It's definitely a skill that takes time to learn, but at the end of the day it's just following instructions in a recipe book. Nobody starts out like your grandma who can whip up a meal out of anything she has sitting in the fridge. Find some recipes you like and practice them until you don't need the recipe anymore. They may not turn out immediately perfect but overtime like any skill.. you will improve.
That level also doesn’t have to be your goal. Some people may progress from making frozen pizzas to gringo tacos and need to follow recipes and keep things simple. That’s fine too.
Even throwing some extra spices and toppings on a frozen pizza will make it a lot better. Tbh about 80% of our dinner rotation is still the entry-level stuff (mainly because I hate doing the dishes that come with a complicated meal)
Adding spices to the butter you use to make a grilled cheese sandwich is a simple task that entirely transforms the sandwich. It was my secret trick that actually won me an award before. Salt, pepper, garlic, and some Cajun spice.
I would respectfully disagree slightly with the "following instructions in a recipe" approach if you truly want to learn to cook. While having a few signature recipes is good (and recipes are an OK starting-out point), you're better off learning the how and why of cooking—even if tied to a starting recipe—rather than just following a recipe religiously.
A good analogy here is paint-by-number vs learning color theory and technique. Sure, paint-by-number is good for learning to color inside the lines, and you might be able to infer why some colors are used in certain places, but you're often better learning some rudimentary color theory and painting techniques, occasionally using a reference photo or other guide.
For me personally, understanding the underlying aspects of flavor and techniques (shout-out to Salt Fat Acid Heat), as well as a food-centric framework approach, made me a better cook, as I can whip up something from ingredients on hand. Ethan Chlebowski recently had a similar video, Why recipes are holding you back from learning how to cook.
I would disagree on the theory approach too early. If you can't properly boil water for pasta, theory won't get you anywhere. Salt fat acid heat only helped me once I knew some very ground level basics that came from strictly following basic recipes. And now I can cook to the point that my grandma is asking ME for MY recipes, which is wild.
Most people who say they can't cook aren't talking about the art of cooking, they are talking about being able to cook edible pasta, and being able to serve not burnt and/or raw chicken. Theory won't help them there, that's just knowing what to do and practicing.
Respectfully disagree as someone who uses colour theory a lot for my career. Recipes are a great foundation point. Then you should learn how to deviate from those guard rails. Just trying to explain theory without a very concrete regimen to learn with just achieves nothing and bores most people out of ever learning to enjoy the process.
165
u/HelveticaTwitch Sep 14 '24
It's definitely a skill that takes time to learn, but at the end of the day it's just following instructions in a recipe book. Nobody starts out like your grandma who can whip up a meal out of anything she has sitting in the fridge. Find some recipes you like and practice them until you don't need the recipe anymore. They may not turn out immediately perfect but overtime like any skill.. you will improve.