Something that changed how you cook, a tip most people don't know or something you discovered yourself. Or even something that you just think is cool.
Something that changed how you cook, a tip most people don't know or something you discovered yourself. Or even something that you just think is cool.
It's been my job for a decade so I don't really know where to start. I do have a lot, so if anyone has any questions or dishes you have issues with or make often and wanna streamline or kick up a bit I can probably help. My most general one is have a really good and super fucking sharp knife and know how to use it. Look up cutting techniques on YouTube, there is a safer and faster way to chop just about everything. Even when you're making trash, make the best trash you can. Sorta counter-intuitively, chill the fuck out, learn to get a spider sense for cooking times and shit so you can balance different parts so they all come together at once. Walk away from the kitchen and just let shit cook when it needs to, it's something you pick up on fast when you're Making 10 dishes at once but the same ability to just leave shit alone can make cooking less of an ordeal. Also if you look up super early Julia Childs on YouTube, like her TV show for housewives in the 50s, you will legit get incredible advice, she really goes holistic on it cause the idea was to teach real professional chef techniques to housewives and most of the core principles are the same and she goes over how to sharpen and treat knives, different cookware and how to use it best and all the side stuff you need to know but you don't get taught unless it's your job along with the recipe stuff. Even if you don't wanna cook the dish she's doing for the episode there's really really good general technique to be learned in them.
That's sounds like exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for, I want to learn techniques not recipes. Does she uer a ton of meat? I'm fine is it shows up occasionally but no desire to watch if it's prominent.
It's from the 50s and she's a French chef so yes, it is very much there.
as well, it is in black and white and generally the name of the episode is what the dish is, sometimes it's not a bad idea to skip through to garnish sections on those but sometimes it's just a full half hour about all the shit you can do with a certain vegetable. A lot can also involve animal fat and stuff like that but my advice there is a lipid is a lipid at the end of the day, just use canola or whatever. Don't use olive oil unless she says so and peanut oil or whatever is also a little more specific and she'll use meat stock often but those are easily substituted as well, use veggie stock for chicken stock and mushroom stock for everything else unless you wanna be fancy. The big things I like is she teaches knife skills very well and I cannot overstate how much a good knife and knowing how to use it makes things better. But there's little bits of super useful general purpose knowledge everywhere, so it is sometimes a good idea to just go through the meat parts regardless cause even if you can't apply everything you'll probably learn something you can. Like, I'm a better vegan cook because I also am really good at cooking meat, I just don't now. Meat itself is really just a flavor sponge like tofu or seitan. The spices and cooking techniques and stuff do have universal applications. I don't get to work at a vegan restaurant rn so that shit is in front of me all day, but what is having a job if not a series of moral compromises? So, yeah, if you don't wanna look at meat prep I really can't blame you, I can't say there isn't a lot of it but it's black and white static camera from a good distance and there is some wisdom to be gained during those parts. I'm pretty sure the first episode is about how to cut and caramelize onions and that one if I recall is vegan or should be, caramelized onions only require onions and heat, if she adds other stuff I disagree with her there. But she teaches several ways to chop onions and learning proper onion dicing is something that unlocks cutting anything into tiny cubes really fast, homemade hashbrowns are now less than a minute to chop etc. She's got a lot of really little super useful things like that which she explains as best as I've seen without being there in person.
I will definitely check that out for a couple episodes.
Biggest thing too is, have fun with it and carry deep down in your heart that it'll be fine. If you're stretching your comfort zone and it doesn't work out as planned, roll with the ounchedand improvise a fix. You're making food for yourself so you already like the core concept, worse thing that can happen is you get a bad version of something you like. It's really hard to accidentally make food you totally hate, so allow yourself to fuck up, cause you totally will over and and over but if you have a solid grasp on the fundamentals it's super easy to know exactly what you did wrong that time and what to do next time.
Maybe I'll do some kinda weekly cooking lesson thing on here actually. I'm sure if I have it in my mind to jot a few quick notes when I do stuff at work or home thst could be useful I can keep a steady flow of useful info, I think I'd have to make my own gifs of me cutting things cause I don't trust anyone else to be right about it cause I have a technique that's frankly better than pros will show you for a few things. It's hard to find much that bridges the gap between The Menu (2022) and some weirdo who decided they're good at cooking and started a YouTube.
Don't forget about Jacques Pepin. He has a series of cooking techniques that is really good, as well as his show with Julia Child. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CshkecuFfMc
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