That Will Improve Your Cooking

In 2015 I enrolled in cooking school specifically for Baking and Pastries, but what I did not know was that I was also going to learn tips and tricks to improve my cooking as a whole.

    I spent the weekend in Wendell, MA visiting my brother and his family. A few days before the trip started I received the food wish list from my brother -this has been going on since he first moved here seven years ago. This time the request was: raviolis, croissants, and cinnamon rolls. 

     Saturday was the DAY! We spent the entire day cooking. And when I say the entire day I mean it. From 12pm-8pm cooking. We made shifts as we needed to make lunch, play with the niece and nephew, had over 100 raviolis to make. 

    Halfway into it, Sarah (my sister-in-law)  mentioned how much she hated to do the dishes and this was going to take a while(pointing at the sink). When we looked at the sink, it was packkkkkkkkkkked with all the dishes. This moment made me realize how important was to share these three tricks with all of you.

    I certainly hope that these tips & tricks help you improve your cooking game. 

1. Dampen a paper towel or cloth, lay it flat on the counter, and place the board on top. The towel will stick to both surfaces and keep the board from budging.

 2. Measure, cut, peel, slice, grate, etc all your ingredients; and set out and prepare all pans, pots, tools and equipment. This is called the “Mise en place”  (in French). This is used in commercial kitchens to prepare meals faster and easily.

3. This is probably the most important one: clean as you go!! Instead of using & damping on the sink you could clean and reuse the utensils/materials , and clean all equipment after each recipe. By the time you finish with all the cooking you will feel stress free and visually you will be relieve.