Learn How to Read a Recipe
A recipe can be a jumping-off point for a meal, inspiring with its combination of flavors or techniques. In that case, you don’t need to read through it carefully. But when you’re starting out, reading the recipe before you start cooking and then precisely following it will ensure you learn something new and advance your skills.
Look for cues, not times. Think of cook times as a guide, and, instead, use all of your senses while cooking, paying close attention to the visual, auditory and olfactory cues written into the recipe. Are the onions meant to be just translucent or deeply browned? Should the stew be simmering gently or boiling vigorously? Following these indicators will lead you to a tastier result than any timer.
Think critically about swaps. Precision is vital for baking and pastry recipes, which often don’t take kindly to swaps. On the other hand, savory cooking can accommodate substitutions with ingredients that cook similarly. For example, tender herbs, like cilantro, parsley and dill; root vegetables, such as carrots, parsnips and turnips; and hearty greens, like kale, escarole and collards, can often step in for one another.
Taste Your Food — a Lot
The biggest mistake that new cooks make is forgetting to taste their food. You have to season in stages, throughout the cooking process, and remember to sample along the way. Sometimes, this means tasting things you might not want to, like briny pasta water, slick vinaigrettes and chalky spices, but it is the only way to ensure that your food is seasoned to the core, rather than superficially. It’ll also allow you to identify any flavors that could be going off the rails and get them in check before it’s too late.
Be Nice to Yourself
You can instantly find thousands of recipes for a roast chicken online, but the internet is also filled with curated photos and videos of perfectly plated dishes shot during golden hour. It’s easy to get discouraged when there’s so much to compare yourself with. When I started cooking, I had only a couple of cookbooks, most without photos: I didn’t know if the dishes I made were “correct,” which meant I could enjoy the stellar accomplishment of making myself a meal. If you end up with anything edible, that’s a win.