Are you one of those people who cant cook to save your life? Have you burned water or spilled an entire carton of milk? Don't worry cooking is easy, and this article is here to show you how! Read on to find out simple tips to help you cook better!

To free up cupboard space in your kitchen, use oven-safe silicone baking pans. These little wonders, available in all standard baking pan sizes, shapes and capacities, hold up to baking in the oven to thorough cleansing and can be mushed up, smashed down and packed away in the tightest spots.

When you are using herbs and spices make sure that you store them correctly to keep the, fresh. Since humidity is a spice's worst enemy, make sure to keep them in air-tight containers. Also, keep them in a dark place, as light can also negatively affect the taste of your spices.

Although it is tempting, do not add oil to boiling pasta if you will be using the pasta with a sauce. The oil prevents the sauce from adhering to the pasta, and may leave you with a slick, unappealing mess. Give your pasta a stir every couple of minutes as it cooks and use plenty of water, and there should not be any sticking issues.

To keep your spices and herbs at their freshest, do not store them above your stove. The steam and heat can alter and weaken their flavors and textures, and may even cause clumping. Try to find a dry, cool place such as a drawer or pantry for storing these items.

A foolproof way to clarify butter. Melt several sticks of butter over low heat in a heavy-based saucepan. When you see froth on the top, solid particles on the bottom, and a cle
ar yellow liquid in between, remove the pan from the heat. Skim the froth off the top, and strain the clarified liquid into a container, leaving the milk solids behind.

Cook fish on a plank! Use a cedar plank to replicate the taste you get in expensive restaurants right on your campfire. Clean your freshly caught fish and split them open so they are less than one inch thick. Tack the fish to the board and position it beside the campfire so it absorbs the heat of the fire but is not so close that the whole thing catches fire!

When cooking pasta to use with sauce, reserve about a quarter to a third of a cup of the pasta water before you drain the pot. Adding this starchy water to the sauce will help the sauce to thicken slightly and become a bit stickier, which allows it to better adhere to your pasta.

Keep a pack of unflavored, unwaxed dental floss in your kitchen. If you need to make clean, precise cuts, dental floss is typically much more effective than using even the sharpest kitchen knife because of it's small width. Simply pass the piece of dental floss through the item you are cutting for a nice, clean slice.

To prevent dense pie fillings like pumpkin from cracking after cooking, allow the pie to cool on the oven rack. Removing a pie from the hot oven and placing it on a cool counter can cause the filling to expand or contract and as a result crack. Allowing the pie to cool slowly on the oven rack is the best way to get an even, glossy finish on the filling.

As you can see, cooking isn't so difficult as you might have made it out to be. As long as you stick with simple recipes and follow the simple tips laid out in this article, you'll be cooking like a pro and saving yourself money on food in no time.