Do you count yourself as a good cook? Or are you just someone who enjoys cooking? People love cooking for various reasons. They love food, enjoy the mess, and love catering to their friends when they come.
Cooking also can be a therapeutic activity. It’s thanks to the aromatic spices that can give a relaxing scent. Cooking also counts as a workout, especially if you cook for a large batch at once. You better not go anywhere as we’re covering the recipe to be a good cook.
Be Passionate About Food
Any good cook starts with being passionate about food. One of the great British chefs, Gordon Ramsey grew up watching his mother running a restaurant. While Anthony Bourdain decided to work in a restaurant after he dropped out of University. Both great chefs came from the same culture called being passionate about food.
Some people enjoy eating but not cooking. Still, it doesn’t mean they can’t cook. They choose to limit their skill by only cooking what they know. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with that. But cooking can save you a lot of money and time in the long run.
Anyhow, passion alone is not enough to make you a good cook. You still need to take several more steps to ensure it happens. You need to know the ingredients and various techniques to make a dish. For example, you need to know how to clean and cut the meat and understand the difference between steaming and bain Marie.
Build your palate
A perfect palate is like the perfect pitch. Some are lucky enough to have it naturally, while others rely on years of training to notice the differences.
A good palate will be able to differentiate flavors in minute detail. It’s more than knowing how tasty a dish is. But you can tell the protein, spices, and other details in the meal.
Another thing about a palate is that you need to continue training it. It’s not enough to only taste several dishes and claim to have a trained palate. The culinary world is one of many ventures that continue to grow. There is always a new take on an old recipe or even a new menu altogether.
You can start with a passion for food and expand your palate by trying out new stuff. Of course, you need to consider your diet and personal preferences. Many world-class chefs keep training their palate by trying out new stuff regularly. They understand they have to train continuously for many years to come.
Be Bold and Adventurous
Being a good cook also means being open to criticism. Understand that everyone has room to grow. It’s a matter of how you utilize the critics and tools around you.
You need to know your skill and ability before trying any recipes. That is why you need to start small. Try recipes that are close to home. Perhaps some of your childhood favorites or a staple in a Sunday dinner. After you master those dishes, you can move to a more complicated recipe.
Take it like having a three-course meal. You start with something light as an appetizer, then a heavy main course. Close the meal with a technical dessert.
It sure doesn’t have to be in that order since each person has a different passion. You may start with a dessert as you enjoy baking more than cooking. Or you may come from a hunter family and thus prefer the main course.
Always taste your meal!
If you have watched enough of Gordon Ramsey’s video you will notice how he keeps reminding everyone to taste the meal. He has a point there since tasting is crucial for the whole meal.
You can tell the flavor when you taste your meal while cooking. You can tell whether it’s lacking salt or needs other flavors. Tasting the meal also helps you decide on the side dishes or garnish.
Most people take constantly tasting the meal as distrusting the recipe or skill. On the contrary, it shows you’re training your palate to make any adjustment. Remember, there is no bad recipe but there are numerous subpar executions.
Whether you cook for yourself or make a large batch for the whole family, tasting your meal before serving is mandatory. Now, there are many opinions on when is the best time to taste. But most will agree that the best times to taste are in the middle and when the cooking is almost finished.
You need to taste the dish in the middle of cooking to set the flavor. That is when you can make some corrections to the flavor. You can tell if the dish needs more salt or sugar or if it’s already enough. And before you turn off the stove, you need to taste the dish once again.
Are you a cook or a chef?
Did you know that both terms refer to the same person? Chef is short for the French Chef de cuisine or the kitchen’s chief. Many people think that chef is short for Chief which means captain. Both understandings are correct.
A chef is the one person responsible for the kitchen. They are responsible for the cleanliness, budget and menu management, and overall dish quality. Say you’re in a restaurant and the steak you ordered is wrong, you’d ask to see the chef, not the cook. In short, the chef represents the kitchen as a whole.
Of course, some cooks have input on the restaurant’s menu. Most chefs you know today started as line cooks or regular cooks before gradually stepping up in the kitchen hierarchy.
There is no shortcut to being a good cook. You need to do a lot of practice and experience failures before any success. You can take cooking classes or courses to polish your skill. Nowadays, many restaurants and even chefs themselves offer a class.
But eventually, it’s all about your effort and passion to be a good cook. If you’re passionate about bringing good food to the table, you’re already halfway out to be a good cook.
