The Harsh Realities of Inconsistent Cooking

I know I’ve been asking you a lot of questions lately and I want you to know that it’s with good reason. To cook like a chef at home, you have to break old habits and old habits can’t be broken if you aren’t aware of them. It’s important to me to make sure that you understand the science of cooking as well as the cooking techniques that are going to make you feel more comfortable and confident.

Some of you have been grateful for the extra questions and answers. Others of you have been upset that I haven’t actually been cooking more. Well, I’ve been listening and have come up with what I think is going to be a great solution for everyone. I’m going to have my first Free Live Video WebCast coming soon. In fact, you’ll be able to tell me what to cook and interact with me live while I cook. I’ll have more details for you soon.

In the meantime…have you ever thought this?

“I can cook things, am considered a good cook by my family,
but I don’t understand why my cooking is inconsistent.”

This statement is perhaps the number one comment I get from students in WebCookingClasses.com.

Most people I talk to like to cook or love to cook, but suffer from not being able to duplicate their results each time. They’re missing an internalization of the science of cooking, the internalization of basic cooking techniques. It’s impossible to cook like a chef if you can’t maintain consistency from meal to meal.

Being able to duplicate excellence is what makes people outstanding! Think about it…an athlete can duplicate their motions exactly each time by using muscle memory.

• What if Tiger Woods swung his club in a different direction each time?
• What if basketball player shot fouls differently each time?

Consistent excellent results is the definition of greatness. As a result, as a professional chef, cooking consistently is absolutely imperative to me. It stands to reason that in order for you to cook like a chef, you need to be able to repeat methods for consistent results.

Now, I don’t think that consistent flavors are as important to you as a home cook, because I believe each of your meals should be a new inspiration. But, to cook like a chef at home, you do have to duplicate methods, regardless of the final flavoring or seasoning for your meal.

So, let’s bring in the harsh realities of practicing inconsistent cooking:

• Undependable results rno Sometimes things look appetizing, sometimes not.
• Variations in doneness rno Of two items in the same pan, one is cooked, one is not.
o You don’t really know which hamburger is “medium”.
• Varied portion sizes rno Your cookies are all different shapes and sizes.
• Purchasing foods for convenience rather than flavor rno You’re buying sauces in a jar or dry packet.

Eliminating these harsh realities of inconsistent cooking with a few standard cooking techniques will also eliminate much of the stress and fear of cooking. (You see, it all ties together!) Stay tuned and you’ll learn more about the science of cooking and cook like a chef in no time.

Next time, I’ll give you my 7 step chef test to becoming a more consistent cook at home.