WHat to know Before you Start Cooking
New To Cooking?
I’m so excited you are here! I’m hoping that through the chaos of life I can share with you the joy and satisfaction of making your own meals. I find, that some of the best meals I’ve had, have come out of my own kitchen. I want you to feel that way also.
My goal is to help you become more comfortable in the kitchen so you can navigate cooking with ease and have fun with it too!
To start, there are some things you need to know, and I’ll cover them below.
Expectations.
The “Basics”.
Salt.
Kitchen Essentials.
Tips for Success In the Kitchen.
Expectations
Let’s start with the “bad” first: there are so many factors that affect the way your finished product comes out: the heat of your stove, how heavy or light handed you are with seasonings, the order in which you prepare the parts of the recipes, whether your toddler interrupts you, forgetting to set a time, and to be honest your experience with that cooking method or ingredients. Because of that, or maybe just because of life and kids and jobs and activiies, cooking can seem daunting.
Now the “good” - I’m here to help.
Expectation 1. You won’t always get it right. The recipe won’t always turn out. And 99% of the time it won’t look as pretty as the food bloggers styled it to be.
Expectation 2. In order to improve a skillset (and cooking is a skillset) you must practice. It might not happen overnight. Understand that trial and error are your best friend.
The “Basics”
Read the whole recipe before you start. I still try to skip this one. {insert face palm emojji} But it really is the most important. You need to understand what is coming up next in order to get it right. Trust.
Mise en place. It’s a French culinary phase meaning “putting in place” or “everything in its place”. Basically it means, take all your ingredients out before you start. Don’t make it more complicated than that. Just take everything out that you need for the recipe and have it close by. Done.
Good knives. If you are going to do any cooking at all, you need good knives.
Taste as you go. Never serve a dish that you haven’t tasted before. That would be like trying to paint a paint by numbers blindfolded.
Salt - You Need it, and they aren’t all equal
First, salt is essential to life in genearl and just as essential to cooking. Saltiness is one of the basic human tastes, so don’t even think about skipping it in your recipes. Salt is your best friend in cooking. It can make or break a dish. Wonder why the food at restaurants tastes so great? Salt. It makes everything taste better. It makes flavors come together. It's just awesome.
So let’s talk salt…
Table salt - DITCH IT.
What is table salt? It’s your typical salt, I’m willing to bet it’s what is in your kitchen cabinet or salt shaker right now. It’s what you expect to find in a salt shaker at most restaurants. Table salt is more heavily processed to eliminate minerals and ususally contains an additive to prevent clumping. It’s crystal size is also very tiny, making hard to visually see the amount of salt you are distributing on things like meat, roast veggies, etc.
IF YOU DON’T LISTEN TO ME ABOUT ANYTHING, THAT’S FINE… BUT… LISTEN TO ME ABOUT THIS - a teaspoon of kosher salt weighs far less than a teaspoon of regular salt. Don't substitute one for the other at a 1:1 ratio or your food may end up too salty or too bland.
UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED, MY RECIPES CALL FOR KOSHER SALT. I cook specifically with Morton’s Coarse Kosher Salt.
The main difference between regular salt and kosher salt is the structure of the flakes. Chefs find that kosher salt — due to its large flake size — is easier to pick up with your fingers and spread over food.
Truly, what matters most is that you pick a salt brand and stick with it. Seasoning is all about consistency. Recipes often call for you to “season to taste” or don’t even specify how much and just say “salt and pepper your meat” - you need to get a feel for how you salt and in order to do that you need to have consistency in the salt you use. You want a pinch of salt to be the same pinch of salt every time.
Kitchen Essentials - Food Items to Have on Hand
*Whole Black Peppercorns (and pepper mill) - Ditch that flavorless powdery pepper and pick up the real thing. It will seriously make a difference in your cooking. Especially when flavoring meat.
*Onions - I LOVE onions. I could put them in almost anything. I keep mine in my pantry (a cool, dark place).
*Garlic - I used to use minced garlic from a jar, and while I still keep that on hand, I find that fresh garlic almost always works better and tastes better in recipes. So I always keep a head of garlic in my pantry (with the onions).
*Olive Oil - I simply could not cook without olive oil. I use it ALL THE TIME. Get Cold Pressed or First Cold Pressed Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Good olive oil can get pricey - and while it's nice to have some high quality oil on hand for dressing salads and finishing touches, your everyday cooking olive oil doesn't need to cost you over $10 a bottle. I avoid grocery store chain-brand olive oils and pick up my olive oil at Trader Joe's.
*Avocado Oil - My go to for high heat cooking! More neutral than olive oil and able to withstand higher heat. Costco has the best pricing.
*Olive Oil / Coconut Oil Sprays - These are super handy for when you need some oil but not a lot. They are great for misting baked sweet potato fries instead of dousing them in oil. I also use them to oil the bottom of a pan when making a quesadilla, etc.
*Butter - I use Kerrygold Irish butter. It's insanely good and comes from grass fed cows, which means it's better for you and you can really taste the difference. It's a must have in my house. I add it to scrambled eggs and it creates a nice silky texture.
*Chicken or Veggie Stock - Super important to have on hand. Great for making soup, adding to meat in the crock pot, adding to the pan of a chicken roasting with veggies, mixing in mash potatoes, and even caramelizing onions. I keep a 32 oz box on hand, but I truly love to use homemade bone broth that I stash in my freezer.
Products I Love
Tips for Success in the Kitchen
Invest in some basic quality starter essentials. Having the right tools will really impact the joy you find in cooking and quite frankly, will impact how well your recipes come out.
Keep your cabinets, drawers and countertops as clutter free and organized as possible. Use dividers / bins in your drawers and cabinets to keep things organized. Everything has a home and everything is returned to it’s home. It’s no fun searching for a kitchen tool when you are in the middle of cooking a recipe.
You need a well organized spice cabinet and it should be easily accesible from your main cooking space.
Invest in a nice cutting board.
Designate a part of your countertop that is your main cooking/ prep space. Design the organization of your cabinets / drawers around that. Put your most used items for cooking in easy reach from your designated cooking / prep space.