If you have children at home, undoubtedly if they are toddler age or older, then they want to help you cooking in the kitchen. Letting your children help you while you are cooking in the kitchen can be fun. It will help you bond and also, help to build their self-esteem. This article will give you some ideas to help include your kids in the kitchen.

Olive oil is one of the most important investments that you can make during the course of your cooking career. Find a high quality brand of olive oil and add this ingredient to a variety of different foods. This oil will help bring out the taste in pasta, fish and meat.

Always continue to taste test all of your food as you cook them. Cooking a sauce, and you’re not sure if it needs more salt? Just taste it and you’ll know right away. Getting into a habit of testing all of your foods will keep you from accidentally over-spicing or under-spicing it.

Make big portions when preparing stock. If you cook a big pot of stock, you can freeze it for later. Good chicken stock that you make at home makes a great starter for soups, casseroles, stews and other dishes. Allow the stock to cool, then split it up into heavy duty Ziploc freezer bags.

Trying to deep fry at home? Whenever your food is ready for the fryer, use tongs to gently hold the item just below the surface of the oil so that it has a sealed exterior and then let it go. If you toss it in without holding it for a few seconds, you might see your food stick to each other or to the fryer itself.

When cooking burgers, no matter what the type of burger, it is important to only flip it one time in order to retain all of the juices. If you don’t do this your burger will most likely end up dry and will resemble a hockey puck! Don’t let that happen to your burgers.

If you find yourself with part of a loaf of stale bread, don’t throw it away or feed it to the birds. Instead, turn it into croutons for a soup or salad by tossing cubes of bread with oil and seasonings and baking them until crispy. You can also turn stale bread into breadcrumbs for many recipes.

Put food into a hot pan instead of trying to cook it while the pan is still cold. The pan should already be at the desired temperature before you start cooking. This will ensure that the food is cooked evenly and thoroughly. You want to see the steam rising off the pan when you start cooking.

As stated at the beginning of the article, toddler aged children, naturally want to help their parents cooking in the kitchen. Your kids will have fun helping to stir, measure and pour all the ingredients. Apply the ideas from this article the next time you and your little ones are cooking in the kitchen together and youare both sure to have a great time.