How to Improve your Cooking Skills Today

How can I improve my Cooking ability?

Cooking is an incredibly important skill to have, especially when making your health a top priority. Controlling the quality and quantity of spices, oils, and other ingredients not only gives you more control over your diet, but can give you oodles of satisfaction you otherwise wouldn't experience with pre-prepared meals. So how can you improve your cooking skills? 

Below are just a couple tips I've learned to take my cooking skills to the next level, and I'm sharing them with you here.

Get out there, practice, and experiment!

Taste as you go

Wondering if it's too much salt? Wondering if it needs to be spicier, or sweeter?

Don't be afraid, taste as you go! It's an incredibly important part of cooking - as heat is applied to dishes, it changes flavor significantly, and as a dish "matures", it can result in something unexpected. 

For baked goods - yeah that's a little more difficult :) But still don't be afraid to taste your batter, sauces, etc prior to baking. Just note that sometimes the sweetness isn't going to come out until your baked goods are fully cooked!

Always be Seasoning

Season everything, tasting as you go. Season your bread, season your salads, season all vegetables, proteins, EVERYTHING! A lot of people, when starting out making their own food, are quite timid with seasoning - add a little at a time, maybe throw in some not-so-conventional spices as well. 

Don't forget to season separate sections of your meal - season the sauce, season the topping, season it all. 

A lot of people forget that your salad lettuce is a vegetable as well - if your salad is missing something, it's probably seasoning.

Salt and Pepper is the go-to; but also remember acids like lime juice or lemon juice, rice vinegar, balsamic vinegar, also make good toppings and can tip your dish into a great new flavor.

Use Local, Fresh, Organic

The quality of your ingredients plays a huge part in what your end product will taste like. Taste is affected most by how far away it's been grown - the closer to your home, the better the fresh ingredients will taste! 

Using fresh vegetables, fruits, and herbs also affects taste as well - older ingredients tend to lose their shine, generally becoming more muted or over-ripe and mushy.

Finally, although being organic plays only a small part in flavor, using organic ingredients can limit the number of chemicals such as pesticides entering your diet. It also promotes a healthier earth, by "voting with your wallet" - and promoting sustainable, less-chemical driven agriculture.

Experiment

Maybe that savory dish would taste better with a little cinnamon? 

Practice, Practice, Practice

Unfortunately none of these are overnight tricks - the only way to truly improve your cooking skills is to practice!