As the winter season settles and the chilly winds make going out difficult, every night can turn into a hearty feast if you know how to cook well. After all, what’s more comforting than a warm meal and a cozy space during this time of the year?
But ordering in or cooking basic dishes every day can take away from the culinary experience of enjoying rich, hot dishes in the winter. So, if you’re looking to make your winter cooking experience special, there are some key cooking skills that you must learn.
5 Key Cooking Skills for Winters
If you’re looking for tips on how to make your winter meals extra warm and cozy, here are five skills that you could perfect.
1. Preparing Comfort Foods
Since winter is harsh and chilly, everyone must learn how to make some comforting meals to keep their body warm and their home smelling like heaven. However, at times, you may not know how to cook some of the hearty dishes at home.
That’s why investing in cookbooks, buying equipment that helps you make a variety of dishes, and practicing making them, including seasoning perfectly, can add a lot of variety to your cooking and value to your comfort foods.
Even mastering a few comfort foods such as beef stew, chicken noodle soup, chili, chicken pot pie and shepherd’s pie is good enough to give you a cozy winter. If you want to expand your horizons when it comes to winter meals, try to learn how to make a variety of pasta and soups. These dishes are quick to make and perfectly complement the winter season.
2. Learning Your Way Around the Knives
The importance of good knife skills can’t be ignored if you want to be a good home cook and make scrumptious meals during winter. The knife is a versatile cooking equipment that can be used to prepare a variety of dishes in winter.
Having a good knife and smart knife skills can make your cooking experience safer and faster, and help you create aesthetically uniform dishes.
For example, if you’re preparing seafood dishes, getting fresh lobster is just as important as knowing how to properly cut and clean it. High-quality ingredients can make a significant difference in taste and texture, whether you’re making lobster bisque, a rich seafood pasta or a classic New England lobster roll. No matter what you’re cooking, developing strong knife skills for everyday tasks can enhance your abilities, making meal prep more enjoyable and efficient.
This skill can seem simple but will elevate your cooking skills to the next level, especially if you want to create a variety of winter delicacies. By learning a variety of different knife techniques — from simple like chopping, slicing and dicing to more complex like julienning, brunoise or chiffonade — you can bring your cooking skills to the next level.
Knowing how to use different types of knives in different ways will give you the confidence to make a variety of dishes at home, avoiding the need to go out, rely on fast food or order in during the colder months. Here are some tips to keep in mind while using a knife as a beginner:
- Make sure that your knives are sharp. Not only are blunt knives harder to work with but can also lead to accidents more frequently.
- Use a claw grip while holding the knife and keep your fingers tucked to hold the knife. A strong grip ensures that your cutting is more precise and reduces the chances of accidents.
- Use good-quality knives and a sturdy cutting board. Wash your knife after every use to avoid cross-contamination.
3. Meal Prepping and Planning
You may want to prepare warm meals from scratch every single time, but this entails extra work and responsibilities. Instead of cooking all your meals one at a time, learn how to make a meal plan for the week and prepare it in advance.
Not only is meal preparation a great way to save your time and effort in the kitchen, but it will also save you a lot of money as you eat healthy, homemade food at your home, resisting the urge to order from outside.
To meal prep efficiently, learn how you can store your food and how to cook in bulk, consider number of meals you need to prepare for the week and keep practicing until you find a meal planning and prepping routine that works for you.
4. Slow Cooking
Slow cooking in winter is an art form and a great way to preserve nutrients in your food. Learning how to slow-cook meats, sauces, soups and stews while working with vibrant winter seasonal ingredients can enhance the flavors and textures of your food.
Slow cooking is typically done in round-bottomed, deep dishes with lids, which helps infuse the meals with flavors. Whether you want to cook roasted potatoes, Brussels sprouts or other side dishes for holidays, or want to make main course dishes like meats, a slow cooking method — usually using a crockpot — can be a great way to achieve those perfectly tender, hearty meals.
5. Preserving Your Food
The skill of food preservation is as important as cooking in winter. Learning about methods like canning, fermentation, vacuum packing, freezing, pickling and pasteurization can give you more freedom regarding how often you cook in winter.
It will also help you reduce food waste at home, make good use of leftovers and improve nutrition and food security while making it more economical to cook food. Preservation allows you to cook in large quantities and add these foods to other dishes to enhance the flavors. For example, cooked frozen chicken can be used in a variety of soups and stews and can help you whip up a new dish in less time.
Final Thoughts
Cooking is the most essential life skill that everyone must equip. However, taking your meals from basic to advanced requires knowledge of key cooking skills, especially as the winter season approaches. By investing in the skills above, you can make scrumptious meals for yourself and your family and enjoy cozy meals at home.
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