When I do something well, I tend to want to do it more. I think that’s the same for most of us. I mean who really likes to do something that they’re not-so-good at? There are those exceptions like people who love to sing but can’t hold a note, but in general, we enjoy doing what we get better and better at doing over time. Well that can happen with the food that we cook as well. The better we cook good nourishing food, the more we enjoy eating good nourishing food. I’ve curated a list of things that you can start doing today to improve your cooking skills so that you’ll not only enjoy cooking, you’ll enjoy every meal that you cook—and so will the people that you’re cooking for.
Clean Space
This can get overlooked as a non-essential, but it’s more important than people may think. Starting the cooking process with a clean and neat work station is key. This type of environment creates room for order while cooking and with a clear mind, allowing you to enjoy the process versus being overwhelmed or frustrated by the process. For me, a messy work space gets me unfocused as I attempt to get the food to the final product that I intended. Order helps to create clarity; as well as creativity.
Mise En Place
Mise en place is the cousin to a clean work space. First off, mise en place means ‘everything in its place’, in French. This ultimately means to do all the preparation of the ingredients that you’ll be using, in advance. This is helpful so when it’s time to use your ingredients, you’re not fussing around trying to dice, peel and whatever else, on-the-spot. Pre-prep helps you avoid unnecessary delays, rushing, panic, and forgetting ingredients that you plan to use.
Invest in Premium Fat
One of the most used staple ingredients in cooking is oil, which is a fat that helps you create texture, color, esthetic, and lots of flavor. There’s vegetable oil, coconut oil, safflower oil, peanut oil, avocado oil, and the list goes on. The oil that I recommend to always have on-hand which will enhance the quality and taste of your cooking, is a bottle of premium Olive Oil. Olive Oil for high heat cooking, as it can withstand heat without chemically breaking down since it has a higher smoke point, and Extra Virgin Olive Oil for lower heat cooking, as it’s more delicate. It’s a better use for medium heat cooking such as sauté, sauces, stews, as well as dipping, and drizzling/finishing,.
Choosing premium olive oil is important because there are a lot of imposters on the shelves of the supermarkets that we shop for our groceries. These imposters can be mixed with other types of oils like canola oil. Some bottles of olive oil are rancid, meaning expired. Some may have olive oil in it that was made with damaged or rotten olives. And some may not even be olive oil at all. The regulation on olive oil isn’t as strict as it should be, so it could be a crap shoot of what you end up getting when you buy a bottle of olive oil at the store. Therefore, premium is the way to go so you can ensure that you’re getting olive oil that enhances the flavor and quality of your food and is also good for your health, as high quality olive oil has polyphenols which are similar to antioxidants and its benefits.
Cut Things the Same Size
Cutting your ingredients consistently will give you a consistent cook. When ingredients of the same kind are cut in different sizes and shapes, some pieces may come out soft and other pieces may come out more firm. And that doesn’t lend to a pleasant experience when eating the dish. The more consistent the size, but better the eating experience.
Let It Sit and Sear
If you’re going for the searing method whether it’s a meat or a veggie, be sure the pan and the oil are nice and hot. To test it out, flick a few drops of water into the pan. If the oil pops, it’s go time! Now when you put the main ingredient into the pan, lay it in and let it sear. Don’t touch it and move it around. Let it do its thing. If you move it too soon, it could cook improperly or stick to the pan and tear. So for the perfect crispiness and brownness, let it sit and sear.
Low and Slow
There are some meals that are just going to have to be made fast and in a hurry. I get that, because life gets busy. But other meals, I highly recommend to let cook low and slow. Why? Flavor, flavor and more flavor—and tenderness too, dependent on what your cooking! For instance a stew, when you cook it nice and slow, you’re allowing all the wonderful flavors of your vegetables, herbs, and meats to richly and beautifully release into the stock. If you’re baking salmon or braising lamb, low and slow is a phenomenal method to ensure the tenderness and flavor to develop in the cooking process. So when you have time, low and slow is the way to go. And if you don’t have time but still want to cook low and slow, break out the crock pot my friend!
Get Salty
A couple of things about salt. One is, be sure you have a good one to cook with. Let me be more clear—don’t use table salt to cook your food! Table salt changes its composition when temperature increases and it’s a sharp therefore unpleasant salt to season with. The best salt to use for cooking is either Kosher or Sea Salt.
The other thing about salt is how to use it. Simple, season as you go. Every step of the way as you create your dish, season your food with salt and its counterpart, pepper. If you’re sautéing an ingredient, season it with salt. Then if you add a sauce, taste the food first then season it with salt as needed, and so on. This approach ensures that the flavors in each ingredient of your dish are brought out because that’s what salt does—it enhances the flavor of the food.
Space Things Out
When you’re sautéing, searing or browning an ingredient, don’t crowd the pan. When you put too much of the ingredient in the pan or pot, the quantity of the food lowers the temperature in the pan and creates steam. Steam prevents browning or crispiness. So give your ingredients some space to breathe and get some color. Also, be sure your main ingredient is nice and dry before searing, sautéing or browning. When it’s wet, you’ll be boiling not browning.
Explore Your Sweets & Sours
The tongue registers at least 5 common sensations—salt, sweet, sour, bitter, and spicy. When you achieve all of these in a dish with harmony, you have yourself a well balance unique flavor profile. In short, your dish is delish! So that’s essentially what you want to aim for. But a good place to start practicing to enhance your flavor profile is with sweet and sour. You’re always going to use salt in your dish, so that’s a given. But when you add an acid, like lemon juice or apple cider vinegar, you’ll taste an immediate difference that brightens up the flavors in your dish. Then to take it one step further, add a touch of sweetness like honey or orange juice—I’m telling you, it’ll be a game-changer. It’s not a plug and play for every single dish, but it’ll work with many of your dishes. You’ll never know unless you try it!
Ditch the Recipe (At Some Point)
I’m all for recipes—obviously, that’s a huge part of what Rise & Shine Bright does, sharing awesome recipes. But when we follow a recipe to the absolute “T”, we can end up holding onto it for dear life every step of the cooking process. At that point, the recipe becomes a list of commands versus being a helpful guide which is what it should be. We want our recipes to be an instructional guide which allows you to adjust things to your personal liking and instincts as you follow along. That’s how our healthy cooking gets better and better.
Also, say the recipe creator’s oven gets hotter than yours and the recipe says to remove the food from the oven at the 45 minute mark. But wait, what if your food isn’t that beautiful golden brown that you were hoping it would become? Do you remove it at the 45 minute mark anyway? No way Jose’! You would watch it and be sure it gets that perfect color, then you remove it. Same goes for spices. Don’t be afraid to deviate from the recipe where you believe there’s room for creativity. Your spice choice may make your dish deliciously and uniquely yours, so go for it!
Reduce Your Liquids
What do I mean by reduce your liquids? If you’re working with a sauce or a soup or anything with liquid, allowing that liquid to cook out, (i.e. evaporate and thicken) will help concentrate it, bringing out robust flavors in the liquid.
Get Quality Ingredients (Where it Counts Most)
Food tastes so much better when it is quality sourced. I’m not saying everything you buy at the market has to be premium. I’m not trying to make you broke. What I’m saying is, there are some ingredients that are flat out delicious when they’re of higher quality. Some ingredients don’t even require much seasoning because its natural flavors speak for itself. Some items that I recommend buying at high quality are vegetables, meats, cheeses and as I mentioned before, Olive Oil.
Clean As You Go
Do you know how annoying it is to have empty ingredient packages in your way, along with a dirty cutting board you have no longer have a need for, and garlic peels scattered around the counter top? You probably do. For me, very annoying. As a cook in a professional kitchen, it’s protocol to clean as you go. Sometimes it’s tough for me to always clean as I go, but when I don’t, I see how it slows me down and gets me a little unorganized—similar to how it would be when starting with a messy work space. Cleaning as you go not only makes the cooking process more pleasant and peaceful, it also eliminates more work after the meal has been prepared. Who wants to think about a kitchen full of dirty dishes and tools after enjoying your delicious creation.
Now go forth and create in the kitchen, something delicious and healthy that you’ll look forward to pressing repeat on in the same week. That’s when you know your meals are getting better and better!
#RiseandShineBright
#BetterThanYesterday
Love,
Yardley