Tips

Adaptability in the kitchen is what I believe sets apart cooks from chefs. To be clear I am not a trained chef, but like anything if you practice and self teach enough you are eventually going to get pretty damn good at it.

My goal is to provide you with the tools you need to free yourself from the cookbook, understand how foods and flavours work together, and eventually develop your own creations from re-training your brain to think about cooking differently.

Below is a number of tips that I will continue to expand and offer because becoming an "off-book" cook does require some set up- but don't worry - take it one step at a time.

Although these tips will eventually help guide you off book, I recommend using recipes in the beginning. Think about it like studying for a practical exam, the more you learn from what other people have done, the more prepared you will be when you go to execute a recipe. And with a little bit of background information under your belt, you will be able to solve problems a little bit faster.

First and foremost - don’t be afraid to fail - in the kitchen - or in life. I’ve learned that everything comes down to trial and error, so don’t take yourself too seriously and be willing to make mistakes in the pursuit of knowledge.

Another important step in pursuing or crafting a skill is cultivating a realistic mindset for what you can accomplish. If trial and error is the process, you have to understand that it takes a lot of trials in order to get to the end result you want. And a lot of trials means time invested in learning to cook. Enter this experience with the intention to put energy and time into practicing this skill. There’s no quick or easy way to learn something - it comes down to time and practice and cooking is no exception.

The first step? Follow some of these tips to help set your kitchen up for success in order to create an environment conducive to cookin’ on the fly.

Tip 1

When it comes down to it - a good meal is based on good ingredients. But as mindless as it can seem wandering through grocery aisles reaching for the same things each week, you can actually employ a grocery purchasing strategy to save money and make the most out of your fresh produce.

Tip 4

When it comes to spices, you really can never have too many. A great investment when pursuing the art of cooking is an expansive rack - spice rack that is.

Tip 7

As you dive into the adventure of cooking, it can be frustrating to come across recipes which require large, fancy, and expensive appliances which require an investment, here’s a breakdown of what tools you might want and where to find them.

Tip 2

Pinterest- it can be an amazing tool for many things, but especially for recipes. Use Pinterest for step by step instruction or just for visual inspiration! You can also find like-minded peeps to swap tips with.

Tip 5

Understanding how the five flavours we experience work together can seem daunting. But once you hear these tips, they will seem intuitive.

Tip 8

An area that I think many people struggle with is meal planning and preparation. Planning is key to your success if you want to start cooking, especially healthy cooking.

Tip 3

The hardest aspect of cooking to master is timing. Making a good meal is 99% logistics, you have to have the right ingredients, cooking at the right time, adding, mixing, and stirring along the way to create the perfect end result. 

Tip 6

Recipes are all as unique as the people who are creating them - so you might come across some measurement systems you don’t understand.

Tip 9

I am not a nutritionist, I essentially only have my experience and research to provide you with some guidance. But I cannot stress enough that everyone is completely different.