My friend asked how I learned to cook and the answer is I didn’t. I know like 5 things about cooking and they are:
Always use more garlic than the recipe calls for
“Ehhh fuck it close enough” is a great measurement tool
Find like 5 recipes that you like, adjust them how you like them, make them until you hate them
Clean as you go
If a recipe is from a mommy blog, you will need more spices
If anyone wants to add, please do
None of these are wrong.
Follow the instructions, not the timings in a recipe. If it says “cook for 15 minutes or until golden brown” then the golden brown bit is more important than the 15 minutes bit. If you get to 15 minutes and that thing ain’t golden, keep going. Don’t stop cooking it.
Mommy blog recipe? Add more salt. Professional chef recipe? Trust the amount of salt you’ve been told to put in. Salt is a flavour enhancer. Restaurant food tastes good because it has like 3 times as much salt in it as home cooking. I don’t use one of those tiny little salt grinders any more, I have a big box of flaky sea salt and I grab what I need when I need it straight from the box.
Cooking? “That’ll do” is great. That’s how you make amazing food, mess with the recipe to your heart’s content. Baking? DO NOT DEVIATE FROM THE RECIPE AT ALL! Also if you’re baking you should be using weight (Kgs or Ozs) to measure ingredients not volume in cups. Only things that can be measured in teaspoons or tablespoons should be measured by volume. Cooking is an art. Baking is a science.
