Happy new year!
A friend of mine told me that in 2008, he would like to be more confident in the kitchen. He’s been considering taking a cooking class to help. Not a bad idea, really.
But here’s the problem: it depends on the class. Many cooking classes I’ve read descriptions for only teach you how to make specific dishes, and that’s not going to help anyone be more confident, not really.
So what will help?
- Learn the building blocks. For example: so much good food starts with sauteeing onions and garlic in olive oil, so learn how to do that really well. (Hint: use regular olive oil, not extra-virgin; use medium-low heat; and don’t let the garlic burn.) Or learn what a mirepoix is, and what its variations are, and why you should care.
- Learn how to cut common vegetables. Onions, for example, are the basis of many delicious dishes, and I’ve become a lot more confident now that I know how to dice an onion. Or take leafy greens — now that I can quickly slice them into ribbons, it’s so much easier to deal with them.
- Limit yourself to what’s on hand. Creativity begins when you use familiar things in new ways. How many ways can you cook a potato? What strange things could I do with a bunch of kale? What happens when you put nutmeg in a savory dish? (Hint: awesomeness ensues.)
- Lose the recipes and focus on patterns. This is what makes for great kitchen improv. What are common binders used in baked goods, and how might you substitute? What are the building blocks of a casserole? What fruits go well together?
- Keep high-quality basics in your cupboard for simple meals. Whole grains like quinoa, wild rice, and steel cut oats are great to keep on hand. Good-quality pasta or couscous are also nice to have. Pair a high-quality starch with a simple steamed vegetable, dress it up with lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, and black pepper, and call it dinner. The more simple meals you can put together, the more you’ll be able to experiment occasionally without feeling like it’s a chore.
- Buy one really good chef’s knife, and get it sharpened regularly. Having good tools makes all the difference between cooking as a chore and cooking as pleasure. My 8-inch chef’s knife is the single most important tool in my kitchen.
Is your New Year’s Resolution for 2008 to gain more experience and confidence in the kitchen? How do you plan to accomplish that goal?
5 Comments
Great article. My partner & I LOVE to cook. How do you recommend learning the fundamental basics (as in your dice onions example)? We just learn as we go & I’m sure do many things wrong.
I still attempt to cut with my horrible knife and would love to invest in a real chef’s knife but am convinced from numerous “ouch” moments with my dull knife that I’d be looking at a life with stubs where my fingers used to be. How did you learn to use it properly and safely?
Hi Paula, thanks for your comment!
Honestly, I learned a lot of the fundamentals by watching food television. I watched Yan Can Cook a lot when I was a kid, and picked up his knife skills. I also really like Alton Brown’s show Good Eats, on the Food Network - he teaches building blocks and food science/history rather than just sticking to recipes. There are also great example videos on the web (see this video on chow.com for instance.)
Most of us learn as we go, in the kitchen - just go slowly.
And as for the knife thing: you’re actually less likely to cut yourself with a sharp knife than with a dull knife. Really! Food is less likely to roll or slip under your knife if it’s sharp. Less rolling/slipping means fewer accidents.
There are also ways of holding your knife that make it less likely you’ll cut yourself. For example, if you’re the sort of person who puts her index finger on top of the blade, stop immediately before you cut your thumb! You know, I should write a post on this…
And definitely check out this video I found on Lifehacker on how to dice vegetables — the chef shows how the knife just moves up and down in space, while you feed the vegetable horizontally through it.
Hi Jan, it’s Amanda from Wisebread forums. What a great site you have here, and such yummy food. I’m going to be a regular reader from now on.
Thanks for this basic info post too, I do tend to stick to the recipe although I’ve been a bit more experimental for the last week or so I’m not very confident. At the moment I’m devising some basic recipes that can be changed as it were to suit the individual.
One great book that I brought a while back for 50c at a garage sale is Deliciously Simple, Quick and Easy by Harriet Roth. If you get the opportunity to read it I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Bye for now!
H again Jan. I’ve put a very simple recipe from the book on my blog entitled Special Sour Cream. I’ll be adding more over the coming week.
Great article - that is my goal for 2008! I’ve decided to learn more fundamental techniques by cooking through Tom Colicchio’s book, “Think Like a Chef”. I also regularly practice knife skills and read about ingredients - part of my lack of confidence comes from the “what is this” factor - and a fear of wasting food by not knowing how to handle it. I’m adding your list to my resources - thanks! :)
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