Cooking is kind of like being a hacker. I rarely follow a recipe to the letter, adding and removing things depending on my taste and what's in my cupboard. I always think of a recipe as a jumping off point.
An aunt of mine always used to make a chicken fajita soup, so good. It was the first thing I thought of when I saw your note. #whynotboth
I totally agree with this, I just don’t have the kitchen confidence yet to learn a brand new meal without first following a recipe. I’ve failed many times 😂
Yeah the beginning of learning to cook is tough.
I didn't really learn to cook until I was 30. I taught myself mostly, along with some memories of my Granny. There were some nights when I had to toss meals that didn't work out, and felt totally defeated by it. It was embarrassing to have to resort to something pre-made, or a boring old sandwich. 10x worse when I was cooking for someone else. I blew a couple dates that way 😅
Once you have your feet under you though it is so much fun. Being able to just throw things together without a recipe and end up with a beautiful meal is a great feeling. It's also empowering, knowing regardless of what I have on hand I can make something good for myself.
Keep learning & practicing, you got this 🤝
That’s basically my journey to a T. Started learning at 32 😂 and REALLY took all the failed meals personally.
I literally learn to make 1 thing at a time and then take a month or two to keep cooking the same thing until I get it to where I want it
Yes!
I started out with easy things, chili, soups, stew etc. Kept adding skills until I could make great things. Looking back the best advice I could have given myself was to learn to make good sauces. Once you have the mother sauces on point you are unstoppable.
Another cook I love. Great recipes, and he's a great teacher. I've made so many things from his channel.
Oooooo this looks nice
The defeat of making something so bad you have to toss it is devestating. But then getting it right the next time is great.
Though in the past year, I had a phase where I could not for the life of me melt the cheese in my mac and cheese. That was demoralizing. I got my shit together since and I'm back to making good, comforting mac.
Mmm, that bechamel sauce 🤤
Man there's a fancy french name for everything
Can't call it white sauce anymore. That's racist and euro-phobic 🤷♂️
Recipes are more of a guideline. They give you a direction to head, but you can always riff. If you're aware of compatible flavors or want to try something new.
At least that's how I've always thought of them.
When I started cooking I compared it to making things work on Linux. It was always combining 3 different how-to guides with a bit of my own knowledge to make it work somehow 😂
#nerd
That's a good analogy. I kind of do the same thing when I'm trying something I've never done before. I look up like three or four recipes and kind of figure out the median between them and go from there.
I find technique has been my major focus. If I can brown/toast/ salt something it can be an extra up lite of otherwise blah food.
Realizing that the slightly burnt stuff on the bottom of the pans wasn't something to clean off later, but flavour to make part of the dish was a revelation to me. More taste and easier cleanup, it's a win-win.
#fond #deglaze
This ☝️ always 😂😂.
