Tips

Useful tips to tackle “mishaps” while cooking (Part 2)

Let's continue with some tips on how to handle overcooked vegetables, raw meat, lumpy sauce, sticky pasta, and non-stick seasoning without sticking to the meat, shall we!

Administrator

17 October, 2023

271

6. Lump sauce

Cause: When cooking, you add the ingredients too quickly or don’t choose the right temperature.

Remedy: You need a strainer to filter the lumpy sauce. To prevent lumpy sauce while cooking, you should add the components of the dish slowly and stir with a spoon. Also, when adding any liquid ingredient to the dish, you must wait until the dish is completely heated.

7. Sticky noodles

Cause: You add too little water or don’t heat the water to the necessary temperature for the noodles to fully cook.

Remedy: Add a little cooking oil to the noodles and eat them with a thick sauce to separate the noodles. If you don’t want the noodles to stick, you must pay attention to boiling the water for boiling the noodles, then put them in. In addition, the amount of water for boiling must be in accordance with the instructions on the package. When boiling, choose a large enough pot because the noodles will expand when cooked. Only cook until the noodles are just cooked. After cooking with the sauce, they will continue to cook gently and not become soggy.

8. “Raw outside, cooked inside” meat dish

Cause: You fry the meat too quickly or at too high a temperature

Remedy: The only way to solve this problem is to put them back in the pan and cook them until the meat is fully cooked. To avoid this problem, you should cook the meat thoroughly at the appropriate temperature so that it cooks from the inside out. For thick slices of meat, you should flip them regularly while cooking, so the meat will cook evenly on both sides.

9. Overcooked vegetables

Cause: You cooked the vegetables for too long

Remedy: If you have overcooked the vegetables, the only solution is to puree them and reserve them for a vegetable soup. In addition, you can also blanch the vegetables and refrigerate them overnight, then use them in simple salad dishes.

If you want the vegetables not to be overcooked, you must sort the vegetables before cooking because each type of vegetable has a different cooking time. Harder vegetables will take longer to cook. On the contrary, most green vegetables cook very quickly. Therefore, if you put all the vegetables in the pot at the same time, they will not cook evenly. For some vegetables (such as snow peas), you should blanch them in boiling water briefly, then immediately put them in ice water, wait until cool, then drain. This is the secret to preserving the color and flavor of vegetables and peas.

10. Seasoning doesn’t stick to the meat

Cause: The seasoning mixture is lacking flour

Remedy: To make the seasoning mixture stick to the meat, it must have all 3 components: flour, eggs, and bread crumbs. The seasoning process is as follows: you roll the meat evenly in a bowl of flour, then dip it in eggs, and then roll it in a layer of bread crumbs. If you’re making a large amount of seasoned meat, you can put all the meat and the components of the seasoning into a large bowl and mix well. Then, put this mixture in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes before cooking. The slight coolness will help the seasoning adhere better. Finally, be careful not to let the pan get too hot when starting to fry the meat, as this will cause the outer layer of the seasoned meat to stick to the pan.