If you’re fed up of constantly dieting, or you are making the same four meals day in and day out, it might be time for you to get really serious about cooking. Whether you just want to eat healthier, or you want to expand your horizons, what do you do if you want to get serious about your adventures in the kitchen?
Expand Your Toolbox
Like a great artist has every type of canvas and material, a chef needs as many cooking utensils and equipment as possible. From the induction pan to the skillet, casserole dishes to the Dutch oven, every great chef has a plethora of tools to pick from. Sometimes this can inspire you, but it also makes the job a lot easier.
Expand The Pantry
Food is about great flavor, and a pantry could be a bottomless pit of inspiration for flavor. From soy sauce to pickled chilies, sauerkraut, as well as mustard, sauces, and seasonings, a well-stocked pantry means that you will forever be able to add something different to the dish.
Shop In Season
We are always able to buy fruits and vegetables around any time of year. These days, we’ve got so much access to food that we don’t care what season it is. But by shopping in season, not only are you giving yourself the challenge to come up with a unique dish, but the dish is going to taste so much better because of the fruits and vegetables you put into it being in season. And this is something that isn’t just great for your meals; it’s great for your bank balance. Shopping in season means that these foods are in abundance, giving you that extra incentive to make different dishes.
Set Yourself Challenges
Can you cook a meal in 15 minutes? It is possible, but it’s about working smart instead of working hard. And this is where the right tools can come in handy, from blenders to food processors that whizz everything up in a matter of seconds. We all have busy lives now, and as such, food hasn’t become a priority, but more fuel. But it is still possible to make a meal that’s tasty in a very short space of time. Set yourself a challenge this weekend!
Improve Your Technique
Are you a completely disorganized cook? Or does it take you forever to peel and chop the vegetables? If you fine-tune the aspects of your technique that need improving, you will spend less time of the kitchen prepping the meals and spending more time focusing on flavor and presentation. By improving your chopping technique, or expanding your repertoire of side dishes, this will improve all the meals you make, meaning that those four dishes that you microwave or oven cook to perfection have unique and exciting twists on them.
And finally, if you want to get serious about cooking, just get cooking! Go experiment, and see which flavors work together. The great thing is that now, there are so many resources online, so many television shows, and so many people around us that have an active interest in cooking, we will always get some inspiration.
