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Professional chefs carefully keep their secrets and share them only with their students. However, it is still possible to find out some of their secret knowledge.

website I've collected the secrets of chefs from all over the world to help you learn how to cook like Gordon Ramsay. Or better. And at the very end, perhaps the most unusual culinary advice you've ever heard awaits you.

1. The perfect steak

Never fry meat that has just been removed from the refrigerator. Leave it at room temperature for an hour or two - it will “warm up” and will cook evenly during cooking, so you will cook the perfect steak, regardless of what kind of frying you prefer. And to get a beautiful crust, be sure to pat the meat dry with a paper towel before frying.

2. The juiciest meat

Chicken or lean pork takes quite a long time to fry, and it’s very easy to dry them out. To avoid this, European chefs resort to a cunning technique - soaking in brine. Making a brine is very simple: add 1/4 cup of salt and, if desired, 1/2 cup of sugar to 1 liter of water, then pour it over the meat so that the piece is completely immersed in it, and put it in the refrigerator.

The salting time depends on the weight of the product - 1 hour per 1 kg of weight, but no more than 8 hours and no less than half an hour. Also, if we are talking about small pieces, such as chicken thighs, then the time is calculated based on the average weight of one piece. Before cooking, be sure to remove any remaining salt from the meat.

3. Fragrant spices

In order for a spice, such as black pepper or cumin, to fully impart its flavor to the dish, it must be heated in a dry frying pan and then crushed. It is best to do this in a stone mortar - this way you will not lose a drop of its wonderful aroma. Try replacing ground black pepper with peas - crush it, add it to the dish, and you will notice how many shades will be added to the usual taste.

4. Air baked goods

To make the perfect butter dough, follow just one simple rule: leave the butter and eggs at room temperature overnight.

5. Crispy fish

To get a delicious crust on a piece of white fish you're about to grill, lightly brush the fillets with mayonnaise. To do this, take a pastry brush, dip the tip into the sauce and apply it to the fish with a few quick strokes. After this, salt the fish and safely put it on the grill - you are guaranteed a magnificent crispy thin crust.

And further. Fry the fish with a minimum of spices, or better yet, use only salt and sprinkle it with a little lemon juice at the very end.

6. Steak without butter

One of the most famous chefs in the world, Alain Ducasse, revealed his secret to preparing a delicious steak. When frying, he first places the piece in the frying pan on the side where the layer of fat passes through. This will not only make the meat tastier, but will also eliminate the need to use any other cooking fat.

7. Tender mashed potatoes

Before turning boiled potatoes into mashed potatoes, they must be thoroughly dried. To do this, throw it into a dry hot frying pan and hold it there until the remaining water evaporates - the main thing is that the tubers do not start to fry. And only then start preparing the puree - this way you will get a very tender and delicious dish.

A little secret: to prevent hot milk from splashing directly on you when mashing, mash the potatoes a little and only then add liquid.

8. Gourmet cream soup

Before you start cooking the vegetable puree soup, fry all the vegetables separately in a frying pan with vegetable oil and only then add water or broth. This caramelizes the sugar in the vegetables, bringing out their flavor and making the dish rich and flavorful. The same applies, by the way, to vegetable stews.

9. The most delicious pancakes

Regardless of the recipe, always add a couple of tablespoons of good sour cream to the pancake batter. This technique works in all cases, without exception, whether you are preparing sweet or savory pancakes - they turn out much more tender and tastier, and the filling does not break when wrapped.

10. Sugar is not for sweetness.

Sugar can be as much a seasoning as salt. Be sure to add a pinch of sugar to any dish that contains fresh, canned tomatoes or tomato paste - this will remove some of their natural acidity and truly bring out the flavor of the dish.

11. The most difficult dish is a perfect fried egg

The three main components of an ideal fried egg are a thick-walled frying pan, butter and minimum temperature. Heat the frying pan slightly and add about 0.5 tsp. butter - it should melt slowly, without sizzling. Then crack the egg into the pan and cook for 4 to 5 minutes. Add salt and you can start eating.

12. Clear broth

Transparent chicken broth is the basis for a huge number of soups, sauces and other dishes. To make the broth “glassy”, you need to use soup chicken and cook over very low heat without a lid for at least 3 hours, in no case allowing it to boil and removing the slightest foam in time. After an hour and a half of cooking, you can add parsley or celery root, carrots and onions to the broth.

But when preparing beef or lamb broth, you can “char” the root vegetables: cut them in half and put them in a dry hot frying pan until a black crust forms, and then add them to the broth - this will give the dish a rich taste and color.

4. There are many ways to save over-salted soup. In particular, you can dip gauze with a small amount of cereal into it and boil it: the porridge will absorb excess salt. You can also put a tablespoon with a refined sugar cube into the soup: when the sugar begins to melt, remove the spoon and repeat the procedure with another sugar cube.

5. The liver should be salted only at the end, otherwise it will become hard.

6. To prevent the top of the pie from burning, cover it with moistened paper.

7. If you throw a piece of ice into the broth and bring it to a boil, it will become more transparent.

8. To carefully cut a hard-boiled egg, wet the blade of a knife with cold water: the yolk will not crumble.

9. When cooking, the beans will not darken if you cook them without covering the pan with a lid.

10. The minced meat will be more aromatic and tastier if you add part of the raw onion, part of the fried onion and finely grated raw potatoes.

11. Beef will be softer if you marinate it in mayonnaise before cooking.

12. Use lemon juice in dishes to partially replace salt. This is useful for regulating blood pressure. As a result, you do not over-salt the dish, and the citrus flavor gives it a refined aroma.

13. The remaining head of boiled corn can be used for salad. To do this, cut off the corn kernels with a sharp knife.

14. Eggplant will not taste bitter if before cooking you cut it into pieces, add salt and let the juice escape a little. After this, rinse the eggplants in cold water.

15. Almonds can be easily peeled if you first boil them for 5 minutes and then soak them in cold water.

16. Sour cream will whip into cream much better if you add a little egg white to it.

17. If you add a pinch of salt to ground coffee, the drink will be many times tastier!

18. To ensure that the meat baked in the oven gets a golden brown crust, brush the top with pomegranate juice and honey diluted with dry wine, cognac or water.

19. Tough meat will become softer if you add banana peels to the broth during cooking.

20. If you have cooked the meat for too long, cut it into thin slices, place on a plate, sprinkle with onions and tomatoes and add a little vegetable oil, lemon juice and vinegar. Soon the meat will become juicy again.

21. Apples in charlotte will not sink to the bottom of the pan if you roll them in flour before cooking.

22. Use ground nuts instead of breadcrumbs. It's both tasty and healthy!

23. Warm plates before serving hot food and cool before serving cold food. This little trick will help you maintain the rich taste and freshness of your dish.

24. Do not rush to serve freshly cooked meat immediately. Let it cool a little and reveal its flavor.

25. The vinaigrette will taste better if you add a tablespoon of milk and a teaspoon of sugar.

26. Always cook with dry hands.

27. Taste food as it cooks. This makes it possible to control the amount of salt and seasonings, as well as determine the readiness of dishes in time.

28. Before removing the soup from the heat, add a little fresh juice from cabbage, carrots or tomatoes. This will enhance the taste and enrich your dish with vitamins.

29. Dull knives often cause inaccurate cutting and even injuries. Always sharpen your kitchen knives on time!

30. Vanilla is an excellent spice for adding a piquant touch to vegetable salads. Try this original idea!

1. To prevent the oil from splashing when frying, you can lightly sprinkle the bottom of the pan with salt.

2. The omelette will be fluffy if you add 2 tablespoons of cold water to 1 cup of eggs and beat well.

3. Add diluted potato starch to the dough - the buns and pies will be fluffy and soft even the next day.

4. Beets take a very long time to cook - 3–3.5 hours. Professional chefs cook beets like this: after they have boiled for about 30 minutes, drain the water and place under running cold water (the colder the better) for about 15 minutes. The temperature difference brings the beets to readiness.

5. Along with the yeast, you can add a little cognac to the dough - the dough will become more aromatic and the baked goods will taste tastier.

6. Egg whites will whip up faster into a fluffy foam if you pre-cool them and add a few drops of lemon juice or a little citric acid. With the yolk they do the opposite - it loves heat and sugar.

7. To fry or bake meat with a golden crust, it must be coated with honey.

8. The liver will be soft if you sprinkle it with sugar before frying.

9. To prevent eggs from bursting during cooking, they must be washed in cold water beforehand.

10. For carrots to have a good taste, they need to be cooked for 5-10 minutes. Just like other vegetables, it is boiled over high heat and salted at the end of cooking.

11. To make the rice crumbly, it must be soaked in cold water for 30 minutes before cooking.

12. To prevent the rice from overcooking, you can fry it a little, but keep in mind that in this case it will not increase in size much.

13. To prevent milk or porridge with milk from running away, you need to place a wooden spoon on top of the pan.

14. Wilted dill and parsley will become fresh again if you put them in water slightly diluted with vinegar.

15. If you want to get tasty vegetables when boiling, you need to put them in water after the water boils. If you want the broth to be tasty, you need to start cooking the vegetables in cold water.

16. Before you start frying sliced ​​potatoes, it is advisable to rinse them with water - this will remove the starch, and the slices will not stick together and will not stick to the bottom of the pan. After washing the potatoes, dry them a little.

17. You can easily and simply replace mayonnaise with sour cream by adding the mashed yolk of a hard-boiled egg and a teaspoon of mustard.

18. To prevent the fish from burning and becoming tough, do not grease the pan with oil. It's better to rub the fish itself with it.

19. To make a regular vegetable salad piquant, just add a little vanilla to it.

20. To prevent hard-boiled eggs from crumbling when slicing, wet the knife blade with cold water.

21. Paper towels will help remove excess fat from chicken. To do this, you only need to lightly blot the meat.

22. To make the salad more filling, add some boiled potatoes to it. By the way, chefs advise cutting potatoes for salad while hot.

23. To avoid an unpleasant odor while cooking onions, add a pinch of salt to it and fry over low heat!

24. There is only one correct way to heat honey - put a jar of it in a bowl of hot water.

25. To mince the garlic, crush it with a knife, then chop it finely and add a pinch of salt.

Everyone wants the dishes we prepare to always be appetizing and tasty, but sometimes for this it is not enough to find an interesting recipe, buy fresh quality products and cook the food,

even if with the soul. And dishes prepared according to the same recipe by different home cooks usually differ in taste and appearance. Why?

But because everyone who cooks food has his own little culinary tricks that he uses when working his magic in the kitchen. And so, by mixing the ingredients in a different order or adding just a drop of something not included in the recipe, he gets what seems to be the same dish, but much tastier! And there are a great many such tricks!

Let's get to know some of them so that the food we prepare will always be tasty, desirable and delight our loved ones even more:

Broths, soups and borscht

Delicious broth. If you want the broth to be tasty, you need to start cooking the vegetables in cold water.

Mushrooms in soup. A few fresh chanterelles added to any soup will make it tastier.

Adding greens. Chopped greens are added to the finished dish at the very end; the ideal option for preserving vitamins is to add the greens and immediately turn off.

Cognac in broth. Meat in broth will cook much faster, and the broth itself will taste more piquant if you add a few drops of cognac to the water at the very beginning of cooking.

Bay leaf. Never leave bay leaves in soup. It is good when cooked and only at the end, and then it only spoils the taste.

Ice in the broth. Do you want the broth to be clear? Place an ice cube in it after it boils, and then bring it back to a boil.

Foam. If you did not remove the foam from the broth in time and it sank to the bottom, pour a glass of water into the pan. The foam will rise and can be removed.

Onion peel. A decoction of onion peels can be used to color broths. This increases their nutritional value, enriches them with vitamins and improves their appearance.

Preparing vegetables. Vegetables are peeled or washed immediately before being added to the soup.

Seasonings. Do not add any seasonings to the chicken broth, just onions and carrots. Otherwise it will lose its taste.

Clear broth To obtain a clear meat broth during cooking, you need to put washed eggshells in it. The finished broth should be strained.

Delicious borscht. When frying vegetables, add not only salt to them before cooking, but also sugar, as well as a little acetic acid, which will preserve the color scheme of the vegetables and also add a piquant sourness.

Delicious okroshka. Grind the chopped green onions with the yolks before mixing with the slices. If you prepare kvass yourself for okroshka, then add crackers from Borodino bread or other black varieties with aromatic additives to it. Don't forget to add mustard to the okroshka.

Blanks

Long-term storage of lemons. Lemons are well preserved in dry sand. They should be placed so that they do not touch each other. You can also put it in a 3-liter bottle, first wash each lemon, wipe it dry, then wrap it in a paper napkin. Cover with a plastic lid and place on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. If you like sweetened tea with lemon, then cut the lemons into slices, dip in sugar syrup, place on parchment and in the oven to dry. The oven door should not be closed. After the oven, leave it in the air under gauze and put it in a paper bag or also a glass jar. It's delicious! Believe me!

Long-term storage of carrots. Carrots can be preserved for several months if you spray them with an aqueous infusion of dry onion peels.

Crispy cucumbers. To make pickled cucumbers crunchy, add amaranth leaves to the jars, and of course, horseradish, currant, and cherry leaves.

Sausage and meat products

Delicious sausages. The sausages will be tastier if you do not boil them, but coat them with mustard and fry them in sunflower oil over low heat.

Cereals and pasta

Snow white rice. To make the rice white and crumbly, be sure to pour it into boiling salted water, adding a few drops of lemon juice or citric acid dissolved in water. Do not cover the container in which the rice is cooked.

Roasting rice. To prevent the rice from overcooking, you can fry it a little, but keep in mind that in this case it will not increase in size much.

The milk won't escape. To prevent the milk from running away, you need to throw a piece of sugar in there and cover, stirring every 3-4 minutes. In general, adding sugar insures milk from “running away”.

Pasta and rice that don't stick together. To prevent rice or pasta from sticking together during cooking, you need to add a little vegetable oil to the water. There is also advice from chefs: before cooking pasta, rinse it under running water and also add vegetable oil during cooking.

Transparent rice To make the rice transparent, you need to immerse it in boiling water for 5 minutes.

Crispy rice. To make the rice fluffy, soak it in cold water for 30 minutes before cooking. This is what they do in the East when preparing pilaf.

Vinegar for rice. Pour a tablespoon of table vinegar into the water in which the rice is cooked - and the rice will become snow-white and crumbly.

Oils and fats

Butter for frying. Butter does not darken during frying if the hot frying pan is first greased with vegetable oil.

Oil does not splatter. To avoid oil splattering, lightly sprinkle the bottom of the pan with salt before you start frying.

Food storage. It is advisable to store all products in a dark place. Direct sunlight is especially harmful to fats - they quickly go rancid. Due to the fat content, halva, mayonnaise, and chocolate are afraid of light.
When exposed to light, vitamins in milk and many foods are quickly destroyed.

Milk and dairy products

Quickly ferment milk. If you put a piece of bread in milk, it will quickly turn sour. For homemade curdled milk, add sour cream to warm milk, wrap and let stand. Very tasty and cooling for summer.

Prepare from powdered milk. Powdered milk should be sifted first. And it is diluted in water at 60-70 degrees.

It won't burn. To prevent the milk from burning during cooking, rinse the pan with cold water and cook over medium heat with the addition of sugar, as described above.

The cheese will not dry out. To prevent the cheese from drying out, just put a piece of sugar on a plate with cheese and cover it with another plate.

Meat and poultry

The taste of boiled meat. Boiled meat will be more tasty and juicy if it is immersed not in cold water, but in boiling water and at the same time cooked in large pieces, not in pieces.

For tenderizing tough meat When cooking, it is useful to add ready-made mustard (1 tablespoon per 1 kg of meat) to the water when adding meat. After just 40 minutes of cooking, the taste and smell of mustard completely disappear. After cooking, the meat turns out much softer and juicier. The broth acquires a pleasant spicy taste (not like the taste of mustard), but becomes a little cloudy due to the presence of tiny particles of mustard powder in it (if desired, the resulting hot broth can be clarified by straining through a cotton cloth folded in half, but this is not at all Necessarily).

For tenderizing meat first grease it with prepared mustard for 15-20 minutes (and then remove it), then bread it in the usual way.

Chicken cutlets can be breaded in bread crumbs (fresh white bread finely crumbled with a knife). Frying breaded bread from fresh bread requires significantly more oil, but this breading tastes better.

Honey for meat. To fry or bake meat with a golden crust, you need to coat it with honey.

Soft liver. The liver will be soft if you sprinkle it with sugar before frying. And the main point is not to overheat it.

Soft meat. The chops will be softer if you brush them with a mixture of vinegar and vegetable oil 1-2 hours before frying. Do the same with grilled meat. Although vinegar is a controversial issue. Many people do not recommend it, including me. (on the website, look at the “kebabs” tag. There are many recipes for marinating meat)

Liver film. To make it easier to remove the film from the liver, dip your fingers in salt.

Gutted bird. Uneviscerated poultry has a longer shelf life than gutted poultry.

Mixed minced meat. The most delicious dishes are those that use mixed minced meat: meat with raw potatoes, carrots, meat broth, canned corn, mustard.

Dishes with water in the oven. To prevent the meat from burning and becoming dry, place dishes with water in the oven.

Juicy cutlets. To prepare delicious juicy cutlets, add equal parts of finely chopped raw and lightly fried onions and some raw potatoes to the minced meat.

Old chicken. Old chicken will cook faster if, after it has been boiled for 20-30 minutes, you immerse it in cold water for 5-6 minutes. By the way, it is also recommended to cook beets.

Temperature for frying cutlets. During the first minute of frying the cutlets, the fire should be high so that the crust sets and does not allow the juice to leak out. But then you need to bring the heat to medium and, turning the cutlets, increase it again for half a minute. The meat is also fried.

Reduce the toughness of meat. Soaking in vinegar, kvass, sour milk, cucumber, cabbage or beet brine is a reliable way to make tough meat soft.

Beverages

Boiling coffee. You should not let the coffee boil: the taste and aroma will disappear. If you still overlooked it, immediately remove the coffee pot from the heat and pour a few drops of cold water into it.

Fresh berry jelly. To preserve the taste, aroma and color of fresh berries when cooking jelly, do not boil the juice squeezed from the berries. Boil only the squeezed berries covered in water and add sugar and starch to the resulting syrup. Pour the juice into the finished jelly when it is removed from the heat.

Starch in jelly. When preparing jelly, diluted starch should not be poured into the middle of the pan, but closer to its walls.

Cool the compote quickly. To quickly cool a hot compote, you need to place the pan with it in another, large bowl, filling it with cold water and pouring a little coarse salt into the water.

Salt for coffee. A pinch of salt added to coffee before the end of brewing gives the drink a special taste and aroma.

Vegetables, fruits and mushrooms

Fragrant prunes. Prunes will turn out much more flavorful if they are pre-soaked in black tea or in plum juice.

Quickly fry the potatoes. In order for the potatoes to fry faster, they should be immersed raw in hot water for a few minutes.

Quickly peel the tomato. In order to quickly and conveniently remove the skin from a tomato, you should put it in boiling water and then in cold water.

Cooking beans. Beans need to be salted when they are completely soft, otherwise they will not cook. Add tomatoes or tomato paste (anything that contains acid, which slows down the cooking) only after the legumes are ready.

Cooking mushrooms. It is better to cook mushrooms over moderate heat, then they will not become tough and flabby.

Boiling potatoes.

Cooking beets. After boiling, drain the water, add cold water and do this 3 times. The beets will cook much faster.

Whisk mashed potatoes. It is better to beat mashed potatoes by hand. Whipped in a mixer becomes fluffy, but quickly loses its taste.

Mushroom taste. Mushrooms in dishes taste better the finer they are cut. In order not to drown out the taste of mushroom dishes, do not add hot seasonings to them.

Delicious carrots. For carrots to have a good taste, they need to be cooked for 5-10 minutes. Carrots, like other vegetables, are boiled over high heat and salted at the end of cooking.

Delicious vegetables. If you want to get tasty vegetables when boiling, you need to put them in water after the water boils.

Fried cabbage. After chopping the cabbage for the filling, first pour boiling water over it, and then pour cold water over it for a minute. Squeeze thoroughly and fry in a frying pan. Then the cabbage will not lose color or turn brown.

Cooking beans. To reduce the cooking time of legumes, you need to pre-soak them in cold water for several hours. Cook beans and beans at low simmer in a sealed container. And because beans burst quickly, it’s better to cook them like beets... water boils, drain, pour cold water until it boils. Cooking in this way has been tested by me personally.

Jacket potatoes Jacket potatoes will peel much faster if you pour cold water over them immediately after boiling.

The potatoes will not turn brown. Immediately stir the grated raw potatoes with a small amount of milk, otherwise they will darken.

Lemon and boiling water. When serving lemon for tea, simply pour boiling water over it. This will bring out the flavor more. And don't put lemon in the cup before pouring the tea. You should do the opposite.

Milk for puree. Mashed potatoes should not be diluted with cold milk; it is better to bring it to a boil first. Dilute the mashed potatoes only with warm milk, pouring it in little by little to avoid lumps forming.

Frozen potatoes. Frozen potatoes will regain their taste if, before peeling, you soak them in water with vinegar for 15-20 minutes. It’s better not to cook it anymore, my advice, it will be glass.

Wash the potatoes before frying. Before you start frying sliced ​​potatoes, you must rinse them with water - this will remove the starch and the slices will not stick together and stick to the bottom. And also, so as not to stick, it must be dried.

Sprouted potatoes. Sprouted or greened potato tubers should only be cooked peeled, as they contain a very harmful substance - solanine. Along with the peel, remove a significant layer of pulp, and also remove green areas and eyes.

Cook the beets quickly. Beets cook for a very long time - 3-3.5 hours. Or you can cook it for only an hour, then remove it from the heat and put it under running cold water for 10 minutes. The beets will be ready.

Fresh mushrooms. Pour salted boiling water over fresh mushrooms and they will not spoil within 24 hours.

Fresh mushrooms from dry ones. To make dried mushrooms look like fresh ones, soak them in salted milk for several hours.

Baking soda when cooking carrots. In order for the carrots to better retain their color and cook faster, you need to add a pinch of baking soda.

Salt fried potatoes. Potatoes should be fried in a very hot frying pan and salted when the slices are already browned on all sides. If you salt the potatoes earlier, the juice that leaks from them will mix with fat and the slices will lose color, taste and shape.

Salt on a cracked tomato. To prevent a burst tomato from becoming moldy, sprinkle the crack with a thick layer of salt.

Preservation of the bulb. To prevent the cut onion from drying out, place it in a saucer with the cut side on the salt.

Old potatoes. Old potatoes will become tastier if you add a spoonful of vinegar, 2-3 cloves of garlic and a bay leaf when cooking, or boil them in broth. The older the potatoes, the more water they require.

Remove the bitterness of the onion.

The beans will not darken. If you want to prevent the beans from darkening during cooking, cook them in an open pan.

Crisp. To fry crispy potatoes, rinse them with cold water, pat dry on a paper towel, and place in well-heated oil. You need to salt it at the end of cooking.

Mushroom color. Fresh mushrooms will not turn black if they are immediately placed in salted cold water.

So that your hands don't turn black. If you moisten your hands with vinegar before peeling vegetables and fruits and let them dry without wiping, they (meaning your hands) will not turn black.

Seasonings and spices

Restore dried mustard. If the mustard has dried out, you can simply save the situation by adding a few drops of vinegar to the mustard and stirring thoroughly.

Restore the freshness of greenery. Wilted dill and parsley will become fresh again. if you put them in water slightly diluted with vinegar.

Replacement of sorrel. Sorrel can easily be replaced with nettle or spinach with the addition of citric acid.

Using thyme. Thyme gives dishes a peppery-spicy taste with a hint of camphor. It should be consumed in small quantities with stewed and fried meat dishes, beans, peppers and eggplants. Excellent preservation when dried. It is added to various baked meat and fish dishes, as well as to marinades and even to sweet creme brulee: thyme gives it a special piquant taste.

Cutting greens. Parsley, celery and dill are best cut rather than chopped; Chopped greens quickly release and lose aromatic substances.

Horseradish processing. Horseradish can be passed through a meat grinder if it is finely chopped first.
Horseradish can be easily grated if left in cold water overnight.

Preparing cardamom. For use, cardamom must be peeled from the white shell and then crushed with sugar.

Preparing the cinnamon. Before using, cinnamon should be dried a little on the stove and then crushed with sugar.

Preparing fresh herbs. If what you have in front of you is not dry, but fresh, spicy vegetables and herbs, then before you start processing them, you need to wash them thoroughly. They are cut quickly and only on a porcelain board, which preserves their juice and aroma.

Use of basil. Basil. Basil leaves are added at the very last moment. Store in oil, vinegar or fresh frozen.
Basil is included in almost all vegetable dishes, both Mediterranean and any southern cuisine: it is impossible to imagine a single sauce or salad without it.
Basil is also served with all types of pasta, poultry dishes, eggs and some types of fish.
It is often combined with onions, garlic and tarragon. Dishes containing a lot of basil are best seasoned with olive oil.

Use of bay leaf. Laurel berries are inedible. The leaves are dried without allowing them to darken, otherwise they may lose their aroma. Laurel leaves freshen the air in the house and flavor dishes. Laurel is necessarily included in the spices used in the preparation of stews (no more than one or two leaves). When preparing soft-boiled eggs, try throwing one bay leaf into boiling water - and the eggs will suddenly become more flavorful. Bay leaves are placed in soups 5 minutes before they are ready, in the second - 10 minutes. Otherwise, the dish may have a bitter taste.

Using chives. Store in the freezer in winter. This fragile and graceful plant goes well with all herbs and vegetables. It adds a unique taste to fermented milk products and egg dishes.

Application of lemon balm. Lemon balm is used fresh for preparing vegetable salads, vegetable sauces and soups.

Application of mint. Store dried or frozen. Mint gives an unusually fresh taste to salads made from cucumbers, tomatoes, and fruits. The British consider mint an excellent seasoning for roast lamb. Chopped mint added to mayonnaise adds a special taste to shrimp and crayfish dishes.

Application of parsley. Store dried. Preference should be given to common parsley, as it has a stronger aroma.
Parsley is perhaps the most popular of the garden herbs, as it goes well with almost all dishes: salads, meat, poultry, vegetables and... butter. Parsley can be rinsed not with cold water, but with warm water. This will make it even more flavorful.

Use of rosemary. Store dried. Wherever they add rosemary, which has a persistent fragrant aroma! It is good in any spicy mixture. If you cover the bottom of the pan with rosemary, you can cook small fish without adding fat. It will become much more fragrant. Rosemary also adds flavor to any fruit salad.

Application of dill. Pairs with fish dishes, fresh cucumbers and boiled asparagus. Seeds and greens are usually dried for the winter, although greens can also be frozen, pickled or pickled in vinegar.

The use of savory. Garden savory is best added during cooking. Pairs well with bean, cabbage and potato dishes, as well as when canning cucumbers.

Application of garlic. Garlic for seasoning should be used carefully, as it interrupts the characteristic taste and smell of the dish.
It is better to add finely chopped garlic to food 3-4 minutes before serving, when the heat is already off.

Applications of tarragon. Canned in vinegar or oil, or stored in the freezer.
A sprig of tarragon placed inside the chicken adds a unique flavor to the meat. Tarragon, put in vinegar or added to a bouquet of herbs when pickling cucumbers, significantly improves their taste. But tarragon has such a strong odor that it can drown out the aroma of other herbs and spices.

Sugar instead of wine. 2 lumps of sugar, previously dissolved in a small amount of vinegar, can replace white wine in the sauce.

Freshness of greenery. Parsley, dill and mint stay fresh for several days in dry weather if they are placed in a tightly sealed dry container.

Dry salt. To prevent the salt in the dish from becoming moist, add a few grains of rice to it.

Color of the dish. Saffron and basil add vibrant colors to the dish.

Fish and seafood

Potatoes in a frying pan. To eliminate the strong odor when frying fish, add 1 raw potato, peeled and cut into slices, into vegetable oil.

Pat the fish dry. The fish will not fall into pieces and will acquire a golden crust if you wipe it with a towel 10-15 minutes before frying and immediately add salt.

Salads and snacks

Cooking green peas. It is also recommended to boil green peas in water without salt.

Boiling potatoes. Peeled potatoes are also placed in boiling salted water; they should be covered with no more than 1 cm of water. To improve the taste of the potatoes, you can add bay leaves, dill, a couple of cloves of garlic, onion and a piece of celery root (your choice).
Cook the potatoes over moderate heat, then they swell evenly. To make the potatoes cook faster, add a small piece of butter to the water.

Cooking salad vegetables. It is better to cook vegetables unpeeled, with a pinch of sugar to improve the taste, and bake beets, they will retain their juiciness and rich color, not to mention vitamins.

Cooking beets. If you cook beets, place them in boiling water without salt, so as not to affect their taste; to maintain juiciness, do not peel them or cut off the roots. To preserve the color of the beets, you can add 1.5 teaspoons of sugar to 2 liters of water. And as described above, in order for the beets to cook faster, after boiling and cooking for 5 minutes, replace the boiling water with cold water and continue cooking.

Radish taste. To soften the bitter taste, you can add grated carrots to the grated radish. In the East, chopped radishes are kept in cold water and the bitterness disappears.

Laying vegetables. Place vegetables in portions into boiling water so that the water boils constantly.

Lemon peels. Salad with mayonnaise and vinaigrette will acquire a particularly pleasant taste if you briefly add a lemon peel to them before serving.

Onions for salad. The onion will lose its bitterness and will be much tastier if, after cutting it, you put it in a colander and pour boiling water over it.

Milk in vinaigrette. If you want the vinaigrette to acquire a subtle and pleasant taste, pour a tablespoon of milk into it and add a teaspoon of granulated sugar.

Cleaning a tomato. To peel tomatoes, pour boiling water over them and then plunge into cold water.

Vegetable cooking utensils. The container in which vegetables are cooked should be tightly closed with a lid, and there should be a small space between the surface of the liquid and the lid.

Sauerkraut salad. Instead of apples, you can put orange or tangerine slices in a sauerkraut salad.

Grapefruit juice for dressing. Your vegetable salad dressing will be more tender and flavorful if you use freshly squeezed grapefruit juice instead of vinegar. Be careful with the partition - it will give off bitterness.

Salt salads. Salads made from fresh vegetables should be salted immediately before serving; vegetables release a lot of juice.

Salt in salad. Vegetable oil should be added to the salad only after the salad has been salted, vinegar and pepper have been added (salt does not dissolve in oil).

Temperature of vegetables. You cannot combine warm vegetables for salad with cold ones, the salad will quickly spoil.

Remove the bitterness of the onion. To remove the bitterness of chopped onions, mix them with salt and cover with cold water for 5-10 minutes. Or place it in a colander, pour boiling water over it, and then cold water.

Sauces

Flavorful sauce. For vegetable sauces, vegetables are cooked first, and spices are added only at the end of cooking. In this order, the sauce will retain its taste and will be more aromatic. Vinegar, tomato juice and puree, and citric acid are added at the end of cooking, as they slow down the cooking.

Replacing mayonnaise with sour cream. You can easily and simply replace mayonnaise with sour cream by adding the mashed yolk of a hard-boiled egg and a teaspoon of mustard.

Sour cream in gravy. If you add a little milk to the sour cream, it will not curdle in the gravy.

Preservation of tomato paste. To protect open tomato paste from mold, apply a little dry mustard to the lid.

Bread and pastries

Freshness of bread. To ensure that the bread is always fresh, it must be kept in a closed porcelain or enamel container.

Bread storage. It is not recommended to store black and white bread together, because such proximity worsens the taste of white bread, since it easily absorbs the smell of black bread.

Eggs

Beat the egg whites. The egg white will whip into a fluffy foam faster if you pre-cool it and add a few drops of lemon juice or a little citric acid. WITH yolk they do the opposite - he loves warmth and sugar.

Determining the freshness of eggs. If you doubt the freshness of the eggs, pour about 10 cm of water into the container and lower them there. Fresh eggs will remain on the bottom. If only one end of the egg rises, then they need to be used first.

Fluffy scrambled eggs. To make the scrambled eggs fluffy, you can add two tablespoons of cold water to one glass of eggs and beat well.

Temperature when boiling eggs. With intensive, fast boiling of an egg, the white becomes harder and the yolk becomes more liquid, but with slow cooking, on the contrary, the yolk becomes firmer and the white becomes more liquid.

Egg beating temperature. Egg yolks should be ground with sugar in a warm place in a porcelain bowl; whites, like cream, on the contrary, are well beaten in a cold place.

Egg integrity. To prevent the eggs from bursting during cooking, they must be washed in cold water beforehand and add salt.

Egg boiling time