And we’re back! In the last post, I shared my first 5 rules with you (go back and read it if you haven’t already). We will now continue with your journey to become a better cook!
6 – #10
Here’s where things get interesting! The first 5 are about avoiding mistakes, #6-#10 are about the food itself and how you deal with it. Pay attention because these are important! Let’s go!
6. Know Your Food! – Knowledge is the key to Everything! In life as well as food, the more you know the more you can accomplish. You have to understand a steak if you want to cook a steak. There’s no way around that! How long do you cook it on each side? How hot should the pan be? What do I season it with? Should I use Himalayan salt or kosher salt? Should I grill it? Broil it? Etc. There are a million things to know about every component of food that you might use! Learn everything you can about what you want to cook, about everything you want to cook, and cooking it will be worlds easier.
7. Keep It Simple! – Less is truly more! I’m not actually saying that you should only use minimal recipes. Simple is a Relative Term. An advanced recipe is not so complicated for an experienced cook but it my be fine someone just starting out. Make sure that what you are choosing to cook is something that you can execute well. Start with simple recipes and perfect them. Once you can nail it every time on a simple recipe, you can try something a little more fancy. Your guests will be infinitely more impressed with a simple dish executed to perfection than a super fancy complicated dish that you messed up! Don’t push your limits before you’re ready!
8. Do What Makes Sense! – Food is an art AND a science! Cooking is a limitless area for creativity and passion but it is also an application of both physics and chemistry. Once you understand that, you can use it to your advantage. From using a sharp knife instead of a dull one to gauging content of glutamic acids for maximum umami it all matters when you’re cooking! The more knowledge you have of at least the basic principles will allow you to do the right thing at the right time (see #6) which will give you phenomenal results.
9. Act on What You Know!! – This is actually the application of the last 3 rules and it means this: Don’t Guess!! If at all possible, do not make assumptions about your food. Every aspect of the dish you are cooking should be executed using the knowledge that you have gained from either a recipe that you have used or your own experience. Example: I will pan sear a 1″ thick well seasoned (with kosher salt and course black pepper) 16oz ribeye steak (patted dry) in a screaming hot cast iron pan with ¾ tsp of canola oil for about 3 minutes and 30 seconds on each side and about a minute on each edge and let it rest on a rack for about 10 minutes for a perfect med-rare steak. This isn’t a guess, it’s experience. There are approximations because there are other factors involved such as room temp, pan thickness, etc. But I KNOW this method works every time because I’ve cooked thousands of steaks. I will experiment often (and so should you) with other ingredients or components or even other methods but when I cook for other people, I will always use a recipe that I know I can execute perfectly.
10. Details Matter!! – There are thousands of details that “Don’t Matter” that separate a dish that is absolutely phenomenal from a dish that is just ok. Like holding the salt shaker a little higher to get a more even spread or gently tossing a salad so as not to crush the leaves. On their own they “don’t matter” but if you pay attention to more details in every aspect of every stage of your dish, you will see a world of difference! Choose carefully what details you leave out in favor of the “Easy Way”. Remember rule #5 – Love your food! The love you have for your food will show up in how much those details matter to you. And make no mistake, attention to details is the key difference between the Master and the Bumbling Amateur.
My rules are all made to work together. So far these first 10 will help you:
- Cook without hurting yourself or others
- Keep mistakes to a minimum
- Quality test your food
- Have a desire to improve
- Execute within your knowledge and ability
- Be creative within reason
There is no Magic Bullet or Ancient Secret that makes a good cook. It’s only a question of Desire, Execution, Knowledge and Practice. If you truly want to make food on another level then you surely will!
Be on the lookout for more of Ricepaddy’s Rules!
[Here’s the updated version of the cookbook that I learned with.]
