Holiday Gourmet Cooking

The holiday season is upon us, which means it’s time to give everyone a taste of your finest cuisine. No Holiday event is complete without food. One surefire way to make this year’s holiday season one to remember is to have more than just the usual collection of food items on your table. Try making a new food dish to make the occasion more memorable for your family and friends.

You don’t have to enroll in expensive classes to make gourmet quality food. The secret to gourmet cooking is using high quality ingredients and in the proper way. Using the freshest fruits and vegetable that you can get is key.

This holiday season, let go of all the processed or packaged foods for your dining menu. Packaged food lacks the savory taste and nutrition that are otherwise found in fresh ingredients. Start from scratch to make the finest possible dishes. For instance, instead of using packaged ginger or garlic paste, you make your own paste from fresh ingredients.

Even though fresh ingredients may come at a higher price, don’t worry about that if you want your friends and family to have the best. It will be helpful to brush up baking, sautéing, frying and grilling skills. This is the type of food that makes you want to avoid dining out, when you can get simply the best at home. Furthermore, even with the pricey ingredients and quality of home-made food, it will be less expensive than restaurant food. Once you truly polish your cooking skills, delectable food is at your disposal and cooking home-made food will feel better than eating out.

Try a cookbook from a renowned chef to learn the proper way of using kitchen utensils and presenting food. There is a refined way of cutting your fruits and vegetables to make your dishes look presentable.

This season, you can also try out new recipes to make your holidays memorable for everyone. This year, you can make your mashed potatoes even better by trying out the following recipe:

Mashed Potato Bake:

Serving: 8 people

Level: Easy

Preparation time: 25 minutes

Total time taken: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

Potatoes, peeled and cut in quarters – 4 pounds

Sour cream – ¾ cup

Butter – 1/3 cup

Heavy cream – 2 tablespoons

Minced garlic cloves – 2

Salt to taste

Black pepper

Cheddar cheese – 1 ¾ cups

Chopped chives for garnishing

Method:

Set the oven to 350°. Add potatoes in a large utensil then add a few inches water. Put the pot to boil and check with a fork whether the potatoes have turned soft. This should take about 20 minutes. Drain water from the pot.

Mash potatoes in a bowl, then add 1 ¾ cups of cheddar cheese, sour cream, heavy cream, butter and minced garlic cloves. Season the mixture with salt and pepper to taste.

Add the mashed potato mixture to a baking dish or oven skillet and add the remaining cheddar cheese.

Bake for 15 minutes or until the cheese melts.

Add chives and serve.

The Holidays feel incomplete without mashed potatoes so why not try a different method of refining your potatoes this holiday season?

Your winters become sweeter when you have scrumptious food on the table. Here are some tips that you could follow to make delicious meals.

Plan and prepare one day prior to the occasion. List down all the steps and techniques that you would need to follow to avoid eleventh hour hassle. This will save you a lot of trouble on the day when there is already a lot to be done.
While preparing food, place herbs and spices away from heat or cooking range as they lose their nutrition. Place them on a cool surface.
When you have a large quantity of vegetables, place them in a bag and freeze. Take them out whenever you need to use them.
According to Gerard Craft, if you rub your hands on stainless steel after cutting garlic, it could help remove the unpleasant odor.
David Burke of New York city claims that if there are leftover sauces that you would like to use for the next occasion, you do not need to throw them away. simply, place and freeze them in ice cube trays overnight. When you need to use them, you can re-heat them in a sauté pan.

Gabrielle Hamilton of New York city says, “Organize yourself. Write a prep list and break that list down into what may seem like ridiculously small parcels, like "grate cheese" and "grind pepper" and "pull out plates." You will see that a "simple meal" actually has more than 40 steps. If even 10 of those steps require 10 minutes each and another 10 of those steps take 5 minutes each, you're going to need two and a half hours of prep time. (And that doesn't include phone calls, bathroom breaks and changing the radio station!) Write down the steps and then cross them off. It's very satisfying!”

Use dry heat when you are baking or roasting food. The oven needs to be preheated to prevent moisture. Furthermore, you baste food with butter or oil after roasting it. When you are frying food, don’t use too much oil as that makes the food lose its nutrition. It would be better if you use a shallow pan so that the food does not retain lot of oil. When you are sautéing food, make sure there is enough space between food in the pan to allow all items to brown evenly.

Remember, the secret to the fine art of cooking involves quality, cutting, dicing, slicing, baking, sautéing and frying properly to get superior results. It is not a tough task to be good at gourmet food. What is takes is time, practice and dedication. You know it’s worth it when others enjoy your food with heartiest praises and when all the food items disappear. Invest in quality kitchen cookware to achieve the best results.