Biggest hack? Realizing that humans have been cooking for millennia, and that it’s in the best interest of big business to convince you that it’s difficult/expensive/extremely complicated.
You don’t NEED the fancy equipment every company out there is trying to sell you.
Not everything needs to be gorgeous on the plate, or a whole production to make.
The poorest people in the world cook delicious food every day.
For instance, you don’t need NEED a +$150 Japanese chef knife to cook at home. What you need is something that can hold an edge through general maintenance, a whet stone, a kitchen towel to dry off your blade immediately after you hand wash it, and a little bit of patience.
IKEA sells some surprisingly great single construction (steel blade, steel handle) knives, and their single body chef knife is like $25. Just get an honing rod for use before you start slicing, and a whet stone for periodic sharpening (there’s TONS of YouTube videos of all the different ways of sharpening your knife), and remember to wash and hand-dry after you’re finished. My chef knife cost me barely anything, and I’ve used it for years and years, and it still slices through a tomato without a problem. Also, I only cook for myself, so I can absolutely 100% guarantee my whet stone will “outlive” me.
To actually cook things enough. I wasn’t cooking them to unsafe levels before, and please don’t cook my steak above medium rare, but some foods just taste better cooked more. Almost no one cooks ground meats enough, who the hell wants grey beef, get some color on that bitch. Also if you cook sausage meat enough it gains color and the flat renders out a little it tastes better. Get some colour on those roast veggies and no one likes a pale insipid fry. A change in color is flavor, use it to your advantage. And yes sometimes you want your veggies firm and for the love of god don’t overcook your garlic.
I agree with you on getting color in your food. I think the best way to do that is to cook it at the right temperature (don’t be afraid of heat!) and don’t crowd the pan. And don’t be too stir-happy.
Ground beef, for example. You don’t have to cook it long it you start with a hot pan that’s big enough. Get a pan with a heavy bottom and heat it up empty for a minute or two on medium or medium- high heat. Plop the meat in. It should sizzle. Break it up enough for it to cover the pan, and then don’t stir for a couple minutes. You can stir it when you see some brown forming on the bottom layer.
That was the hardest thing for me to learn to do, to just let the food be and not stir it all the time. Stirring feels like you’re doing “something” lol.
pay attention. stay with what you are cooking as you are cooking it. don’t let yourself become distracted. taste as you go. take notes. use unsalted butter. know your equipment and its pros/cons. shop at different stores for the best ingredients. fresh herbs are waaay better if you can swing it.
Taste as you go and taste everything! Understanding how the components of your meal taste is a great way to make yummy things. It also helps you learn how ingredients manifest in the end result and will help you expand your cooking versatility
I try to grocery shop once a week and pickup whatever looks good or fresh that I can use in a variety of meals throughout the week. My goal is to buy a small amount of higher quality things that I can use in 2-3 meals.
Lately though I’ve just been going to the store when I want to make something and it’s much more stressful that way. I need to get back into doing more planning.
Fucking shoyu ramen, from scratch with all the trimmings. It’s practically a two day affair, between the broth, the onsen tamago, the noodles and the pork belly. Worth every minute spent making it, and almost worth the excessive sodium intake.
My wife and I have been planning 2-3 dinners per week and we double the recipe for them so we can just heat up leftovers for dinner or lunches the next day. It’s been a good compromise between the ‘make everything on Sunday’ style prepping and making something new every night. We still have flexibility in what we each each day, but we also only need to cook half as often.
We try (keyword try, doesn’t always work out) to pick recipes with overlapping ingredients so there’s asittle waste as possible.
Google shopping list is what we use to keep track of things since it has Google Home / Google Assistant integration and can connect to both of our accounts so everything is in-sync.
Every Wednesday. That’s when sales flyers come out for Aldi (website) and Food Lion (app). I make a list of all the produce going on sale. I keep a spreadsheet full of recipes organized by produce ingredient, and pick out recipes for the week based on sales and anything in my freezer that needs using.
I also have certain weekly rules. I plan 4 dinners and 3 breakfasts. In all these meals, only 2 can have meat, at least 2 must use legumes, at least one must have spinach, and at least one must have fatty fish (tuna or salmon, doesn’t count as meat). I aim for an anti-inflammatory diet, so I try to include that type of ingredient in each meal. It’s challenging, but fun to plan and has greatly increased my family’s nutrition.
I use Evernote on my phone to plan meals. I keep a list there of all foods in my freezer (meats, produce, breads, whole meals) and the date they were put in. Excel on my laptop to store and organize recipes. And the Anytime app to keep grocery lists for all the stores I visit.
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