Read this if you want to cook more.
My mom is an exceptional cook and we ate in a lot. My dad remains the grocery shopper and he remains unable to stick to the grocery list. My mom will ask him to pick up some spinach on his way home but he’ll also walk in with some green beans, squash, eggplants, and whatever else “looked good”. 31 years into their marriage, whenever he walks in with a bigger bag of groceries than she was expecting, she will first get annoyed with him and ask him to stick to the list next time…and this interaction will play on a loop every week. I’ve learned better than to pick sides in one of these “arguments” between my parents but I do think my dad’s refusal to stick is at least part of the reason why mom has such breadth in her cooking. And just be cool and don’t tell her I said that, okay?
My family is a lot of the reason why I love to cook - we talk about food an inordinate amount because we love to cook, eat, and share our food. I’ve built my foundations in cooking by watching my parents cook but I’ve expanded my toolkit of recipes and techniques by doing a few other things. You don’t need to come from a crazy, food-obsessed family like I do to cook more and to become good at it. And given everyone seems to be a foodie and we have a culture of food, more so than it seems we did 10-20 years ago, there are plenty of avenues to help you make great food.
So, if one of your resolutions in 2020 or in general is to cook more and eat out less, whether it be for your wallet, health, or to learn a new hobby, here are five things that have helped me develop my love for and my skill at cooking:
Be open-minded - This one is a little alienating, so I’m going to get it out of the way - you can’t be an adult and write off entire categories of food because you’ve never gotten over something you ate when you were a kid. Health reason and allergies are of course legitimate reasons to skip foods but generally, being open to new cuisines or ingredients is a great way to add variety to your cooking. When I see something new at the grocery store or a restaurant menu, I Google it and see how people prepare it. We are creatures of habit so I try to be conscious of our tendency for sameness and try something new once every couple of weeks and many times, it ends up becoming part of my rotation.
Read & research - The internet is a dumpster fire and a failed experiment. However, it is also the biggest library (probably, right?) of recipes and cooking techniques, so I guess I’ll keep using it. I also have some go-to cookbooks and magazines I like to flip through for inspiration. If I’m new to a dish or cuisine, I will follow a recipe exactly and over time, as I get more comfortable and can generalize the technique, I improvise. Some of my favorite places for inspiration are Bon Appetit magazine, the NYT Cooking website, America’s Test Kitchen, Binging with Babish, Marion’s Kitchen, and the Smitten Kitchen blog. And some of my go-to cookbooks are:
Practice & expect failure - Like anything else, cooking is a skill that needs practice. I have made and continue to make countless bad things but because I like to eat well, I keep practicing cooking. Cooking is an experiment - if something didn’t turn out the way you expected, think about the components and what could’ve gone better and next time, make that tweak. Sometimes, it’s something simple like adding less salt and other times, it’s something like adding some broth to you pan-roasted chicken breast to make it less dry. Think through what bothered you (i.e. the chicken was too dry and stringy) and the logical way to fix it (i.e. I’ll add some liquid to the pan so it cooks through but stays moist).
Share - You think I’m about to tell you that sharing makes your heart grow 5 times and all the extra love in your heart will power your motivation to cook. Wrong. Sharing your cooking with others means you will get lots of praise and maybe some feedback (but I’m mostly in it for the praise; I’m still working on the “accepting feedback” bit). Praise is the fuel that will keep you going. Extrinsic motivation - get some, baby!
Eat out & travel - I’m grateful to live in a global food city like Chicago. I love to check out our new restaurants and hit up different food festivals during the summer months for inspiration. Don’t be afraid to ask the server what’s in a dish if it’s not immediately apparent to you; most chefs are happy to hear their food complimented (see: Share, above) and will tell you more than you expect. I’m trying to get over my obsession with originality, embrace that everything in this life is derivative, and be okay with trying to riff on a dish I had in a restaurant once - if you’re even 10% less neurotic than I am about this sort of thing, your cooking will excel.
Lastly, if you can, travel. You don’t have to go to another continent but whenever you’re able, venture out. One thing I always like to do is look up is the ethnic or cultural makeup of a new place and try to seek out that cuisine; almost always, this has led me to some surprisingly delicious food. I’ve had amazing Vietnamese curry in Prague, sushi in Mumbai, Syrian lamb rice in Dearborn Michigan, Malaysian roti in Toronto, and falafels in Paris. You should definitely eat the native food of the place but if you venture out a little, you will often find food that feels out of place but also completely not. Cooking aside, this is a fun way to make the world feel smaller and people feel more similar than they might otherwise.
If you made it to the end, thank you for reading my hot takes and I hope you gleaned a couple of useful ideas to help you cook more. Leave me a comment with your thoughts and happy cooking in 2020!
