We all have to eat, but there can be a big difference in the type of meals that we have. Not all dinners are created equal, after all. IF you’re going to have a dinner that’ll be enjoyable, healthy, and all-around positive, then you’ll need to ensure that your dinner time has all the staples of a top-quality meal. And happily, those staples are not a mystery. Humans have been eating since, well, forever, so we’ve gotten pretty good at figuring out what we need to include in our meals!
In this post, we’ll run through the components that will lead to a top-quality dish. If your meal has all of the below, then you’ll be well on your way towards having a memorable dinner.
1. An Interesting Main Dish
First thing’s first: you’ll need to have an interesting dish lined up! You can’t expect to have a top-quality dinner if you don’t have a good recipe in the first place. Of course, the sky’s the limit when it comes to choosing a recipe. You can go for something that takes several hours to make, or you can make one of those quick and healthy 30 minute dinners. If you’re excited by the concept, then that’s enough. If you’re looking to push the boat out a little and test your skills, then consider making a meal from another corner of the globe.
2. Excellent Ingredients
You could make the same two recipes and get two very difficult results depending on the quality of the ingredients that you use. If you use the best that you can get, then your meal will taste great; if you use the lowest quality, then you can’t expect too much! There are some ingredients that it’s especially worthwhile making yourself. If the recipe calls for tamarind, then look up how to make tamarind paste — you can trust us when we say that you’ll taste the difference. If the recipe requires meat, pay a visit to the local butcher; they’ll have much better meat than what you’ll find in the supermarket.
3. Enough To Go Around
There’s one thing that gourmet restaurants often overlook: a person should always be full once the meal is over! While it’s nice to make an intricate dish, you’ll find that it’s just not as satisfying if you’re still hungry for more once the plate has been licked clean. So make sure you’re making enough to go around. And ideally, you’d have enough for leftovers, too.
4. Multiple Courses
The main meal will, of course, be the star of the show. But it’s always useful to have some backup singers doing some of the work, too! A great meal will consist of multiple layers; a starter, the main, and a dessert. Now, how much effort you put into those things will depend on how much time you have and what the occasion is. If it’s just a regular midweek dinner, then you may settle for a basic starter and an ice cream dessert. If you’re trying to make it a bit of a special occasion, then a more complex starter and a homemade pie or something will do the trick.
5. Dish Presentation
It’s not just the taste of the dish that makes a meal good. The presentation of the dish also plays a role, too. There’s a reason why restaurants spend so much time investing in the aesthetic quality of a dish, after all. There’s just something about it that humans seem to like. So think about the presentation of your dish. In most cases, it’ll just be about dividing the different components up. In others, it could involve squirting some of your additional sauce around the edge of the plate.
6. The Setting
It’s also worthwhile investing in the environment in which you’ll eat, too. You could ruin a meal by just eating it on your knee, in front of the television. It’ll be much nicer if you create a restaurant-worthy ambiance in your house. You can create the restaurant aesthetic by investing in some low lighting, adding some candles to your dining table, and getting some nice plates and cutlery. Just like that, you’ll think you’re in a restaurant!
Conclusion
And there we have it, several ways to create a quality meal! We’re sure that you don’t need to go to this much effort every night. However, on those evenings, when you have the time to put some extra effort into your meals, keep the above in mind. You’ll find that they help to make it feel like all the effort was worth it.
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