Improving Your Cooking Knowledge

I was having trouble coming up with a topic to write about. I thought about a review of a place I had recently ate at, I thought about writing about a better type of non-stick coating, but nothing really overwhelmed me to write about.



Then after a conversation with Connie, it came to me. I know what to write about. This topic would help the novice cook as well as the accomplished cook. After watching the movie Julie and Julia, I was certain that I needed to write about this topic.


The topic that I am going to write about is cooking your way through a cookbook. I know it sounds daunting to cook your way through a cookbook. The key is to find a cookbook that contains the type of cooking you’re interested in. Also I would suggest that you start with a small cookbook first. I also suggest that you choose a cuisine type that all of your family will eat. An example of this is I would not cook my way through a vegetarian cookbook when my partner is a severe carnivore!


For the novice cook, cooking your way through a cookbook will teach you, usually, the different cooking techniques, like roasting, poaching, frying, simmering, and sautéing. It will stretch your knowledge and you will be surprised at what you can accomplish. Of course, there are going to be disasters and there will be dishes that you don’t like but if you stick with it you will find dishes that will make your friends and family think you are culinary god! You will find recipes and techniques that will make dinner preparation quick and easy. But best of all it will enlarge your knowledge of the different types of cuisines of the world.


For the knowledgeable cook, you will learn how to make substitutions to a recipe to give them your unique style. You will find new ingredients that you may have never thought could be used in this manner, you may find that not only do love the food your cooking but may wish to travel to that area and see how the locals make it. Then again, you may choose a cookbook of a famous chef and by cooking their dishes you will find a special connection to them.


So find a cookbook that stirs your imagination and cook your way through. The last time I did, I chose an Italian cookbook. Italian cooking is my favorite type and I wanted to honor my grandfather’s heritage, so I found a cookbook of recipes from Liguria. It is the region of Italy where Genoa is located, the city of my grandfather. When I finished a recipe, in pencil, I wrote the date I finished and any comments on the recipe in the margins, usually whether I liked the recipe or not. The recipes I thought were amazing I use over and over again and those I didn’t well at least I tried them. What cooking through this cookbook gave me was a better appreciation to what my heritage was and better understanding of grandfather, who died before I was born. It was for me, a way to know him and to understand what life was like for him.


Even now when I do this, I still learn something new and a technique which I can adapt into my own recipes and cooking methods. So go ahead, choose a cuisine and go for it. What have you go to lose?