By Sohla El Waylly
There are plenty of practical reasons for learning how to cook: saving money, controlling what you eat, knowing precisely what’s in your food. I’m in it for the impractical. I love making a 27-ingredient mole negro when a craving strikes, hosting half a dozen friends on the fly on a weeknight, transforming peanut butter into a four-course meal in under an hour just for kicks.
But I didn’t begin my culinary journey — working at fine-dining restaurants, hosting internet videos and eventually writing a cookbook — with extravagant meals or complex dishes. Every good cook first masters the basics, like correctly holding a knife, salting your food and getting to know your pans and burners. It might not seem exciting, but we all have to start somewhere. (I promise: Even a pro like Gordon Ramsay once chopped his onions slowly, unevenly and probably with a dull knife.) Before getting into the nitty-gritty of cooking an egg or grating cheese for the glossiest, sauciest spaghetti, here are some basics to help you become a better cook. Because new year, new skills!
Start with the right stuff
I don’t believe in the adage, “A poor craftsman blames his tools.” Properly equipping yourself in the kitchen is crucial to not only making good food, but also having a good time while you do it. You don’t want to be searching for a tiny bowl for your onions when you could be drinking a glass of wine. Luckily, in the beginning, you only need a few key pieces: Small cutting boards are ideal for cutting proteins, since they’re easier to scrub down in the sink. But when it comes to all other prep, get the biggest board that will fit on your countertop. This allows you to chop all of your ingredients and have them on the board in neat piles, avoiding lots of little bowls and cleanup and keeping chaos to a minimum.
A knife’s only job is to be sharp. Most professional-level knives require significant skill to sharpen appropriately, and even the most expensive knives eventually dull. Steer clear of trendy celebrity-endorsed knives with bespoke handles or whatever your favorite chef uses, and work instead with an affordable knife, coupled with a knife sharpener or inexpensive whetstone, until you hone your sharpening skills.
If you’ve been struggling to achieve a crackly sear on your rib-eye, evenly char a wedge of cabbage or develop a mahogany fond (the burnished bits left on the bottom of the pan that are packed with tons of savory flavor), it’s not you, it’s your skillet. A heavy-bottomed skillet better retains and distributes heat, limiting hot spots and preventing big temperature drops when you add food to a pan. Opt for stainless-steel, cast-iron, carbon-steel or enameled cast-iron, all of which are suitable for high-temperature cooking, unlike nonstick pans.
Learn how to read a recipe
A recipe can be a jumping-off point for a meal, inspiring with its combination of flavors or techniques. In that case, you don’t need to read through it carefully. But when you’re starting out, reading the recipe before you start cooking and then precisely following it will ensure you learn something new and advance your skills.
Look for cues, not times. Think of cook times as a guide, and, instead, use all of your senses while cooking, paying close attention to the visual, auditory and olfactory cues written into the recipe. Are the onions meant to be just translucent or deeply browned? Should the stew be simmering gently or boiling vigorously? Following these indicators will lead you to a tastier result than any timer.
Precision is vital for baking and pastry recipes, which often don’t take kindly to swaps. On the other hand, savory cooking can accommodate substitutions with ingredients that cook similarly. For example, tender herbs, like cilantro, parsley and dill; root vegetables, such as carrots, parsnips and turnips; and hearty greens, like kale, escarole and collards, can often step in for one another.
Taste your food — a lot
The biggest mistake that new cooks make is forgetting to taste their food. You have to season in stages, throughout the cooking process, and remember to sample along the way. Sometimes, this means tasting things you might not want to, like briny pasta water, slick vinaigrettes and chalky spices, but it is the only way to ensure that your food is seasoned to the core, rather than superficially. It’ll also allow you to identify any flavors that could be going off the rails and get them in check before it’s too late.
Be nice to yourself
You can instantly find thousands of recipes for a roast chicken online, but the internet is also filled with curated photos and videos of perfectly plated dishes shot during golden hour. It’s easy to get discouraged when there’s so much to compare yourself with. When I started cooking, I had only a couple of cookbooks, most without photos: I didn’t know if the dishes I made were “correct,” which meant I could enjoy the stellar accomplishment of making myself a meal. If you end up with anything edible, that’s a win. Don’t worry about plating or lighting. If you managed to transform eggs into breakfast, that’s magic. And if you didn’t, there’s always takeout, and another meal to try again. — The New York Times
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