That reminded me of another topical item: butchering. I started off field dressing and butchering squirrel, rabbits, and pheasant before taking on deer. I’ve learned a lot about different parts of animals and cuts of meat. At the grocer, I rarely buy chicken any other way but whole. Same for fish sometimes. I’ll cut my own steaks to the thickness I prefer too. DIY is cheaper, rewarding, and I have more control over the end product. My wife was actually wowed the first time she watched me quickly break down a chicken. Then again, some people don’t even know white meat from dark.
Someone already mentioned it, but practice. I used to hate cooking because my sister and her husband lived here, and the latter is not only an excellent cook, but a prolific eater. Whenever I made something, I always felt as though everything I made was crap in comparison to whatever he made. I’d also have to make sure whatever I made could feed ALL of us. I’ve since learned that I hate cooking for lots of people.
Once they moved out, though, it was my boyfriend, my parents, and I, and cooking for four is probably the easiest thing in the world. I also felt more free to experiment. That meant I was cooking more often, and my techniques were more fluid.
I have been a professional cook for 25 years. Perfect advice from all. The equipment is crucial for a while. As to not hinder the process. Then you can get past it and use crap again if need be. The intuition takes over.
I would say my biggest suggestion is knife skills. Once good and safe your prep times drops dramatically and the burdon and time it takes to make a meal slips away. You are left with the fun and are much safer. It is the first thing I teach anyone working around me even servers and my children or people I am helping or people helping me in resedential kitchens. You only then can absorb what is going on around you.
That and learning how to finish things in the oven.
In order to develop your intuition you must gain knowledge of the equipment and product and your audience. You must know that food is equally about sight, touch, smell, texture and ATMOSPHERE. That is what makes taste. Sometimes you can make a winning meal with Just one, but to be truly good you must consider them all.
Make sure you are having fun. If not find out why and fix it.
I got a job at 3-4 star restaurant. They had me train for 2 weeks to learn knife skills, how to work the oven, etc.
Salt.
Word.
For those of you that took cooking classes, I ask for some guidance. I consider myself a competent cook, but this suggestion really interests me, and I think would help me become a much better cook. Do you have advice as to where to look for these classes? In Minneapolis, there’s a few high-end stores that offer cooking classes, as well as a CIA branch (I think) and a couple “Art and Design Institute” type places that offer cooking classes. Should I restrict my class search to schools, or are the classes offered by the stores a reasonable choice? I’m not looking to become a chef (so I don’t know if an intensive class at a real school would be worth it), but do want to do better in the kitchen.
FWIW, the classes I’m looking at at one of the stores seem to all be taught by local chefs and staff helpers. There’s a cooking fundamentals class that I’m especially interested in, runs 4 weeks.
As for me, tasting everything. I didn’t taste each component of the meal before; now I try to, and it’s made my meals better.
Read Nigel Slater (understand the ingredients before you cook).
Good knives.
Read Anthony Bourdin (put a shitload of butter and salt in everything you make).
A one-day course at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons.
OK, that’s four, so if I had to pick a single one, I’d say Nigel Slater.
Yessir. I didn’t want to say “cooking helped me become a better cook” but it did! I was already good enough to slap together a meal that tastes good, but after cooking for myself every single day, I got a good feel for food. I remember being frustrated by cooking shows and my husband’s very loosey goosey style of cooking (“Throw some mushroom and chives in there until it’s right” – How do I know it’s right? How long? How much? I need facts!), but after getting enough practice, you just kind of get it. Even when trying new recipes or ingredients, you just know how what you’re putting in your food is going to affect it, and you don’t need to time anything anymore. You’ll know when it’s done, and you know how much you’re supposed to season it.
Also, another for forcing myself out of my comfort zone. Some days I will force myself to make a meal without cayenne pepper or curry, just so I can have something different. Hey, like everyone else, I like the food I grew up with. What’s sad is some days I’ll cheat. “Okay, maybe just a leeetle bit of curry.” Ridiculous. I don’t always cheat, though, and those occasions have led to me making some pretty decent meals that don’t taste anything like what my mom cooks.
While I will never, evah, date someone who doesn’t tolerate spicy food well, opening yourself up is indeed a good thing.
Better quality ingredients. For a long time I just bought whatever was at the supermarket on sale, not really seeking out the best possible quality. Makes a huge difference for a lot of recipes.
This is really a humble, base contribution to all the garde-mangers and line cooks and sous chefs here, but the one thing that helped me be a better cook is to clean my kitchen better. I’m a bachelor, and so there are all kinds of harmful things in my apartment, but when the kitchen is clean everything can be done.
Knife skills can be improvised on a small-scale operation like a home kitchen; poor equipment can be got around with enough patience and know-how; large tasks will take longer done by hand than with the food processor. But it all begins with a clean, well-organized kitchen.
And, for chrissakes, have all the ingredients or whatever ready before you start the wagon of culinary progress rolling.
ETA nice batterie de cuisine makes the job more fun, but I and probably most people started out using nothing more than the equivalent of tin pie plates and a rough countertop.
Yep, organization and prep is key, both in the home and more importantly in a commercial situation. In the home there isn’t much to lose, but in a pro kitchen it is magnified and the progression of the shit that runs downhell is impossible to recover from. Many times I’ve seen myself and other people go into the weeds from some minor mis-prep or something that possibly could have been foreseen and prepped for. It’s a very fine art however, and there are some things that you just can’t prepare for in a working and erratic kitchen, but the impact can alwys be minimized by running a tight and clean ship.
I’ll be submitting my application for head dish(dog)washer at your establishment forthwith – just after I get my own kitchen in order.
I really am glad someone agrees with me – good cooking really is about being organized, but not so strict that you can’t improvise. Kind of like playing music, I guess.
Another thing, I worked in a 4 star local restaurant working my way up for 6 years. I watched PBS and the Food Network and thousands and thousands of hours of food programming, I developed a kind of slightly encyclopediac recall of what I have seen and learned. I got schooled by PBS… please consider that. I truly believe PBS is a fnt of invaluable knowledge and i hope the conservatives will consider that as they deem the fate of PBS. I do not like the “brand” of education that the free market media is entrusted to supply. It is self serving and partial to the fascists, hardly trusted.
Too many folks don’t use enough (or overuse it). Its a delicate thing and can make the difference between something good or something horrible.
Salt, taste, salt, taste, salt, taste.
It never gets old, I tell ya!
For instance, for all my culinary knowledge (ahem), I never realized the perfect steak on my grill was made with a huge helping of SALT, more specifically, a crust of sea salt.
Fuck marinades, sauces, etc…if you have a really good cut of beefsteak to toss on the grill…salt it up (and pepper, ground please) and it’ll turn out wonderful, provided you don’t overcook it.
Seriously.
ETA: of course, oversalting is really bad. which is why you taste as you go. You can always add more salt, but you can’t take it out once its there if its too much.
I cook Indian. Learning how to fry my spices changed my world.
Oh, yea… the whole balance, that whole melange of awakened spices, in peanut or palm oil, with caramelized onions and garlic is what separates auntie’s and restaurant from homemade. One must remember these are developed sauces and stews, no less developed than the most complicated french sauce… perhaps more complicated and staged. Develop your base with order and time and moderate to low heat and the dish will achieve its own perfection without coaxing.
I’m not an expert - I just went to the only local school around - but if I were looking to take more classes, I’d be looking for:
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courses taught by schools that also offer professional cooking degrees, but who offer classes aimed at the home cook who wants to expand his/her knowledge. I’d worry that courses taught by stores or schools that ONLY do home-cooking would be too dumbed-down. Sure, you don’t want to become a chef, but at the same time, you want to learn something that you don’t know.
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Not necessarily taught by a chef. I think it’s important that the teacher has had real-world cooking experience, but all chefs are not good teachers. Ideally it would be someone who had been a chef for a while, but who has also been teaching for a while.
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Hands-on. VERY important. There’s only so much you can learn by watching someone. The courses I took were taught in 5-hour segments, and each class ended with a full meal, prepared by the students.
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Check out the facilities. Is the course taught in a well-stocked kitchen? How big is the class size? Is there room for everyone to work?
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I’d cruise over to egullet.com and see if anyone there could give some advice on schools in your area.
Ooh Athena, *fantastic *idea. I’ll do that.
I drove up to Charlotte once for a two day class on chocolate truffles at Johnson and Wales. Absolutely amazing.