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My dad is the best and most eclectic cook I know. After retirement, he did some catering and I got to watch him take things to the next level. I& #39;ve been thinking about him a lot (he& #39;s doing fine, healthy, phew) and of course cooking more. Here are some things I& #39;ve picked up...
You can never have enough garlic. Like most good home cooks, if you ask how you can help he& #39;ll probably ignore you because you& #39;ll just get in the way. But if he does let you help, it& #39;s likely he& #39;ll hand you like no joke 15 cloves of garlic and say "okay, you can chop these."
Season every step. Obviously season a ton, but specifically I& #39;ve picked up that every time you add something new to your dish, re-season. I don& #39;t know why, but it just carries things along.
You may as well take the battery out of the smoke alarm now. No such thing as cooking w/o smoke. Unless you have commercial ventilation you’re gonna set an alarm; or have windows open even in winter; or get a visit from the fire department on Thanksgiving, several years in a row.
Presentation matters. You spent all that time cooking, spend a little time putting it on a nice platter, or layering things in an interesting way, or drizzling some sauce at weird angles, or finishing it off at the table. I don& #39;t know, get fancy.
Don& #39;t fidget with things as they& #39;re cooking. Obviously, there are times you need to stir and whatnot, but often just put it on the heat or in the oven and walk away -- that& #39;s the best bet. That& #39;s where you get good caramelization, even cooking, etc etc..
Sharp knives. Basically if my dad’s in the kitchen and not using a knife, he’s sharpening one.
Variations on dishes are just as effective as new recipes. Take a recipe that you like and play around with adding an ingredient, or trying a different technique. See what happens. Note that this advice does not work for cocktails.
Also, recipes are your friend. A lot of good cooking is just competently following a recipe. I’m amazed at how much he cooks off the book, even though I know he could improvise if he had to.
That& #39;s probably it for now. I know a lot of this is simple but, like in most things in life, simple competence goes a long way.
