Not every food lover has the opportunity to turn to a celebrated chef for help whenever they have a food question. That’s why I treasure the fact that my job as a server and bartender puts me in the proximity of some of the most chefs in Los Angeles.
Though I may not cook like an award-winning chef, I certainly want to. For that reason alone, I never take the blur of activity in the restaurant’s kitchen for granted. As I pass by the busy stoves on my way to the dining room, I snatch mental snapshots of the day’s prep: the way a prep cook measures out a perfect portion of pasta with a scale, how another slides his sharp knife through the belly of a fish, and the way a pastry cook zests a lemon with confident strokes.
Whether or not the brigade in chefs’ whites is aware, these men and women are my culinary mentors. When a recipe stumps me or a particular ingredient poses too much of a challenge, I bring my culinary conundrums to the people I trust the most. Because chefs know how dough should feel, the way to combine simple flavors and make them sing, just which spice will make a dish come alive, or how to thicken a sauce so it clings to a protein like a mist rolling over a hill.
Unfortunately, it seems like the moments when I truly need a chef’s expertise is when I’m alone at my home stove or at the farmers’ market with a head full of uncertainties. Though I work for Nancy Silverton, I’m not about to call the busy chef with a question about lamb shanks*. So how does a home cook find their way in the kitchen? Here are five simple ideas to get you closer to cooking like a chef.