Simplicity is a beautiful thing, yet for some not easily attainable. More times than not this applies to the way I cook. As I’ve extolled on endless occasions I tend to take simple basic dishes and add step after step in order to pull more and more flavor from a dish. I advocate these steps not only because I believe in and follow basic cooking techniques but because I have a thorough understanding of the theories behind the techniques. I don’t just do things because I’m told to do them. I need to buy into the reasoning behind the demand. The old “Question Authority” slogan has always been dear to my heart.
This idea of not following instructions often comes into play when I’m looking for dinner inspiration or new creating menu items for my school. Some flavor profile will pop into my head, for instance green chilis, and then I will begin the process of researching (googling) recipes with green chilis in them. After viewing numerous dishes with green chilis I’ll will then narrow the selection down to one dish and then view a few recipes. What I’m looking for in this step are ingredients. Remember a recipe has two parts, the list of ingredients and the technique or MOP (method of production). The technique is all that matters. Still, most housewife recipes are merely a collection of shortcuts exhibiting zero technique and with little no regard to creating flavor. Don’t be a shoemaker and blindly choose a recipe just because it looks easy. I choose recipes for their ingredients, and then add and subtract ingredients as I see fit. In this way I can turn a pedestrian housewife recipe into something sublime and worth the couple of extra minutes and Cheffed Up steps that were required to accomplish this noble task. A big red flag when perusing recipes is when the word Authentic is featured prominently. This is usually a sure sign that everything will be tossed together into a pot and boiled!