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Oh my Lord, social mealtimes have a way of creating some very long-lasting memories don’t they? Positive and negative. On the positive side, I STILL remember how incredible my grandmother’s green beans tasted ,or my great-grandmother’s homemade Lemon ice cream. MMM MMM! Unfortunately I also remember some mealtime disasters, like a ham served at a holiday mealtime a few years back. It’s impossible to truly recount the horrors of that ham, but I will tell you I slipped my serving under the table to the dog…then after the meal the dog ran outside and threw up! So today I reckon we could talk about some fairly common cooking mistakes and ways to help prevent upset tummies in our pets. Ha!!
It seems like most cooking errors come from either wanting to cut corners on time because we started late, or some other disaster in the galley has cause us to get stressed. Other errors are caused by tradition; the “Mom and Grandma cooked this way and and if it was good enough for my (long suffering) family, then by gum it’s good enough for you” mentality. Remember that secret ingredient your Grandma always told you? It’s always love isn’t it? That means caring enough about the poor folks who are gonna have to politely eat your cooking to not let your pride (or anyone else’s) or nerves get in between your loved ones and a good meal. It may sound a little harsh, but sometimes it’s as easy as:
Let the oven pre-heat! I had a relative that always threw the meal into the oven then turned it on and wondered why it was never done when the timer went off (and frozen in the middle).
Let your pans and skillets heat up! It prevents sticking, meat will sear properly, and if you want to sautee up some veggies, it’s an absolute must. Once your pan is up to temp, THEN add your oil or meat.
There is a difference between boiling and simmering! You can really mess up rice by not knowing the difference…a simmer is one or two bubbles every couple seconds or so, a boil is constant bubbles all over, all the time.
Truly simple ideas, but easily forgotten in the mad panic that sometimes happens in the kitchen. Worst case, treat everybody to a meal on the town, and everybody will sigh with relief! For any kitchen accessories you may need come to PPL Motorhomes.com and say howdy!