As a passionate home cook, you’ll probably already know that meat dishes are often the most difficult to master. Understanding timings and how to get that balance between the perfect (and safe to eat) meat while also avoiding any drying and overcooking can be tough. It’s certainly a skill worth learning though, and that’s what we’re going to discuss today. So here are some ways to get more creative with your meat dishes.
Take a Cooking Class
If you really want to upgrade your skills and you’re willing to spend a little money on doing so, it might not be such a bad idea to attend some cooking classes. There’s a lot that you can learn from people who’ve been cooking and experimenting with different foods and methods for many years and decades. And it can help to see the process in person before doing it yourself too.
Learn to Smoke Meat
Learning how to smoke meat is one of the best ways to upgrade your cooking skills. And whenever you have a dinner party or barbecue with friends or family, you’ll be able to really wow them with the meat you present. The smoking process is a lot of fun, but you have to learn the mechanics of it and how to achieve the best results if you’re going to do it right.
Try Different Cuts of Meat
One way to really level up your skills with cooking meat and mix things up is to be adventurous with which cuts of meat you use. First of all, this may require sourcing your meat in different places. If you shop for meat at the butcher or at specialist deli stores, then you’re sure to find a much wider range of meat cuts. Don’t be afraid to ask the butcher for tips either, as they often prefer the less common cuts themselves and are happy to give you some ideas. Now, that doesn’t mean you have to go too expensive, sometimes the best way to eat meat is with a classic recipe everyone loves, such as iconic cheesesteaks in Philly, but it’s always fun to search for products you haven’t heard of before too.
You can find some truly special cuts of meat this way, which level up your meals. For example, picanha steak is perfect for those who love the rich meatiness and light marbling of sirloin steak, but who want something slightly more special. That generous fat cap brings bags of flavor to any meal.
Experiment with Marinating Your Chicken
Marinating your meat is one of the most important parts of any cooking process. If you skip the marination process, you’re just going to end up with dull and flavorless meat and that’s not what you want. It’s particularly important to get this right when it comes to chicken. You can completely transform a chicken dish with the right marination.
Try Making Sticky Ribs
If you’ve never mastered the art of cooking great ribs, that’s something that you definitely need to try and work on. The best way to get started if you’re a complete rib beginner is with a good recipe that talks you through the various steps clearly. This sticky fried ribs recipe is one such example. Once you’ve mastered that one, you’ll feel more confident about taking other directions and formulating your own approach.
Cook it In a Slow Cooker
You might want to try some slow cooker recipes as well. The great tithing about cooking meat in a slow cooker is that it makes it really tender, in a way that’s hard to achieve with other methods of cooking and cooking processes. So invest in a slow cooker and try out the different ways you can make the most of it. It’s a lot of fun to learn. Cooking great meat is a skill every chef should have under their belt. So if you’ve shied away from improving your skills and learning more about how to get more out of your meat dishes at home, the tips and ideas we’ve discussed here today should help you to change all that. So make the most of them.
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