Tips from the kitchen (that seems backwards to wait staff, huh?)

I’ve had a bit of free time on my hands the last few days, and in addition to applying for jobs, playing video games, and painting miniatures, I’ve been getting reacquainted with my old friend the Food Network.  Two of the shows I’ve been watching the most of are Chopped (competition between four “chefs” with mystery ingredients) and Worst Cooks in America (Chefs Anne Burrell and Bobby Flay attempt to teach some terrible everyday cooks culinary skills).  The competitions are usually pretty fun and can help an interested observer pick up interesting ideas.  They also remind me of when I started to cook.  My mom and dad taught me a few recipes (and how to follow a recipe), and I took cooking classes in High School.  For one of our finals, we were split into teams and given an Iron Chef-esque competition.  Each team had the same certain key ingredients, then we had free reign in the pantry.  I was our team’s leader and came up with our  menu, we didn’t win, but we did pretty well.  Especially considering one teammate didn’t show up and another refused to participate.  But it was a fun time.  Several times I took charge in the kitchen at home, because our parents worked late or we were “out of groceries”.  The fun part of being “out of groceries” was that we had foodstuffs in the house, just not the makings of our standard meals.  I’d get to punt.  One time I made a pasta out of breaded chicken patties and Top Ramen, as well as a handful of other ingredients to bring it together.

During college, I worked as a grill cook, cook’s assistant, and baker in my school’s cafeteria, as well as being a line cook in a diner one summer.  I don’t cook much currently for a couple of reasons, one being timing, the other is that I’ve never quite got the hang of cooking small quantities, so I prefer to cook when I have company.  That being said, I am a good cook, and when I do cook, everyone seems to leave the table happy.  I’m not claiming to be Chef Anne, but I do know my way around the kitchen and have trained a few people at work, and tried to teach a neighbor how to cook.  For anyone who can cook, this will probably be a bit boring, but for those struggling to break free from the recipe books (or TV dinners), hopefully this will help a bit.

Tip #1: Learn basic skills
Probably a no-brainer.  But this was the biggest hurdle we faced when I tried to teach my neighbor how to cook.  You can learn these skills a number of ways: find a friend or family member to teach you, take a class at the local community college, go to one of those cooking night-things were you (or you and your date) learn to make a dish, etc., etc.  But central to making good food is knowing how to (safely!) handle a knife, how to avoid cross-contamination, how to keep your kitchen sanitary, and the basics of actually cooking (what is the difference between sauteing your veggies and sweating them?).  One of my biggest pet peeves is an unsanitary kitchen.  This extends far beyond washing your hands and not licking your fingers.  Also important is not putting your cooking implements in your mouth!  That wooden spoon you’re stirring the sauce with?  Keep it out of your mouth.  Get a spoon out of your silverware drawer to taste your sauce with.  Then put it straight in the sink!  Also, there’s no such thing as the five-second rule!  If it hits the floor, it goes in the trash!  There’s more, including cooking temperatures, cleanliness and techniques.  Learn them and live them!

Tip #2: Know your ingredients
This may also seem like a bit of a no-brainer, but it will really make life easier when a recipe goes awry, or you’re having to get creative until that next trip to the grocery store.  Know what the things in your pantry/cupboards/refrigerator taste like.  Try to figure out how they react with other ingredients.  Get to know what flavors and textures compliment each other and which should probably stay away from each other.  When I make meatloaf, it never quite comes out the same way twice.  I have a handful of staple ingredients: beef, onion, ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, garlic croutons, and an egg.  But other meats (bacon, italian sausage, ground pork, bison, etc), spices, and other vegetables are always a bit spur of the moment.  How do I feel today?  What goes into the pot today?  The other meats and veggies I tend to decide on at the supermarket.  A lot of that decision is based on what is available, but there are whim factors, too.  But the spices I use are always last minute decisions.  I take everything out of the cupboard/spice rack that sounds like it might remotely compliment my other ingredients, then I begin smelling and tasting them.  Maybe not the most scientific approach, but I approach cooking as an art, and baking as science.

Tip #3: Identify guinea pigs and start experimenting
This one is crucial!  If you’re a true novice in the kitchen, one of your guinea pigs could also double as a coach.  But regardless, find some friends or family members who are willing to eat your creations and give you honest feedback.  Chances are, you aren’t looking to just cook for yourself, so getting a second, third, or fourth opinion is super-important.  Get another set of tastebuds in there to help you figure out whether or not you’re on the right track.  I was lucky, when I was figuring things out in the kitchen, I was still living at home with my parents and two siblings.

Tip #4: Start small
Just as important as having guinea pigs.  Start with something you know and tweak it.  Or, if you’re going to completely wing it, make small quantities.  In the first case, your odds of making a complete wrong turn and ending up in Blugh-ville are smaller.  In the second, with smaller quantities, if you mess up, there’s less waste and still time to order a pizza.

Tip #5: Find inspiration!
In cooking, as in art, the best way to learn is to rip off someone else’s work.  Just don’t take credit for it as original.  Watch cooking shows, read cookbooks, muddle through Pinterest.  Find something that looks good to you, then try to replicate it.  Once you get more familiar with your kitchen, you can start looking at recipes and saying “Oooh!  That looks good!  But I’m not so fond of X, maybe I’ll use Y.”  or “Wow!  That’s fantastic, but it’d be even better if I did this thing different!”  When I’m perusing Pinterest or recipe books, I start by looking at the pictures (you eat with your eyes first), then I look at the ingredients list.  Sometimes something can look really good in an image, but doesn’t have anything you’d want to eat in it.  Or it has ingredients that are hard to get in your area.  And most recipes featured on cooking shows on the Food Network end up on their website.  So if you’re watching Guy’s Big Bite and can’t remember how Guy Fieri made that handmade meatball hero, check the website.

There are lots of other things to consider in the kitchen that can improve both your cooking and eating experience, but let’s start with these.  Now get out there and make some delicious food!  And when you do, please share your photos (and recipes if you’re up to it) in the comments section!