Did you know June is National Cooking Month? This month is an excellent opportunity to show your loved ones how you've stepped up your cooking game and to impress them with your new skills.
Nowadays, many young adults prefer to order delivery rather than take on the kitchen to prepare their own food, even though nothing compares to a home-cooked meal!
Here are some tips we've put together in collaboration with Royal Prestige® that will help you easily prepare your meals and improve your cooking skills, using the right cookware that will give you a fun and exquisite experience inside the kitchen.
As you cook, remember to taste, observe, smell, and touch each ingredient. Following a recipe step by step is the best way to learn but integrating your senses with your knowledge will help you get in touch with the process and have more fun improvising!
Use your hands and fingers as instruments to clean, rub, season, knead, and even to mix food. It will make you feel more connected with the cooking experience and it will give you better results. Remember to always wash your hands to avoid cross-contamination of food.
Your sense of smell will serve you, through the aroma of the ingredients, whether they are well combined and in the proper ratio. And obviously, scent is the main indicator of whether your food is burning! You should always be aware of the smells in the kitchen.
Your sense of taste will tell you if your dish has the proper amount of salt and seasonings. Always remember to try everything, and if additional seasoning is necessary, add it in small amounts so as not to over-season.
Planning your meals will save you a lot of time! It is a good idea to create a weekly meal chart to take the guesswork out of what you will cook on any given day. A meal plan will also help avoid having to run to the store at the last minute, which can throw off your schedule and make you want to give up on cooking altogether. By organizing a full week of meals, you won’t necessarily repeat the same dishes regularly, and you can settle on healthy options ahead of time.
Planning options such as meat or fish that you can combine with salads or simple garnishes are always a good idea. Also preparing meals in bulk to freeze leftovers and store them in food containers will give you access to easy and healthy meals in the future when you are short on time. Another idea is to cook certain components in large quantities -- such as rice -- so you can utilize them in different ways throughout the week.
You'd be surprised how much you can improve your culinary skills when you have the right cookware. You'll not only save time, but cooking can be so much easier with the right equipment.
Having quality cookware will even save you money! For instance, a poor-quality pot can cause food to burn, making both the meal and the pot useless in short order. In addition, these kinds of experiences force you to invest in cookware regularly, which isn’t sustainable for either your pockets or the planet.
The Royal Prestige® Cooking Systems offer the finest cookware with the highest quality standards, which allows you to enjoy healthier food. Their cooking method maximizes efficiency, thanks to a cutting-edge design which allows the food to retain more moisture, nutrients, and flavor.
Their Cooking Systems include some features like: comfortable handles that resist high temperatures or a Silichromatic™ Ring that helps to seal the steam inside the cookware for better nutrient retention and time control; and a Redi-Temp® Valve that will whistle to let you know when it’s time for the next cooking step.
There are many reasons why it's better to consume seasonal products. Here are the most important:
Fruits and vegetables at their ideal ripeness are also at optimal nutrient availability, making them healthier and more easily utilized by your body. Seasonal products have a much more intense flavor because they've not been harvested prematurely and have been able to grow and ripen within their natural process. By consuming food that corresponds to a season, you support local farmers, who have fewer resources to conserve food. Also, these products are fresher and healthier. Seasonal products are less expensive because they aren’t being transported long distances from other places. You contribute to environmental preservation since CO2 emissions are reduced by not having to use pesticides and additives in the crops for preservation.
Nobody acquires skills overnight. Perfecting your own cooking style requires a lot of practice. During this process, you will face many challenges that will provide great learning experiences and will ultimately make your end results more satisfying.
The most important thing to remember when starting something new is to enjoy the process, especially when it is something as beneficial and fun as cooking! You'll start seeing results in short order, and you'll be able to surprise your loved ones with exquisite dishes that you find easy to prepare.
