Buck Reed
The Supermarket Gourmet
As a chef, I get into a lot of interesting conversations with people I meet. Mostly, it involves questions about what my favorite thing to cook is or what my specialty is. Once in a while, someone will ask me what my favorite ingredient is or if I have a favorite gadget I like to use. One girl was amazed that a chef could keep all those recipes in their head. People will often express the idea that they wish they were a better cook, to which I can only reply “then you should learn to cook better.”
So what does it take to become a better cook? Many who teach the culinary arts believe that all you have to do is demonstrate a recipe, go over it, and let the student loose. I can tell you from experience that these people couldn’t be more wrong. Recipes are a good place to start, but someone who tells you that recipes are the answer to becoming a better cook is lying to you. If you want to become a better cook you have to learn about ingredients, techniques, and how to get the most flavors out of your dishes.
I remember a fairly recent job interview for a craft brew pub that the owner swore he had the best barbecue sauce recipe ever. Everybody loves it, he told me, and nobody better come here thinking it needs changing. I pointed out that there are many cooking techniques in which barbecue sauce might be called for and one sauce will not accommodate all of them. For instance, a smoked chicken will need a different sauce then a grilled chicken breast. I didn’t get the job.
So, instead of memorizing a perfect recipe, you have to be ready to roll with it. You may have to adjust the flavor to suit someone else’s taste. Take French toast. I add a little orange juice to give it a different flavor. Most people cannot even identify this flavor, but they either enjoy it or they do not. Most people enjoy my French toast, but that does not make me a genius. The idea that I understand the technique and I use the right bread makes me a good cook.
Why is understanding technique more important than memorizing a recipe? The answer is: Because recipes are flawed. Any fool can write a recipe; I do it all the time. Have you ever seen a recipe that calls for one clove of garlic? They must be kidding. Even if you don’t particularly like garlic, one is almost never enough. Recipes have to be living things. You have to have the knowledge to look at them and make changes as needed to suit your taste. The mistake many people make is that they believe recipes are written in stone by the almighty himself (Emeril). The ability to “fix” a recipe is the road to true kitchen enlightenment.
If you have any questions or need an idea, please feel free to contact me at RGuyintheKitchen@aol.com.
