Mistakes made in cooking are common in the kitchen of every household but men and women generally ignore them. If you fix those cooking mistakes, you can save your time and money and cook your food well. Food that is too salty or too sweet is one of the most common mistakes. Let us see some of the most common kitchen blunders are and how you can fix them:
1. Keep all ingredients at hand:
If you have the habit of searching of salt, sugar, openers or spices during cooking, make it a point to keep all the ingredients in your recipe at one place and easily accessible, before you start cooking. This will save time and you can avoid mistakenly adding the wrong ingredients in the food.
2. Overloaded pan:
If you are cooking for more than 3 or 4 people then try to take a big pan instead of a regular-sized pan. If the pan is overloaded with the ingredients the food may not cook properly or it may spill. If you donât have a pan big enough, cook food in batches.
3. Pan is not hot enough:
Let the pan become hot enough before you start pouring oil in it to cook food. Let the oil becomes hot till it starts giving smoke. Once it becomes hot enough, add spices or vegetables.
4. Overcooked vegetables:
Boil vegetables like broccoli, beans, potatoes, carrot, or noodles in separately before adding them in the dish being cooked. While cooking, add these after adding all spices and cook only for 3-5 minutes. This will prevent your vegetables from overcooking and keep them fresh and colorful.
5. Too much salt:
Always mix a little salt in a dish, taste it and then add more if needed. If you are making a gravy, then adding extra water may help. Add cornflour later, to make thick gravy.
6. Lumps in food:
When you adding flour in a dish, add it in small quantities to avoid lumps from forming. If lumps appear, mash them with a churner or the back of a ladle. You may remove them if they are big enough.
7. Overheating:
Do not overheat ingredients like chocolate, dairy products or sugar. Just simmer them. Donât put the chocolate in oven to boil, keep it for melting. Dairy products do not taste better if they are over cooked.
8. Neglecting the process:
If salt is to be added before sugar in any dish, then do not neglect it. Follow the instructions in the recipe meticulously. If you neglect the order of ingredients, the flavour or texture may not turn out to be the way it should.
9. Cooking time:
Give your dish the right amount of time to cook, not more or less. If it cooked for a time shorter than required, all the ingredients won’t cook properly. If you leave it on for too long, the dish might get burnt or overcook. This will ruin the taste of your dish. If you are in hurry, then try to prepare a dish that consumes less time.
10. Expired Ingredients:
Use fresh ingredients when cooking. Always check expiry dates of ingredients. After the expiry date of ingredients is past, they start losing their aroma, color or freshness. Always buy recently manufactured ingredients.
