Becoming a better cook

I have taught lots of beginners how to cook, but I really love teaching people how to become better cooks. It’s my favorite kind of adult cooking classes to teach. It took me a long time to figure out these simple hacks. Before I even start, I want to say that the biggest way to save time and stress is to read the recipe that you are going to make first. Before you do anything, read the recipe all the way through so there won’t be any surprises when it is time to cook. Let’s start!

Before you start to prep anything get yourself a prep bowl. It can be any kind of bowl. It can even be a disposable container. It doesn’t have to be pretty, mine was a gift from my father in law and I use it every day. Keeping a prep bowl on your kitchen work space saves time, energy and a mess. Think of how many times you run back and forth to the garbage can. This stupid little thing will shock you how much time it saves. On big cooking days I empty mine two or three times.

Start with a clean kitchen and clean as you go. I cannot stress this enough. Starting any project with a mess makes the whole cooking experience overwhelming and you haven’t even started cooking yet. Take the time and do it. You will notice a difference.

Prep ahead as much as you can and your time spent cooking will be a breeze. Mise en place is a culinary term meaning to prep. If you watch cooking shows they always have everything in little bowls ready to go. This is when you chop, dice, measure your ingredients in your recipe. Then just like the magic of tv, you will be making dinner effortlessly like they do on your favorite cooking program. Maybe not quite in the beginning, but you will get better at it.

I know I know you don’t have time to prep, you are busy. You can prep anytime and you can do it instead of being on social media. Well it’s true. Even taking only 10 minutes you can get things prepped. You don’t have to prep all at once. When my kids were small I would do little things at a time, so when dinner came it was quick and easy.

Speaking of quick and easy, think about what is a weeknight meal and what is a weekend meal. I’m sure if any of my adult cooking students are reading this they are having flashbacks to me saying this over and over in class. For example a pork tenderloin cooks quickly and can be prepared and ready in less than 30 minutes. Great for a Tuesday night dinner. Make 2 and have leftovers for lunch. A pork roast which requires a longer cook time, may be less stressful on a Saturday night. Sundays are a great day to cook a lot and use these meals during the week or planning leftovers from your main dish. That’s another blog post.

If you want to try to experiment with a harder recipe let’s say a porchetta, do it on a day you actually have the time and energy. It should be a pleasant, fun learning experience. If it doesn’t come out? Again that another blog post of how I am when things don’t turn out how I want them to. Ask my family. LOL

I haven’t mentioned crockpot cooking for a reason and don’t get mad at me. Crockpot cooking requires little effort and skill since most recipes are dump and go. Anyone can make a meal in a crockpot or an instant pot, we are talking about wanting to be a better cook. Better cooks braise their meats for example. Better cooks also develop flavor during the cooking process and not just season once.

What’s the difference between dollar store herbs and spices or bulk ones you find in a health food store or kitchen specialty shop? We are lucky to have a place called The Market Wagon near us. These spices are fresh, sold in small quantities and are inexpensive. I passed around dollar store spices and fresh bulk ones and my students were surprised. One person didn’t know that bay leaves had a smell or that all the different kinds of paprika tasted differently.

If you don’t have a place to buy spices, at least do me a favor. Go through your spice cabinet and look at how old some of your spices are. If spices are old, they lose all their potency and flavor. If they were cheap to begin with, it happens even sooner. How long do you think they sat on the store shelf before you bought them? The herbs and spices I get have the date they were packaged on.

Unless you are doing lots of big batch cooking don’t get sucked into buying those large commercial kitchen containers. You know what ones I am talking about. You will never go through it quick enough, back to the losing flavor and potency thing. Caring about every ingredient that goes into your dishes will make them more delicious, making you a better cook. Good ingredients = good results.

Sharpen your knives they tell you. A dull knife is more dangerous than a sharp one. You know why? Because if its so dull that it can’t go through what you are trying to cut, the knife will slip or bounce off and cut your fingers. Kitchen stores have lots of options for sharpening your knives. Both expensive and less expensive. I am working on learning to use a wet stone to sharpen mine, but I am not there yet. If your knives are in really bad shape or have never been sharpened, this is something you absolutely have to do. Seriously!

Get yourself the right kitchen tools to make some jobs easier. I am not talking about all the useless gadgets they sell in stores. Most of them are ridiculous. The best money you can spend is on a couple different sizes of measuring scoops. Scoops not spoons. You should already have measuring spoons and cups for both liquid and dry measurements. I watch people struggle to make their cookies or their meatball the same size. When you use a scoop whatever it is you are making, it’s going to be the same size as the rest. When they are all the same size, they will cook evenly and some won’t be burnt or underdone.

These few things are just the beginning of becoming a better cook. I will be going over lots of things that most people don’t know are important….silver skin is just one of them.