35 Top Soul food Cooking Strategies

It’s hard to improvise and make your own recipes if you don’t have ingredients on hand. Of course, you’ll usually need to shop for perishables for each recipe, but there’s plenty of things you can keep on hand to improvise recipes.

• For instance, keep canned goods like tomato paste, tomato sauce, canned tomatoes, coconut milk, and canned beans in your pantry. You can use coconut milk and tomato sauce for a curry or add the beans to a dish for quick and easy protein.
• In dried foods, keep things like pasta, rice, lentils, barley, and quinoa on hand. These foods can provide a foundation for a dish. It also helps to have flour and cornstarch on hand to thicken foods and make gravies.
• Stock up your seasonings with spices and herbs like Italian seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, chili powder, cumin, curry powder, dill, and rosemary.
• Keep proteins in your freezer, such as chicken breasts, ground beef, and pork chops. In the refrigerator, keep ingredients you can add to dishes, such as bouillon paste, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil, mustard, and olive oil.

4. Find recipes online and through cooking apps.

When you’re just starting out, a recipe is a good place to begin. Look for simple recipes that you’d like to try, or even watch videos that go step-by-step through a recipe. It can be a great way to get started cooking when you don’t have much experience.

• Cooking apps put recipes at the tips of your fingers, and you can save your favorite recipes for later.

5. Be creative!

It’s okay with deviating from the recipe. A recipe is just a guide, and you have to develop the knowledge to know when you need to follow that guide and when not to. For instance, a recipe may call for a casserole to bake for 30 minutes, but if it’s not bubbling and brown on top, you may need to bake it another 10 minutes.

Soul food near me

6. Start mixing up recipes with your favorite flavors.

As you start to recognize flavors you like, try playing around with recipes. Don’t completely change a recipe. Instead, start with 1 or 2 ingredients, and swap them out for similar ingredients that you like better.

• For instance, if a recipe calls for yellow mustard, try swapping in Dijon.
• If you find you don’t care for a particular herb, like oregano, try swapping another one in, like rosemary.

7. Improvise when you don’t have an ingredient.

It can be tempting to run to the store when you’re out of an ingredient a recipe calls for. Sometimes, that’s necessary. Other times, you can find an ingredient in your pantry or refrigerator that will be a perfect substitution.

• Think about the nature of the ingredient and what it does for the recipe. For instance, if a recipe calls for lemon juice, it’s likely adding sourness and flavor to the dish. You may be able to swap in red wine vinegar, for instance, or balsamic vinegar.
• It’s important to think about the dish. Balsamic vinegar wouldn’t work in a dish like chicken piccata, as the heavy flavor would completely change it. You could try it, but you have to keep in mind you’re going to end up with a very different dish.

8. Try making your own recipe.

Once you’ve learned to improvise a bit, it’s time to set out on your own! You can look at recipes online to get an idea of what you want to do, but then step away from them and try to figure out a recipe just by yourself. It may not be perfect, but it will be a valuable learning experience for next time.

• Try going to the farmer’s market and picking up a few fresh ingredients for inspiration. Then, use what you’ve learned from other recipes to create your own concoction.

Soul food near me

9. Be prepared for mistakes, but don’t sweat them.

Mistakes are going to happen in the kitchen. You’re going to burn the bread sometimes, or accidentally put in too much salt. Try to salvage it if you can. After all, no one else knows exactly what you’re going for, and it may still be delicious.

• If you can’t salvage it, laugh it off and learn from your mistake!
• If you want to try a new recipe, practice when you have the time, such as on the weekend. Don’t try it out when you’re going to be feeding a crowd.

10. Crack the eggs into a bowl and beat them.

Knock the egg gently on a flat surface to crack it. Use your thumbs to pry it open over a small bowl. Repeat for the other 2 eggs. Add in a couple of dashes of salt and pepper, and beat the eggs together with a fork.

• To beat the eggs, gently break up the yolks with the fork by piercing them. Then, whip the eggs in a circular motion to mix them up.
• If eggshells drop in the bowl, use another piece of eggshell to fish them out.

11. Grate 1–2 ounces (28–57 g) of cheddar cheese and chop the ham.

Use a small grater to shred the cheese. Run the cheese up and down on the grater until it’s all shredded, and set it aside for the moment. Be careful to keep your fingers out of the way so you don’t cut yourself.

• You can buy pre-shredded cheese if you prefer.
• If you’re using the ham, cut it into small pieces with a sharp knife. If the ham is cold, heat in the microwave for 15-30 seconds.

Soul food near me

12. Heat a couple of pats of butter in a medium frying pan.

Place a frying pan on the stove over medium to medium-high heat. Add the butter to the pan, and let it cook until it’s foaming. Spread it out over the pan with a spatula.

13. Add the eggs to the pan and spread them out.

Pour your egg mixture into the pan, and move the pan around so the eggs go all the way to the edge of the pan. You can also use a fork or a spatula to help spread them out.

• Let the eggs cook as is for a few minutes.

Soul food near me

14. Sprinkle the cheese in after the eggs are mostly cooked.

Watch the eggs. As they cook, they should start to firm up on the bottom. Once they do, they shouldn’t jiggle too much if you move the skillet. However, they should still look a little wet on top. Sprinkle the cheese over the omelette.

• Add the ham now, too, if you’re using ham.

15. Fold the omelette over.

Run your spatula under the edges of the omelette all the way around, though be gentle. Fold one side of the omelette over the other side, like a taco.

16. Remove the omelette when it starts to brown.

Creating Simple Spaghetti

17. Brown 1 pound (0.45 kg) of beef in a pot or large saucepan.

Heat a pan over medium heat. Break up the beef in the pan, and add a sprinkling of salt and pepper. Cook the beef until it’s not pink anymore, and continue to break up the chunks as you go.

• If your beef is especially lean, you may need to add a little olive oil to the pan first.
• If you don’t want to use ground beef, just skip this step. You can also use ground pork, turkey, or chicken in place of the ground beef.

18. Dice the onion and garlic.

Set a garlic clove on a cutting board, and smash the flat side of a large knife against the garlic clove with your fist. Peel the skin off the garlic, then chop it into small pieces. Repeat for all the cloves.

• Use 4 cloves if you like garlic a lot or 2 if you want your sauce to be less potent. A single garlic clove is 1 piece out of the large head of garlic.
• If you prefer, you can use the garlic that comes chopped in a jar. It will tell you how much to measure out for 1 clove. You can even use garlic powder, but wait until you start cooking the tomatoes before you add it.

19. Peel and dice the onion.

Cut the ends off the onion, and then slice it down the middle the other way. Peel off the skin. Place the onions flat-side down on the surface of the cutting board. Slice along the onion so that you create half rings of onion. Turn the onion the other way, and make cuts to create diced pieces.

• Onion is not absolutely necessary, but it adds a lot of flavor.

Soul food near me

20. Take the beef out of the pan and cook the onion and garlic.

Place the beef in a separate dish for the moment. Pour a couple of spoonfuls of olive oil into the pan, and then add the onions. Cook them for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, then add the garlic. Cook the onions and garlic for another 2-3 minutes. The onions should look translucent.

21. Add the tomatoes and beef back into the pan.

Stir the tomatoes and beef into the onions and garlic. If you’re using whole canned tomatoes, use the spoon to break them up in the pan a bit.

• You can add about 1 cup (240 mL) of beef stock at this point if you’d like. Otherwise, rinse out the tomato can with a bit of water, and pour it into the pan.

22. Add the basil and let the sauce simmer for about 20 minutes.

Tear up the fresh basil with your hands, and stir it into the sauce. While stirring, turn up the sauce to medium-high, and let it simmer.

• You can use a couple of spoonfuls of dried basil or Italian seasoning if you don’t have fresh basil.
• Simmering is light bubbling. Stir the sauce often as it simmers and thickens.

Soul food near me

23. Cook the spaghetti noodles.

Bring salted water to boil in a separate pot over high heat. Once the water is boiling, add the spaghetti noodles to the pot. As the noodles soften, stir them with a slotted pasta spoon, the kind that has small fingers extending from it.

• Stirring the noodles after you put them in helps stop them from sticking to one another.
• The noodles should take about 9-11 minutes, but check the back of the package.

24. Test the noodles and serve your dish.

Pull a noodle out, and run it under cold water. Taste it to see if it’s done. It should be easy to chew with a slight bite, not crunchy. If it’s done, drain the noodles in a colander. Ladle some onto a plate, and pour some of your sauce on top.

• Top your spaghetti with some fresh Parmesan.
• Store leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container. Eat them within 3 or 4 days

Making Basic Chicken Noodle Soup

25. Chop the carrots into bite-sized pieces.

Use a cutting board and a large chef’s knife. Slice the carrots in half first, and then lay the flat side down on the cutting board. Cut off half rounds, going down the length of the carrot.

• Scrub your vegetables thoroughly under running water before chopping them.

26. Heat the 2 tablespoons (30 mL) of olive oil over moderate heat.

29. Add the onions to the pot and cook them until they soften.

30. Pour in the 6 cups (1,400 mL) of chicken stock and the seasonings.