Confident Kitchen

For almost 4 years, I’ve been teaching myself how to cook by using a variety of cookbooks, recipe sites, as well as trial and error.
Tips:

• Always have a back-up plan.  You can never go so wrong that a late-night pizza can’t fix.  Whether you keep a stash of Lean Cuisines in the freezer, a jar of spaghetti sauce and noodles in the pantry, or $20 hidden in the cookie jar…screwing up a recipe isn’t the end of the world.
• Read the entire recipe before starting.  I can’t remember how many times I didn’t read the full recipe and had to scramble at the end to make sure it came out edible.
• Prep as much as you can before starting.  Chop veggies, sort ingredients, measure out spices (those little glass cups are great for this step), and have everything you’ll need within easy reach.  This is also useful to ensure that you won’t have to stop in the middle for a quick run to the store when you realized you were out of olive oil.
• Take chances.  This builds your confidence.  Confidence in the kitchen is key.  When you have confidence, you can improvise if something goes wrong.
• When in doubt, look it up.  Google is an amazing tool.  You can find out what it means to “julienne” or “fold”, or check out the final result of a recipe by searching for an image.