Stopped cooking everything in olive oil, the way poncy TV chefs do. Canola oil is cheaper, equally healthy, and doesn’t affect the flavor of food I cook in it. I’ve also learned when I need to cook in butter, in order to get browning/caramelization on things.
I actually took a series of cooking classes, that started with knife skills and included how to saute, roasting, soups, etc. Then I bought a good knife, a good saute pan, and I’m golden.
Same here. A basic course on soups, stocks and sauces is invaluable.
Ironically, my cooking improved considerably when I got divorced and had to do more of my own cooking. So I guess I’d say that practice is the best thing I’ve done to improve my cooking.
I vote for the classes side of things, rather than equipment first. A new knife isn’t going to help if you don’t know how to use it. I took a basic knife skills class and everything started to click. A meat-cooking class and a couple sauce classes and now I’m “gourmet.” (At least to my wife and friends.)
Classes will also help you shop for new equipment, too.
I vote for the classes side of things, rather than equipment first. A new knife isn’t going to help if you don’t know how to use it. I took a basic knife skills class and everything started to click. A meat-cooking class and a couple sauce classes and now I’m “gourmet.” (At least to my wife and friends.)
Classes will also help you shop for new equipment, too.
When I learned to salt a little bit at each (or many) of the stages of cooking, instead of dumping 1/2 a tsp in at the end. Sweating onions? A little salt goes in. Adding the mushrooms? A little more salt. Tossing in the kale? A bit more salt.
I don’t think I’m using any more salt in total (in fact sometimes I think I’m using less), but this multi-stage salting technique just gives me more rounded better tasting and textured dishes.
Five or six years ago I could only cook the most basic things. Chili from a kit, hamburger helper, stuff like that. I wanted to cook (eat, actually) better things but I didn’t know how. So I started looking online for recipes, techniques, and explanations of why things should be done in certain ways. I’m confident with almost any new recipe now. Also, a lot of people I know will try a recipe once, ruin it, and give up. I’ll keep trying until I figure it out*. So I guess practice, research, and stubbornness have improved my cooking the most.
*except for béarnaise sauce. Béarnaise sauce has defeated me. 
I’d have to say experimentation. You really don’t learn much by following recipes to the letter.
When I started substituting ingredients and changing things up, I got a much better understanding of how things worked together. Eliminating at least half the salt from most recipes made a huge difference, too.
Learning about the science and chemistry of cooking helped me a lot. Then I didn’t just have to blindly follow a recipe when it gave some instruction - I’d know why the instruction was there, and could follow it if I liked, or change it a little bit, etc. It also helps with being able to appropriately make substitutions and change things on the fly. Some of this came from Alton Brown’s books, but most came from Harold McGee.
Changed from electric to gas.
Damn, I wish I could do that!
Meh, it’s overrated.
My cooking took off after figuring out the following:
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How to select good ingredients. (Like tomatoes most of the year in the big grocery stores? Forget about those). Cooking in season.
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Trusting my instincts. Most recipes, I find, are only general guidelines. One piece of meat may cook in an hour, another hunk of the same meat may take an extra fifteen minutes, etc. Stews, especially, are hugely variable. My chuck may get tender in two hours, or it might take three.
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Tasting throughout the process, and adjusting the seasoning at the end.
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Probe thermometer.
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Learning how various cuts of meat cook up, which are suitable to long, slow cooking, which are better for short high-heat cooking, and which can go either way.
Not at all! I really miss my gas range, especially for sauces. “I’d like to lower the heat somewhat, in a few minutes or so” leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to temperature control.
appreciating good food and new flavors
That got me motivated to ask and learn, “How can I make this myself?” Might not seem like a big deal, but I’m from the Midwest. I could eat only meat and potatoes for the rest of my life, and no one would bat an eye.
Funny, I got married and let my husband do it! 
Since I’m a terrible cook, I can’t really say I’ve done much to improve my cooking other than maybe just paying attention to what my husband does and occasionally trying things out myself. He travels for work so I’m occasionally stuck cooking for myself and I’m managed a few simple recipes, though I’m not confident trying to make any modifications to them. I just hate the whole process, though.
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Marrying a girl whose heritage is 1/4 3rd-generation Sicilian, 1/4 Cajun and 1/2 Appalachian. It added considerably to the repertoire learned from my Midwestern Wasp/German farm family.
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Living in a college town with a plethora of ethnic restaurants – Japanese, Korean, Thai, Indian, Turkish, Palestinian, Lebanese, Breton, German, Spanish, in addition to the more frequent Chinese, Mexican and Italian. After a while, you start thinking… "how can I do that?
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Good tools, fresh ingredients and not being afraid to make a mess. Practice, eat, repeat as needed.
Garlic.
Yep. I finally figured out one that if I’ve got garlic and olive oil, I can always make something good.
Other than that-- bone in chicken. I always get skinless, and that automatically came with boneless. I started asking the guy in the meat dept to give me the regular stuff, minus the skin. Man, them bones add so much flavor!! In fact, I sometimes throw in a few bonus bones just for that purpose.