Cooking Tips to Prepare Gourmet Meals in Your Own Home

Preparing professional gourmet meals can be a daunting task, but they are easy to prepare if you know a few good cooking tips. Prepare your ingredients before starting a recipe. In a kitchen, prep cooks spend their mornings chopping and slicing everything they need, including garnish and toppings. It’s no different when we cook at home, and a good idea to get organized before you plan and prepare a meal.

Using fresh and natural ingredients is key to creating a delicious and satisfying meal similar to what we’d hope for at a fine restaurant. Fresh herbs are a great way to add flavor to a dish, and so easy to do.  Some basic and readily available herbs to start with include basil, chives, oregano, sage, thyme, tarragon, parsley, and dill.

Many of us enjoy a fine restaurant quality meal at home, but think we lack the time or skills needed.  But it’s more than possible, and every day more consumers are discovering the secret to do so.  They begin with high quality, pure, ready to use gourmet stocks and sauces. Be wary of highly processed bases and sauces, though. Most are high in sodium and other food additives, so be sure to read the ingredient statement. The best quality is most often found at specialty and gourmet food stores, or online direct from the producer.

There are some staples of the kitchen and should always be on hand in the pantry: all-purpose flour, cooking salts, pasta and rice, vegetable and olive oil,  rice, vegetable & olive oil, a variety of vinegars (white wine, red wine, apple cider, plain and distilled), packages of high quality, natural, preservative and chemical free sauces and stocks (beef broth, chicken broth, mushroom essence), assorted spices and flavorings. A well stocked pantry with the absolute essentials makes it easy to prepare a dish on short notice. One tip that chefs use is to test new items you want to cook with by buying the smallest size and cooking with them first to decide if you want to keep them on hand in your  pantry.

Leftover cooking stocks and sauces can be naturally preserved by pouring into ice cube trays, placing in your freezer, and then remove them and put them in an air tight freezer bag for future use. Doing this saves preparation time for meals you prepare another day, and it’s a great way to stretch your food dollar. Date your freezer bags for future reference.

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