1. Know the Basic Techniques
Cooking is so much more fun — and successful — when you approach it with
confidence. Chefs say that confidence arises from knowing your techniques
so well that they’re second nature.
2. Use Only the Freshest Ingredients
Use only the freshest ingredients and buy in-season fresh fruits and veg-
etables. Seasonal produce offers the highest quality at the lowest price. Why
make an apple pie in the summer from mealy fruit held in storage all year
when you can make a pie with fresh, ripe peaches or juicy plums? Let what’s
fresh and available at the market help you spontaneously decide what’s for
dinner. And definitely seek out farmers’ markets in your area.
3. Get It Together
So much of cooking, even for professionals, is preparation — slicing, peeling,
dicing, and so on. The French call this preparation mise en place, which translates to “everything in its place.” Get the chopping, mincing, deboning, and washing chores out of the way in order to create an even, efficient flow of cooking steps. Also have
in front of you all the seasonings you need for the dish. That way, when the
butter or oil is hot and sizzling in the skillet, you don’t need to lurch over to
the cutting board to peel and mince onions.
4. With This Basil, I Thee Wed
Learn about herbs, both fresh and dried, so that you can season without
always relying on a recipe. Chefs base some of the world’s great cuisines on the combination of a few simple herbs and spices.
5. All the Plate’s a Stage
Some cooks expend much effort preparing a fine meal only to diminish it by
heaping ingredients onto plates chuck wagon–style. There is no excuse for
doing so. Think how food looks — its colors, its textures, its shapes — and make the
most of it. This is not to say you should recreate Machu Picchu with your
mashed potatoes, just that you give some thought to aesthetics. It can be as
simple as fanning thin slices of steak over the plate instead of serving it in one
big slab; garnishing with fresh herbs or citrus; spooning a sauce onto the plate
and then arranging meat, poultry, or seafood over it; or packing cooked rice
into a small cup and inverting it over the plate. When you begin thinking this
way, the options will seem endless.
6. Plan Your Menus in Advance
Spend some time up front figuring out what a whole meal is going to look like.
If the appetizer is a salad of grilled portobello mushrooms, featuring mushrooms
in the entree is not an interesting choice. Keep the courses balanced, and
don’t overtax yourself. If you serve a time-consuming and complex appetizer,
serve a simple entree or one that needs only reheating.
7. Be Thrifty
Throw out nothing (unless, of course, it’s spoiled). Nearly every morsel of
food is usable for soups, stocks, salads, and so on. You can sometimes make
great meals from leftovers.
Learn about different cuts of meat and how to cook them so that you don’t
have to rely on more expensive cuts. Hone your knife skills so that you can
save money by purchasing whole chickens, meats on the bone, fish, and so
on and then cutting them up yourself — a huge discount.
8. Don’t Be a Slave to Recipes
Use a good, basic recipe that you like as a starting point, but don’t consider
it written in stone. One of the great chefs of his generation and a close friend
of ours, the late Pierre Franey, had one mantra: Taste, Taste, Taste! Don’t
assume that the cookbook is infallible. Even if it is, each kitchen is different,
ingredients vary, and so on. As you cook, continually taste.
9. Simplify
Too many spices spoil the broth. If you stick to two or three basic flavors in
a dish, they work together to provide complexity, yet each flavor maintains
its individuality. Don’t load up your dishes with everything you can find.
Sometimes the most perfect, delicious creations are the simplest.
10. Above All, Have Fun
Take a cooking course, buy a cookbook, or make a new dish that you’ve
always wanted to try. Cooking, like monster wave surfing, should be
exhilarating — something you look forward to. So what if you wipe out once
in a while? It’s all part of the challenge. Bon appétit!
chefprathameshkumta 