If you enjoy cooking and you want to be remembered by a special dish, your own signature dish it is time to start experimenting. To make it easier I want to share tips on how to speed up the process without making a mess and spending too much money.
Don’t make a fuss about this and don’t worry too much. You will have a lot of fun in the process. You will discover new herbs, spices, and food. Experimenting and exploration…a new adventure in your culinary experience.
Start by Making Modifications
The amount of dishes in the world is uncountable. We are used to only on our traditional dishes and some new and popular dishes. If you are not one of the people who are not comfortable trying new dishes and it takes time to start modifying the once you already love.
Start changing the main ingredient. For example, if the dish’s main ingredient is beef substitute with pork or chicken. Just make sure to change the cooking time because all meat products take different time to be perfectly cooked.
Next, try changing the veggies used. This is especially important because veggies can significantly change the flavor of the dish. First, use veggies that have similar flavors to the ones used in the original recipe.
What about spices? Well, here you have so many different combinations. But, you have to be careful since some are very strong and you don’t want to use 2-3 spices at the same level.
Read and Learn
Read a book about spices, ingredients, recipes and watch cooking shows. But don’t just watch and read, learn. See what kinds of combinations are made with veggies and fruits, types of meat, seafood, and spices. Also, note the different heat treatment used: baking, frying, grilling, boiling, pouching, and steaming. Each of them changes the flavor of the dish.
Take notes while you read and watch. Write down the combination of veggies and meat used. Write down the spices and the type of heat treatment used.
Choose a few recipes that you read or watched and cook them. Choose ones you never tried. Get your taste buds used to trying different flavors.
Starting the Recipe
Don’t jump on cooking right away. Start by writing down the new recipe you want to try out. Measure the ingredients and write them down. This is important because if the recipe turns out good you want to make it the same again. Some recipes with a slight change in spices can turn out differently.
Start by preparing the ingredients. Cut, chop, dice, slice… everything in advance and place them in small bowls. This will make the cooking process easier. The prep process is as important as cooking.
Once finished write down how long did the cooking take. The part where you sauté the veggies, the meat, baked/boiled, etc.
It Tasting Time
The best part about trying out a new recipe, one you created yourself is the tasting. This is the crucial part because you will take a lot of notes if you want to make changes in the next experiment. If you used too many veggies and they mask the main ingredient, next time use less. If you used fewer spices add more next time. Simple as that.
Finally, you will have a recipe to show off to your friends and family. You will become the master chef in your kitchen. Now, remember to start with your favorite food. Use your favorite ingredients to make it easier to tasting and experimenting.
