Online Recipes Are a Starting Point, Not the Bible
Learning how to cook usually starts by looking for recipes on the Internet and trying them out in the kitchen. This is great, but don’t stop there. Internet recipes are a great starting point, but they have limitations. Here are some of them and how you can give them up and get creative in the kitchen.
Cooking isn’t easy, especially if you haven’t made it a habit . For some, it’s fun and natural. For others, it takes work, time and energy . However, the rewards are huge: you can be creative in a meaningful (not to mention delicious) manner every day, and you take control of the most important aspect of your health and well-being.
But when you blindly follow recipes, you limit yourself. You may be learning the basics, but you’re missing out on the most important part of cooking: experiment with flavors to find the perfect meal that you and your family will enjoy.
Web recipes chronically fail
Most recipes, especially from major food sites, are based on the lowest common denominator. They want to be as harmless as possible. This does not mean that they are always bad , but they are never good . You rarely think, “Wow, I can really taste X” or “Y really shows up in this dish.” They are designed for the most average taste buds, and if you don’t mix them up, you will end up with an average mid-range meal by following it to the letter.
Because of this, they are almost unilaterally underestimated. This means that your food will also be there if you don’t do something. Sure, many recipes proudly claim to be “strong,” “herb,” and “spicy,” but I’ve found a few that really live up to the hype.
The fix is simple: season your food. Seriously, it’s that simple. There is an old chef’s rule: if you are seasoning a dish, add as much salt as you see fit. Then add some more.
Whenever you see a recipe for eight that calls for “two cloves of garlic,” it’s full of shit and you should probably add two or three more (if you don’t hate garlic). Maybe I just love the flavor, but a “pinch of chili powder” in the stew that fills the pot won’t come up at all, and one teaspoon of ginger won’t add any significant flavor to a roast recipe for a family of four. (TV cooking shows are notorious for doing this, too.)
Before you start cooking, look at your ingredients and their quantity and ask yourself, “Can I taste this? If not, why is he here? »Season as you cook and try to see how your tastes evolve. Try again before serving and make adjustments before the food hits the table. You see it all the time in those cooking shows I just talked about: some chef cooks something as a last resort, serves it up, and it tastes awful. The judge or someone else yells, “Did you try this before filing?” and they stutter in response: “Well, I only had a few minutes, but I didn’t have a chance, and I wanted to …”. You get the point. Don’t be that guy.
Don’t get me wrong, there are places where even a little helps. Acids like citrus juice are great examples. Another thing is delicate ingredients like saffron or delicate herbs that require soft dishes to shine. With super hot ingredients like chili in adobo or potent hot sauces, light touches are better than heavy hands. Again, this boils down to the difference between creating a recipe and thinking about it before you start cooking.
Recipes will make you ignore your tastes
When you just start cooking – I mean just starting out – you don’t know the difference between a pinch and a dash, so there is nothing wrong with following the recipe down to the letter. However, after you learn the basics and understand what you like and dislike, you should be more skeptical about these recipes.
When you read a recipe, think about the flavors you like and how to combine them. For example, if you want to try homemade salsa for your next party but hate cilantro, don’t use it anyway, because the recipe says you should. Ask yourself what role it plays (spoiler: it’s a pepper herb) and replace with a plant you really like, like Thai basil or Italian parsley. Do you like spicy food? You can add red pepper flakes to just about anything. If this salsa requires half a jalapeno with seeds and you like the tangy flavor, add it all in.Just do it .
These are just a couple of examples, but if you think “the recipe says so, then it must be right,” you are doing yourself a disservice. Read each recipe and ask yourself, “Why is it there? what does this bring to the party? »Once you get used to it, you can replace the ingredients you don’t like with tastier ones.
Then ask yourself how you can improve it to your liking. Your changes may not always work, but experimenting and finding what works is better than having something forgotten, or even worse: something that makes you want you to just order takeout.
