Taste is Everything!

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What flavor combinations do you enjoy?  Do you notice that you order the same basic things over and over in restaurants?  Or do you like to mix it up all the time?  These behaviors are clues to the way that you want to cook also. 

--> I notice when I talk with people that they will have all sorts of preferences when they talk about what they want to eat, but then don’t know what they should make for dinner.  I might hear someone tell me about a particular meal they recently enjoyed at a restaurant, and it might be a very basic meal: roasted chicken, a cheeseburger, a meat loaf sandwich, a grilled or broiled piece of fish, etc.  Other times someone will tell me about a delicious spatch-cocked chicken from a particular restaurant, or a fabulous pasta made with fresh vegetables and a simple sauce.  These are things anyone can make from scratch with some simple instruction, and it will be healthier and tastier when you make it at home.  You can also make it to your own taste.  

Butternut Squash, Onions and Apples.  From this.....

To this!  Butternut Squash Soup.

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I worked recently with a client who enjoys good fresh and flavorful food, but says that it never “turns out” when she cooks.  We put together a few dishes, tasting as we went, and she loved everything.   

"What she learned about herself was that if she tasted as she went, the food turned out tasty."

  As we started, she wasn’t sure that she would be able to tell if it tasted the way it “should”, but she was able to tweak one of the dishes just by listening to what her tastebuds were telling her.  

Our eyes tell us that colorful combinations will be flavorful.  

 

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The second thing I helped her to understand is that even though she lacks confidence in the kitchen, she know what she likes. She was relying on others to tell her how it tasted because she felt she didn’t know enough about food and cooking.  The thing is, we all have our own ideas and our own tastes, and we do know what we like even if we can’t define it.  

 Some things just go together.

 

--> If you think that following a recipe is the best way to make good food, it sometimes is, but sometimes it isn’t.  Common mistakes that make recipes fail include not understanding the techniques such as developing flavor when you sauté onions; or not having the ingredients ready when you need them (mise en place); or not tasting for seasonings before you put it on the table.  Sometimes it’s just a badly written recipe too, but understanding cooking terms, techniques, being prepared, and tasting can go a LONG way when you cook.  

Oftentimes a recipe starts with sauteing onion, celery and carrots.  This is a step that develops flavor.

 

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This is why I sometimes work as a Cooking COACH—to help you understand how to cook dishes that you like. 

For more information, or to find out how I can help you, click here

 I won’t tell you that you have to cook with ingredients you don’t like. I will encourage you to explore tastes and try new things, if that’s what you want.  I am there to help you become more comfortable, more confident, more adventurous, and I assure you the food will be great!

 Presentation can make food appear to be more flavorful, but I assure you this tasted as good as it looks!