There are some people who seem to have been born with an innate ability to cook. Just give them a few ingredients and they will whip you up a delicious meal, as if by magic. And then, there are others…. Those who have no idea of how to season food, or who see cooking as a mere game of chance. Not to mention catastrophic food combinations, and a tendency towards culinary disaster, regardless of the dish attempted. If you are in the latter category, we are here today to come to your rescue. And don’t feel you need to apologise, we can’t all be gifted at everything! So if you don’t develop culinary prowess magically overnight, learn how to become a professional lifesaver for your dishes!
1) Food that is too dry
For poultry that has taken on the consistency of old boots, put some soft butter on top of it and wrap it in cling film for 10 minutes.
For fish, wrap it in smoked bacon or in fine slices of courgette, and then wrap the whole lot in tin foil. Put it into the oven on a gentle heat.
For a chocolate cake, make a room temperature mixture using one bowl of sugar, one bowl of water, a glass of orange juice and a stick of vanilla. Soak your cake in this syrup.
2) You’ve gone a bit wild on the salt
It is often enough to leave the food to cook for around 30 minutes in a mixture of raw potatoes that have been peeled and chopped into 4 pieces, which you remove before serving. The potatoes will gradually soak up the salt. If you don’t have any potatoes, add bread with its crust.
For a stew, you can add more garnish such as onions, carrots, etc., which will absorb the salt.
3) Overcooking
For a leg of meat, put it into a casserole dish or into the oven at 170°C. Regularly add olive oil.
For a steak, don’t hesitate to mince or shred it, in order to give it a more appealing look. You can then use it for a moussaka, for example.
For burned rice, add some bread (sliced pan, for example) on top of it and wrap the pot in tin foil. Leave it to rest for a few minutes, and the bread will absorb the taste of burn.
4) You’ve added too much chilli or hot spices by mistake
Add coconut milk to soften the flavour. You can also add a little almond milk or lime juice, depending on what you have to hand. If you have natural yoghurt or cottage cheese (125 g), you can also remove a ladle of your sauce and replace it with one of these two ingredients (125 g is enough). Dairy products are great for cooling dishes that are too spicy.
Another tip consists of adding pineapple or sweet potato, whose neutral flavours will absorb the spices. This will take the sting out of the taste.
And if you don’t have any sauce in your dish, double your other ingredients to balance out the flavours.
5) In the case of too much garlic
Here, the best tip is to add a sprig of parsley, which will trap in the garlic flavour.