You need a few basic fundamentals to be a better cook. The following article will teach you the secrets behind what is involved in being a good cook This informative article is broken down into easy to follow tips that anyone can understand.

Even if a meal looks irresistible, let it sit for a few minutes after it has finished cooking. A lot of people do not wait long enough before serving food. It can be quite tempting to serve meat as soon as you pull it off the grill. But, you will not enjoy the full flavor and texture of your meal if you engage in this practice. Always allow your meat sit for about 5 minutes before eating.

If you are left with extra sauce after a meal, find a clean ice cube tray to pour the leftovers into and store the tray in the freezer. When you feel the need to create another meal, you will have them handy to heat up. Nothing to worry about as the sauce will be fine even after it's been sitting in ice cube trays.

It is always better to choose fresh ingredients for your recipes instead of dried or frozen ones. You will save plenty of money by buying fresh vegetables and other ingredients, and your food will also taste more flavorful.

Dark greens are healthy to eat, but they are a pain to prepare. It can be tedious work to eliminate the tough stems. To turn it into a simple chore, all you need to do is fold the leaf lengthwise, and simply break the stem from the middle. Or you could use a knife and easily cut out the steam from a folded leaf. Either of these techniques will give you a perfect leaf without a stem.

Be certain to use only wines that you enjoy as ingredients in your recipes. Because wine will have a big impact on the flavor of your food, a bad wine can result in a bad meal. It is possible to find wines that are meant to be used in cooking.

Many popular veggies and herbs have a strong residual odor that can remain on cutting boards well after use. Use permanent ink to mark one end of the cutting board to identify which is which.

It is possible to remove strong cooking odors by rubbing stainless steel on your hands. You can use your stainless steel sink or a spoon to quickly remove the odor from your hands.

Fruit works especially well on the grill. Consider grilling a skewer of fresh, sliced melons, peaches or other juicy fruits. Cook them until you see grill marks. Serve the grilled fruit on some ice cream or pound cake that has been cooked a few minutes on the grill.

Use cooking oil to help prevent sticky messes. Take the measuring spoon, dip it into a lightly flavored oil, like canola, and then pour on the substance to be measured. The foodstuff will easily move from the spoon once measured and cleaning up will be a lot easier. This works for honey and peanut butter too.

Impress family and friends when you make a simple sandwich just by spreading the mayonnaise evenly on the entire slice of bread. People often spread the mayonnaise too quickly, resulting in uneven tasting parts. If you spread it evenly, your sandwiches are complete with overall flavor.

If you struggle to find time to make dinner every night, do some of your prep work the morning before. You can cut your vegetables, prepare sauces, soup contents an many other things in the evening before you lay down for bed. This creates less stress the next day when you are pressed for time; it also keeps your more prepared when you are ready to throw dinner together.

When cooking dishes with a simple flavor, use fresh herbs or seasonings. A more complex dish will still be delicious if you use dried herbs and seasonings. However, using fresh herbs adds a fresher, stronger taste that improves the overall quality of the dish's flavor. Maintaining a small indoor or outdoor herb garden is one easy way to guarantee you always have those fresh herbs when you need them.

Figuring out how long meat should be grilled can be tough. A meat thermometer, digital if possible, is always a great idea. This way you can ensure that the inside of the meat is also cooking well. Meat thicker than 1.5 inches should be cooked under a closed grill.

You can add a little ketchup to the batter you use to fry foods in. Not only is ketchup good for dipping food into after they're cooked, it's also good when you dip food into it before putting them in breadcrumbs. The ketchup adds a whole new dimension of flavor to fried foods.

Before preparing a nice meal for friends and relations, be sure to make a good plan. Save yourself time and trouble by having all your ingredients ready. The day before your meal, get your kitchen into cooking mode and hunt down your favorite utensils, pots and pans. Having everything ready will take some of the stress off and increase the chances of your success.

A common error in cooking is over-salting a dish by accident. But never fear, this can be fixed. Cut a peeled potato into a few large chunks, and allow them to simmer in the over-salted sauce or soup for 15 minutes or so. These potatoes will take on some of the extra salt you added. If your dish contains tomatoes, just put in more of them to take away the salty flavor and proceed with cooking until they become ready.

One simple tip is to change sauces and spices to get a new flavor. A dramatically different taste can result from using new spices and marinating sauces. A great place to find a variety of lesser-known sauces and spices is at an ethnic food store.

The advice that was presented in this article can help even the most inexperienced cooks become cooking geniuses. While some have natural cooking skills, others need advice. Let this article inspire you to improve your own kitchen efforts.