As I browse my cookbooks to plan the meals for the week, I realize that I do not want to cook fancy food. That is, super upscale food that my honey and I are not used to. That's when it dawned on me.
I learned to cook so what I cooked has a better outcome, not so I can cook weird food. Okay, not weird, just the more gourmet uppity food. I plan to cook simple food recipes.
I am still going to use what I call shortcuts, such as getting potatoes started by putting them in the microwave for a few minutes before I boil or bake them. This is my honey's cooking tip, and it shortens the get-done time when making potatoes. Good tip.
I am not going to make some food such as noodles or sauces -- from scratch. For example, I love to make spaghetti. The box vermicelli pasta and the big jar of Bertoilli Vineyard Marinara sauce works just fine. Why make the noodles and sauce from scratch just for the sake of "making it from scratch"? I don't think so. I am not a chef. I don't plan to enter cooking contests. I just want to cook good food for my family. Some shortcuts are fine.I invested in my mandoline to make julienne cuts, but why make hash browns from scratch every time when I can buy them frozen with peppers and onions ready to go? It doesn't make sense. Some cooking shortcuts are fine for the home kitchen cook. That would be me. As long as I know how to cook hash browns in a bag so it lands on the plate yummy, why add time and labor to the process?
There's no doubt that I am night-and-day educated as a result of my cooking lessons that enlightened me more than I could have known possible. But basically, learning how to cook properly doesn't translate into making my world of food from the root beginning.
The best tip I can share is that once you know how to cook, it's okay to take shortcuts. It's okay to use some prepared foods. "Doctor" them up if you want to.
Of course, I want to make fresh food. I do want to cook food that has a good taste outcome. I want to put food on the plate that looks appetizing. I definitely want my honey and my children to enjoy a pleasant dining experience from sitting down at the table to the last spoonful of dessert. But I can take a few shortcuts to save on the work, time and expense… and still serve delicious meals.
In other words, I learned to cook to become a better cook, not become a slave in my kitchen. I am just never going to be a cook that spends hours of time on prep, or buys fresh in quantities that I probably won't use before it goes bad.
Being a good cook means being a smart cook.