Not to brag, but I’m often complimented on my cooking.  My wife and kids have their favorite dishes that I make, and I warn the young ones that one day they’ll be off at college and pining for some of Dad’s chicken pasta, pork tenderloin, or maple-glaze salmon.  It’s gonna happen.  My wife (God bless her) gives me free reign in the kitchen (she’s no dummy).  Her attitude is that if I love cooking dinner every night, then by all means – have at it.  To me, it’s not work.  I find it relaxing.  I’m in control of what’s going on.  I menu plan, I do all the grocery shopping, and I prep and set-up my kitchen so that it looks like I’m a deranged ‘Food Network’ host performing a show for imaginary people when I’m preparing a dish (“and now Mr. Cabinet, we’ll add in this ¼ cup of diced tomatoes I have ready here.”)  I can adjust the time or temp of a dish on the fly, working to choreograph everything so it comes out to the table at the same time (probably the hardest thing to learn how to do, quite frankly).

One of the questions I get most often (other than “you do most of the cooking at your house – – really?”) is “how did you learn how to do all of this?”

Well, it’s the same way you get to Carnegie Hall.

Practice, practice, practice.

Cooking is a skill as much as it is an art.  Why are guys good on the backyard grill?  It takes steady practice.  It also takes some trial and error.  I wasn’t always comfortable in the kitchen.  For all of my successes over the years, I’ve still had some spectacular failures (a balsamic glaze that overheated and turned into balsamic vinegar hard candy comes to mind.  I wouldn’t recommend it).

I think that all high-schoolers and college-age kids should be required to take a basic cooking class to prepare them with a few life skills before they leave home and get their own place.  They think they’re ready now, but just ask a teenager to make you scrambled eggs some morning.  After they stop laughing and realize that you’re serious, watch the fear take over as they try to navigate the kitchen.  They are afraid of the stove, they’ll hold the spatula at the wrong end, and they’ll look at a chicken egg like it’s an alien life form.  Why is that?  It’s because they just don’t do it on a regular basis.

All kids (and adults) should learn how to make just a few dishes, but ones that will be simple and flexible enough to allow them to successfully survive in life, whether it be a 20-something in that first apartment or a Dad (or Mom) that is faced with making dinner for the kids one busy evening.  I’ve always thought that if a person can make a simple egg omelet, roast a chicken, or cook pasta, they’ll never go to bed hungry.

So, what are the keys to success in the kitchen, other than practice?  Well, I like to think it boils down to a few basics:

Know your equipment

Know what you have in the kitchen – and how to use it.  If you have a $1000 espresso machine – bravo.  Good for you.  But it’s a $1000 paperweight if you can’t figure out how to successfully operate it.  A cook should be comfortable with things like the temperature of their oven (they vary wildly from house to house), what pans hold heat the best, and how to run a blender or food processor.  Learn some rudimentary knife skills (the internet has tons of videos that can show you the basics).  Know what spices you have on hand.  All of these things lead to success.

Read the recipe

This seems like a no-brainer, but this actually trips up a lot of home cooks.  Recipes are like blueprints.  They are a guide from someone who has actually made the dish you are reading about and are explaining it to you.  They didn’t just make it up (meh, cook that pork chop at 500 degrees for 3 hours – give or take – we’ll see what happens).  They are meant to be followed, not ignored like a Hari-Krishna pamphlet rudely handed to you at the airport.  That being said, though – that doesn’t mean you have to follow a recipe religiously.  Outside of baking (which is a pretty exact science), recipes can just be a guide.  Don’t like mushrooms in a dish?  Leave them out.  Don’t have any russet potatoes?  Sweet potatoes might work.  Also, for heaven’s sake, read the recipe the whole way through BEFORE you start any cooking.  “What?  I need beet juice and confectioner’s sugar?”  Don’t be that guy/gal.

Prep and be successful

I do all my prep work before I cook a thing in my kitchen (yup, just like a cooking show).  That means I cut all of the veggies, measure out all of the spices and oils, make sure my proteins are cut and ready, etc.  This often takes more time that you think (and seems a little OCD), but having everything ready means that you can concentrate on watching the cooking process and adjusting on the fly, as necessary.  There’s nothing worse than torpedoing the first half of a dish (by burning it up on the stove) because you’re busy in the background struggling to de-bone a chicken (a curse on you, Jacques Pepin).

Timing is everything

As I said, this is probably the hardest skill to master in the kitchen.  Getting the roast to come out at the same time as the mashed potatoes, the gravy, the rolls, and the salad takes practice.  It’s never an exact science.  Write down a schedule if you have to when you’re first starting out.  Learn what can “hold” a little (or allows a little leeway) and what has to be served immediately.  For example, most seafood is often a “right now” dish – meaning when it’s done – it needs to be served immediately.  On the other hand – a pot roast?  It can sit for a few minutes while you finish off that gravy.  You’ve got some wiggle room.

Anyone can be a more successful home cook, but it does take practice.  Here’s hoping you see more kitchen success stories than failures (balsamic candy, anyone?)