bowl of fresh milk for about 20 minutes, then take it out to make the fish dry. The fishy odor will completely disappear and the fish meat will also become more delicious.
In the bodies of all marine organisms, there is a chemical called trimethylamine oxide (TMAO). Fish rely on TMAO to “deal with” the saltwater around them. TMAO is a beneficial substance for fish while they are still alive, but immediately after they die, bacteria and enzymes in the fish convert this chemical into trimethylamine (TMA) – the substance that makes the fish have a fishy smell. The longer the fish is dead, the more TMA is produced, and the stronger the fishy smell.
Milk contains a substance called casein, a type of protein that quickly binds to TMA and can eliminate the fishy odor. In addition, TMA also makes the meat less sweet, and milk can improve this.”
Soaking beans in the freezer for 30 minutes before frying, the beans will be crispy and taste better
Before frying, you can put the whole beans in the freezer for about 30 minutes. After this time, take out the beans, cut them into small slices, and then fry them in hot oil. This way, the fried beans will be beautifully shaped, not broken, and extremely crispy, crispy like in a restaurant.
Also, you should know that when frying beans, the cooking oil must be hot before adding the beans. This way, the beans will be very crispy and not stick to the pan (in case you don’t use a non-stick pan). Or if not, you can use a slice of ginger, spread it on the entire surface of the pan to create a smooth layer, so that the fried beans will not break or stick to the pan.
The rule of “salty – sweet – fragrant – spicy” when marinating food
You should always remember the rule of “salty – sweet – fragrant – spicy” when marinating food:
First: The salty taste comes from salt, seasoning powder. Note that you should limit marinating with fish sauce, and only add fish sauce when the dish is cooked and soft, otherwise it will cause loss of vitamins, amino acids, and the flavor of the fish sauce. As for salt, you should not use iodized salt for a long time because it can make the food watery.
Second: Sweetness comes from sugar, honey, soy sauce, seasoning powder…
Third: Fragrance comes from onions, garlic, wine, sesame… Note that you should not use pepper when marinating because high temperature not only loses the characteristic aroma of pepper but can also cause pepper particles to degrade, which is not good for health. You should only add pepper when the dish is cooked and turn off the stove.
Fourth: Spiciness comes from chili, chili sauce…
After adding the necessary ingredients as the above order, you can add additional odorless ingredients such as cooking oil, eggs, flour…
Adding banana peel to the pan when frying meat to prevent the meat from becoming dry and hard
When frying meat, you can add a few slices of ripe banana peel to the pan to ensure that the meat slices do not become dry and hard after frying. Beef, pork, chicken, and even fish can also use banana peels. Especially for chicken fillets, before putting them in the oven, you add a banana peel to make the meat softer and more fragrant.
Soaking carrots in the pan when frying to prevent food from burning or having a burnt smell
When frying food, from frying meat, fish to vegetables or cakes, you just need to add two pieces of carrot about 5cm thick to the pan. Those two carrot pieces will act like magnets to attract all the blackened oil residues – the things that can cause burning and sticking to the food and make the food have a burnt smell.
So when frying something, you prepare a fresh carrot, wash it, peel it, and cut it into two 5 cm thick pieces, then drop it into the oil pan to fry together with the food.
Using absorbent paper to dry fish before frying to make the fish crispy and the skin intact
Usually, after deboning and cleaning the fish, women put it directly into the pan to fry, and that is the key point that makes your fried fish not as desired. From now on, every time you fry fish, you use absorbent paper to completely dry the fish before putting it in the pan.
Note that you have to use absorbent paper to dry both the front and back of the fish. When the fish is completely dry. You turn on the stove and add cooking oil to the pan. Remember to heat the oil before putting the fish in. During frying, you use a spatula to press the fish onto the pan surface, so that the fish is cooked and crispy evenly. Also do the same when flipping to the other side. Finally, you will have a plate of fried fish that is crispy and fragrant without the skin peeling off.
Thawing meat with sugar water
To thaw meat, you need to prepare a mixture of cold water and boiling water in a ratio of 5:1 to create a warm water mixture of about 40 degrees. Then, add about 2 tablespoons of sugar to the water and stir well. Now, you put the frozen meat into the thawing water. After about 7 minutes, the meat will become soft again. In addition, sugar will make the meat tender and retain its sweet taste.
Thawing fish with saltwater
Like thawing meat, when thawing fish, you also prepare a warm water tub of about 40 degrees by mixing 5 parts of cold water and 1 part of hot water. When thawing fish, you use salt and add 2 teaspoons of salt to the water and stir well. Then, you put the frozen fish in thawing. After about 7 minutes, the fish will become soft and delicious again. Salt will make the fish firmer, have a stronger flavor when cooked.
According to ICTVietNam
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