• joeyshabadu@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Try to deliberately learn something each time you cook.

    Feel like curry? YouTube how to make it from raw spices. Feel like soup? YouTube how to make your own stock. Didn’t like a meal? Ask yourself what you didn’t like, was it the texture? Cooking time? a particular ingredient? If it was an ingredient, learn about other ways to prepare that ingredient, or find another version of that recipe and do it slightly different next time.

    Once you learn many recipes you start to acquire techniques and knowledge of how flavours balance and interact. These days if I want to make something I will find 5 versions of that recipe, see what’s common and unique. I’ll use only the bits I want because I have a feel for the general flavours, what I like or don’t like, what’s in my pantry today.

    So, learn new dishes on YouTube. Try to watch videos where they are actual qualified chefs who explain not just how but why they do something.

    Above all, give yourself time. You gain confidence when you know what works after years of trial and error.