Basic cooking tips

[Jazzy]

What are some basic cooking tips that everyone should know?

 

[DrLeftover]

The burner has settings other than OFF and HIGH.

 

[Nebulous]

Cook it low and slow.

 

[DrLeftover]

Any pan that says it is "non-stick" is probably lying, the only difference is how big of a lie it is.

Corollary:

Cooking Oil is a good thing.

 

[Nebulous]

"Pam" brand non stick spray is better than the other brands. Doesn't leave a residue on your food.

 

[DrLeftover]

"Pam" brand non stick spray is better than the other brands. Doesn't leave a residue on your food.

Agreed.

READ THE DAMNED LABELS BEFORE you buy any of these things. Some contain stuff in them that you probably do not want on your food.


Moving On

You may wish to skip the "Seasoned Salt" section of the spice aisle.

You can make your own, it will taste a lot better once you figure out what you do and do not like in your seasoning, AND you can cut back on both the sodium in it, and what you're paying for plain salt, which is the majority ingredient in most of those pre-mixed seasonings.

Also, some of the 'no sodium / low sodium' seasoning blends have a chemistry book in them where the salt used to be. Skip those too.


I make my own in an empty spice bottle with a shaker top using garlic powder, onion powder, some Italian seasoning (which is all herbs and no salt!), black pepper, a touch of cayenne pepper, and just A LITTLE salt.