If you are looking to improve on your cooking skills, a refresher course in the basics can be a great investment of your time. But if you are too busy for that, the following tips can help you get back to some cooking basics that you may have forgotten or overlooked.

Doing all of the things you need to in order to prepare a meal is a vital part of the cooking process. Ensure that you aren’t missing important ingredients before you start cooking. It is not too much to get your meals ready the day before. Make sure you have the necessary utensils. Did you think of everything? This will help to alleviate your anxiety and maximize your potential.

There’s an easy way to save thin sauces. In a bowl, combine 2 tablespoons’ worth of water with 1 of corn starch. Stir the mixture into a warm thin sauce to thicken it. Stir the sauce constantly as you slowly add the starch mixture until it reaches the desired thickness.

To easily slice meat thinly, place it in the freezer until firm but not frozen. If you are cooking an exotic dish that requires thinly sliced meat, this is the best way to do it. If the meat is partially frozen, its texture is maintained nicely, even when sliced into thin strips. The strips should be allowed to fully thaw before they are cooked so that they can cook evenly.

Rub your hands against your sink after cooking with garlic. Garlic can be an undesirable smell to have cling to you. It might sound a bit odd, but next time you are cooking with it, rub your hands against your sink. If your sink is stainless steel, it should remove the smell.

An electric mixer is a blessing when you have to make your dough, but even this relatively easy task can turn into a nightmare when the dough sticks to the dough hook. To avoid the sticky mess, spray the hook with vegetable cooking spray and your dough will never stick to your mixer again.

A well-stocked pantry is a cook’s best friend! Never is that more true than when you are faced with unexpected company and you have nothing specifically planned to serve. Maintaining a pantry stocked with the basics gives you the flexibility to create easy meals at the last minute. For help in creating a great cook’s pantry, think hard about the items you go back to again and again. You can also find great tips on items for the pantry in most good cookbooks and online at cooking sites.

This is a great tip to use when making salad dressings. If you want to make a dressing that is creamy and rich, but without adding all of the fat, simply use a mixture of half mayonnaise and half greek yogurt. The greek yogurt is a healthy alternative to using all mayonnaise as there is less cholesterol.

Cooking the daily meal can seem like a chore sometimes and throwing ingredients together quickly becomes tiresome. Cooking for pleasure can be relaxing, entertaining, and can be delicious. Remind yourself of some of the basic rules of cooking and make cooking fun again for you and your family.