Some days the meal you make is delicious, some days it’s merely OK. This is one of the biggest problems of home cooks. Even more frustrating is that you might be cooking the exact same dish yet get completely different results. What’s the difference here? It isn’t that you’re cooking on a whim but rather, it’s in a few things that are different in each of your sessions that lead to your inconsistent results:
1. You’re Not Cooking On Exactly The Same Heat.
If you make the meal the same dish one day slightly higher on the heat and another day slightly lower, the food won’t taste or look the same. Temperature needs to be the same for consistency.
2. You’re Adding Ingredients On Different Timings.
When you add ingredients slightly sooner or later in each of your cooking sessions, the outcome will be different. It’s no secret that you’ll need precise timings for ingredients to cook the same.
3. You’re Not Cooking With The Same Level Of Precision And Estimation.
Cooking with an estimation of the amount of ingredients to add is a fine skill for experienced home cooks but you need to know exactly when you should do this and not estimate too often. Switching from an estimate to exact amounts of ingredients in each of your cooking sessions leads to inconsistent results. You need to understand how your recipe works and how the foods react in order to achieve similar results every time.
4. You’re Not Cooking With The Same Technique.
The way you cut your foods, the times you stir the foods, etc., even subtle differences here will lead to inconsistent results. Small things matter a lot.
5. You Don’t Have Routine.
Every time you cook you need a routine, it’s how you achieve the same result every time.
So, in conclusion, when your food is unpredictable it doesn’t mean you’re messing everything up, it just means you lack a system or are not in tune with your cooking habits. Make the effort to know what works for you and you’ll achieve similar results every time.