Many people cook following instructions precisely and still end up unsatisfied. The result is something you can eat, and maybe even enjoy, but it isn’t a dish that makes you want to order at a restaurant or remember fondly.
The trouble is not in lack of commitment. It is in lack of awareness of what actually improves the taste of a dish, as opposed to just making it workable.
- You’re Following Recipes, Not Understanding Cooking
Recipes give instructions but not their rationale. That explains why two cooks can follow the same recipe and end up with very different outcomes.
Once you grasp the reasoning behind cooking techniques (the heat, timing, texture, and so on), you become less dependent on recipes and begin to make choices.
- Flavor Balance Is Missing
Most dishes cooked by beginners are unbalanced. That is their main failing.
A dish that is really good tastes of salt, acid, sweetness and richness in the right ratio.
If any single element is dominant or absent, the dish will taste one-note, or over-powering. Even if it is perfectly cooked, it will seem to be lacking something.
- Timing Changes Everything
It is not just about what you cook, but when you cook it.
Put an ingredient on the stove too early or too late and it will alter its texture and the strength of its flavour, affecting the overall dish.
Timing is often the difference between a dish tasting “okay” and a dish that tastes really good.
- You’re Not Tasting While Cooking
Many beginner cooks simply don’t taste what they are cooking until the end. Most professional cooks taste as they go.
Tasting while cooking allows you to modify the seasoning, the consistency, the balance and the flavour. You can make changes before you’re in danger of ruining the entire dish.
- Technique Matters More Than You Think
Details such as how you cut an ingredient, how you cook it or how you stir it make a bigger difference than the average cook imagines.
Improved technique gives improved consistency in your taste results.
Final Thought
If your dishes seem to be “not bad, not great”, then it isn’t necessarily because you lack talent or aren’t using complicated recipes. There may be a lack of understanding of why taste results the way it does in your dishes.
The moment you start to approach cooking more as an experienced cook, and less as a recipe follower, your dishes will improve automatically.