Kitchen Basics refers to the essentials you need to keep a stocked pantry and handy cooking tips Many times, great meals come down to knowing your way around the kitchen, first and foremost.
That means keeping the core ingredients stocked, knowing what you will need for prep, and having a kitchen hack or two up your sleeve. Or behind your apron…
With a few core tips, tricks and techniques, you can be the master of your own kitchen.
And pantry!
If you have a few of basics down pat, then you don’t need to worry about having every kitchen gadget or a huge collection of pots and pans destined for the Smithsonian.
Truth be told, you can also get by with a few basic seasonings in the pantry. Because if you know how to blend them, then you can create all sorts of seasoning blends perfect for any dish.
Knowing how to make a broth comes in handy and it is so simple to do too. A great broth adds depth and character to a dish. Your homemade broth makes a wonderful soup, or an amazing sauce. You can braise with it.
And homemade broths keep well in the fridge or the freezer too. So it is easy to keep some handy too.
If you stock the pantry with some standard seasonings, then blending them is easy. Better yet, with the right basic seasonings on hand, you possess the culinary DNA to create dishes from simply provincial, to absolutely exotic.
It is all about technique. At the end of the day, if you master a few basic skills, then you have the power to make “basic” seem extraordinary. It might just be understanding basic kitchen terms. Or it might mean knowing your way around a few utensils, most importantly things like knives, where safety plays a meaningful part.
“Can you freeze chicken salad?” You find yourself standing at the freezer door. Wondering if it is a good idea or not. You made a great batch of chicken salad. Best ever. You want to enjoy it again, but just not for a few days. Taking the chance for it going bad in the fridge …
How many grams in a cup seems like a pretty straightforward question. But, since grams measure weight units in the metric system, and cups measure both volume and weight in the imperial system of measurements, it is worth knowing. You never know when you will need to make the weight conversion for a recipe. Different …
Chicken broth keeps well when taken care of properly. But knowing when chicken stock has spoiled can be tricky. Also, there is a big difference between store bought chicken stock and homemade chicken stock. So the shelf life is dependent on a few factors. How long does chicken broth last? While packaged chicken broth in …
Knowing how to air fry frozen chicken tenders makes a big difference. It literally separates those who love their air fryers, and those who wonder why they ever bought one in the first place. So don’t despair, because knowing a few handy tricks makes all the difference. Air Fryer Frozen Chicken Tenders Frozen foods are …
Knowing how to reheat cornbread properly comes in very handy with cornbread leftovers. Because cornbread is so tasty when it is steamy hot, fresh out of the oven, moist and delicious. But later on, you know how it gets… Dry, crumbly, and ready to toss in the trash with a feeling of guilt about wasting …
Reheat chicken tenders the right way! Chicken tenders are great fresh out of the air fryer, regular fryer, or even the convection oven. But letting them sit, then storing them for later means you need the perfect way to bring them back to their crispy beginnings. Reheat Chicken Tenders the Right Way Basically, when you …
Converting cups into a gallon is fairly straightforward. But, pouring cup by cup to fill a liquid gallon isn’t necessarily convenient. Because, a standard imperial cup measure of liquid, like water, takes 16 cups to make a gallon. I don’t know about you, but not going to lie, counting out sixteen cups isn’t easy. The …
To figure out how many ounces are in a cup, you have to consult the Oracle atop Mt Olympus during a full moon at the beginning of Spring’s first blossom. Actually, it isn’t that tough, so don’t worry about having to book any flights, unless of course you are ready for a vacation to Greece. …
So, I bet you are wondering, “How many cups of chicken are in a pound?” The question perhaps doesn’t come up every day, but when it does, then best be darn sure you know the answer. Because sometimes it just isn’t like you have a digital scale handy to weigh it out. Sometimes your hands …
It is handy to remember that one cup is equal to eight ounces, and eight ounces is only half a pint. So, two cups equals a pint which means a pint is 16 fluid ounces. From there you can get two pints to make a quart, but don’t play darts after too many pints. How …