Cooking
Recently I started an experiment in cooking. I decided to try at least one new recipe a week, or at the very least to put a new spin on an old recipe I had made once a week. So far I’ve done well at getting out of my comfort zone and trying new things. I’ve also taken to some ingredients, that while I had used before, I hadn’t appreciated.
The desire to cook new things really didn’t come entirely out of a lack of knowledge of cooking. I had worked in a restaurant for two years and had learned to cook a decent amount of things, particularly meats and basic cooking of sides/veggies/soups. I have since been decent at making things in the skillet and grill, but trying new recipes required me to learn new techniques, particularly about seasoning, baking, and sauces.
I still have a long way to go in learning, but the experience has definitely been positive and I will hopefully continue the trend for a long time (and am looking into cullinary classes). Being once a week it has almost entirely destroyed any appetite for fast food (well seasoned home cooked meals are AMAZING compared to fast food) and hasn’t contributed to weight gain since it is just a week. In fact, I would say it’s helped me have the willpower to stay on a decent diet for the rest of the week knowing that I have good food waiting during the weekend.
Of course I’ve had some flops…but for every flop I learn something, and have had many more successes because of it. Typically if I destroy a recipe I will try to re-make it the next week to get it right (unless the recipe is just bad…but I have some nice cookbooks) and have so far succeeded.
I haven’t moved into too difficult of cooking yet…my ingredients are still limited at 10-15, my steps to 5-7, and I usually still cook a basic side with a main meal, but the side and the meal have gotten much better and more varied. I can’t wait to take where the path takes me.
For those of you who don’t know how to cook, I highly suggest starting by picking up a cookbook and just trying (I liked “How to Cook Everything” and “Just a Bunch of Recipes” (from Sam the Cooking Guy - http://www.thecookingguy.com/book/). There’s no other way to learn than doing.
