For a lot of people, college is the first time that they may begin to prepare meals on their own more extensively. This may arise from necessity or because it makes for an enjoyable hobby. Regardless of your own reasoning for becoming interested in cooking, there are some pointers you can learn to avoid accidents and improve your efficiency in the kitchen. Here are some things to do before you start cooking a meal.
Go Over the Whole Recipe
Recipes might be a bit lengthy, so there’s often temptation to quickly breeze over the steps and start cooking immediately. When you do this, however, you may miss certain details that will catch you off-guard later. For example, there may be a few steps where you need to do things simultaneously. You might also miss an ingredient that you’ll need to have chopped up and ready at a later point in the process. Going over the whole recipe will allow you to know what to expect and will help you gather all the tools and ingredients you need so they’re in easy reach.
Sharpen Your Kitchen Knife
A sizable portion of recipes call for you to cut ingredients into smaller pieces with a kitchen knife in some way. A thing to do before you start cooking is to sharpen your knife. Sharpening a knife is important because it ensures that the knife is ready to take on its tasks. You’ll have an easier time sliding it through ingredients without needing to hack away at them little by little if your knife is sharp. Moreover, you’ll reduce the chances of your knife slipping and causing an injury. Electric knife-sharpening machines help make this easy, though some higher-end knives need manual sharpening with whetstones. More serious cooking enthusiasts often see this as part of the fun of owning fancier knives, though.
Clean Up Unnecessary Clutter
Clutter in the kitchen will not only make it harder for you to find items as you cook, but it can also make your space more dangerous. You don’t want to feel like you’re forced to move around cautiously because there are so many objects that you might knock over. You also don’t want unrelated objects getting in the way while you’re working with heat and fire. Prior to any cooking session, take a moment to clean up unnecessary clutter to save yourself from annoyances and disasters.
