Why is it some people are amazing cooks?

[Violetcake]

So I can cook, I can even make pastry and I try to cook mostly from.scratch although not always and when I eat at the homes of family and friends the food is usually good but just as there are some people who's cooking is a bit rough even when they make a real effort there are some people who's cooking just has that something extra to make it really delicious and memorable.

My SIL is such an amazing cook and I swear she can make the exact same thing as me to the same recipe in the same kitchen and mine will be fine but her's will be amazing extra velvety texture, extra flavourful, extra crispy, extra melty or fluffy, you get the picture.

She like me is just a regular home cook just cooking for her family, no training or fancy gear but her food is just next level.

Why is it that some people can just cook so well?

I think it's about building knowledge about what flavours go together, knowledge of cuisines also helps, as then you can think e.g. I have a main dish which has some sweetness to it, so I will serve with a green salad with a sharp dressing to cut through the sweetness. Or I have a piece of salmon and fancy a Japanese style dish, so what do I put in a marinade to achieve that. It's about taste and balance of seasoning too.

IME people who are really good cooks put a lot of work into it. They spend time learning techniques and trying things out. They also spend time planning and doing deep prep ahead of time- things that you might never see them do because they did it last week like making and freezing stock not using a cube. The best cook I know makes it look easy because when her guests arrive she’s relaxing with a glass of wine, but that’s because she spent hours preparing earlier (and knows how to plan a menu to ensure that she serves things that are going to work done like this). So you don’t really see all the things she does differently.

Two of my friends have a reputation as excellent cooks. The common denominator is that they always serve at least 90 minutes later than promised, so you are STARVING by the time the food arrives.
As my father used to say "hunger is the best sauce"

I thinks it’s part intuition, part practice and part science. My 25 year old is an extraordinary cook. Everything he makes is perfect. I can make a baked cheesecake and it will crack, his will be completely flawless and photo-shoot worthy every time. He is completely scientific in his approach and does not leave anything to chance and really understands the process.

I think comparing your own cooking to others is not a fair test! We always think our own is worse.

I am a good cook, people say soz but I'm always like "ehh, it's okay "

What an odd way of putting it but then we all have our foibles!

Yeah I expect she is a bit more exacting than I am. I'm not sloppy but I'm fairly efficient and don't do a lot of tweaking.

Its my SIL and its really all sorts, pies, quiche, stews, curries, pasta, noodle soups, cakes, biscuits, veggies anything really it isn't nouvelle cuisine but it's good home cooking.

She says she does have some things that don't go so well first time but I think she tries a new recipe most weeks even if it's just soma bit different to her usual and they do tend to turn out well.

Sometimes things just taste better because you haven't had to do all the work yourself !

My sister is a good cook but it's not particularly through talent. Hee interest was sparked after she learned some cooking from a professional.

Since then she's been fascinated with cooking, follows lots of recipes and is always making something. She has made mistakes and learnt over the years.

So it's practice and enthusiasm.

I think this is really true. I do spend time learning things and trying them out, and as a result am pretty competent. But my sibling, who is a food writer, spends all her time doing this. She is always writing about food, cooking, interviewing chefs and food producers, trying new restaurants around the world, reading new cookbooks - she gets sent everything. As a result, she is an absolutely incredible cook. She once made me a BLT that was hands down the best sandwich I've ever eaten. And she once hosted an impromptu gigantic family lunch by simply assembling a load of pre made (by her) stuff from her freezer and store cupboards - also incredibly delicious.

It's the tiny nuanced things like leaving meat to rest properly, or finding the perfect temperature in a frying pan to make things crispy, rather than either burned or soggy.

Me, however, I make yorkshire puddings every week and use the exact same measurements, ingredients and method. Some weeks (most weeks) they're perfect and other weeks they look like frisbees! No idea why! Even my consistency is inconsistent!

My Dad is an excellent cook and I shared a recipe with him that I've made for him and he loved. Despite sharing it and cooking it with him, whenever he makes it on his own the sauce splits. Every single time! It is a mystery!

I know what you mean, some people have a natural talent for it. My boyfriend and I can cook the exact same recipe with the exact same ingredients and his will be better. I think it's the experience to know when you need a little extra of something for texture or flavour, or how to balance things out if something is wrong.

Cooking is all about flavour so you may taste a dish and think it needs something else to enhance. I’m not sure that can be taught.
Baking, however , is a science. You have to stick to the recipe. You can’t add to an ingredient without adjusting the recipe. Even adding flavour can cause problems. When making yeast doughs you can upset the yeast with some spices , too much liquid, the wrong type of flour. Also a baking oven is essential, fan ovens are crap for cakes.

Oh and to add - DSis thinks I'm some sort of culinary genius by getting my niece to eat carrots! I looked after her the other day and got her to help me make dinner. Sent DSis a photo of the meal and she said "good luck with the carrots".

I didn't mention anything to DN, but she picked up a carrot first, took a bite and said, "OMG - these are the nicest carrots I've ever eaten" and demolished the lot!

(We'll just gloss over the fact that I can get away with putting honey on my roasted carrots as a treat!)

I've seen some interesting comparison videos on social media where they'll make the same recipe using cheap and expensive ingredients and see what the difference is.

Sometimes the difference isn't particularly noticeable and sometimes it's a different ballgame entirely, so it can come down to quality of ingredients too.

I have a friend who grew up very poor, and became amazing at cooking because he had no money at uni. Literally this guy could take onions and pasta and make the most incredible tasting meal out of it. Didn't matter how cheap or crap the ingredients were. No idea how he did it. It was a culinary crime when he became vegan.

I'm a pretty reasonable cook. My DH is a pretty poor cook. If you asked him, he'd say that we would follow the exact same recipe and his magically turns out worse.
what it actually is is that he doesn't 'get' how to cook. So eg if the recipe calls for sliced onion and sliced peppers, I cut them so that I know they will cook in roughly the same amount of time. He will cut giant slabs of onion and thin slivers of peppers and then be confused as to why the onion isn't cooked in time. He also follows the timings and amounts in a recipe exactly rather than adjusting as he goes.
i wonder whether your SIL is just better at the adjustments?

Lots of my family and friends say I'm a really good cook. I think I'm definitely better than average compared to most home cooks, but i don't think I'm better than that. if that makes sense? Eg Dh thinks I should go on Masterchef but I'm nowhere NEAR that level.

But I've spent lots of time with reglar home cooks, or eating their food and as you say, it's all very nice and totally edible. But what is the difference? And I think it's the thought I can put into it that has come from lots of experience - both practical (doing it myself) and through reading and watching lots of talented cooks and absorbing their experience and the knowledge that underpins their decision making.

And that thought process applies to timings, exact ingredient amounts, when to cook things for a bit more/bit longer etc. As a really simple example, at some point I watched or read a chef explain about using a Thai curry paste and the importance of cooking it much more than just a quick heat through so it almost gets to a caramalisation process. Now, it doesn't matter what I'm doing, I'm FAR more likely to cook that Thai flavoured paste (whether from a jar or something I've made myself) for that little bit longer... and yes, mine always come out more flavoursome than other peoples. Ditto, I might add that extra bit of space or boost the flavour with a bit more of something else

Similarly, it's about adapting the recipe. "simmer for 5 minutes" is a totally pointless instruction - everyone's pans and stoves are slightly different - size, shape, conductivness, heat etc - and that will impact the cooking time. I don't consciously think about these adaptations, but I'm doing them constantly. The last time I didn't was when making a Jamie Oliver recipe and honestly, it was so overcooked and awful. I made it again last night being much more proactive on timings... delicious!

Also, I have a theory that most people cook things at temperatures that are either too hot or too cold. DH has ruined so many of my pans by cooking things like scrambled eggs at a temperature equivalent to HEAT OF THE SUN (needless to say, he's actually quite good at steak ). Similarly, I'd put money on the main reason yorkshire puddings fail is because home cooks are terrified of the heat that you need in your pan, and your oil, before you put your batter in. MOst people dry out chicken breasts when they cook them whole because they're terrified of undercooking and get the temperature wrong.

People who rush and are distracted make worse cooks than people who take their time and give their attention.

Practice helps, so does self-reflection.

Make something, assess, adjust next time, until you get it just right.

Know your cooker, know your pans, know your ingredients.

But also - maybe it's not your thing. That's fine too.

Agree with the doubling (maybe not all herbs/spices but most, and definitely salt and garlic.)

I'm a good cook I think (apart from ADHD impatience haha) - i read a lot of recipes and really take note of the variations. I try them next time I make that dish. Because of reading, I understand more about the science behind methods and approaches, and I also have what now feels like an instinctive, but is actually learnt, sense of what will go together and what will temper other ingredients (most obvious is lemon + salt).

Felicity Cloake is brilliant for comparing different versions of the same classic recipe in her 'The Perfect ..' column and book.

@verycloakanddaggers I agree that self-reflection is really important. My family have also got used to me trying to pin them down to what exactly they liked or disliked about a particular attempt..

PS are you Felicity ?!

They (we) are foodies. I think a lot of people hate that term but Im very sensitive to the taste, smell, texture, look, small differences in this or that herb or spice and how it can change a dish

Im also very good at knowing what compliments something else, good combinations.

But above it, Im afraid to say, lots of fat and salt, also pinches of sugar (in savoury dishes). Time to cook things down properly, dont believe any recipe that tells you to cook down 2 chopped carrots, 2 chopped celery sticks and 2 chopped onions for FIVE MINUTES, this is at least a slow 20 min job at least

Onions need to be cooked down for 40 mins or so

A ragu needs to be bubbling or slow cooking for an hour at least, tomatoes cooked well down

However I am very good at savoury foods, I cant bake for toffee.

I'm a good cook, I like flavours, I know what goes together, what needs cooking for a long time, a short time - a wee bit longer. Get her to talk you through what she's thinking.

I have some friends who are very good cooks, they have often had training working in kitchens, it's like night and day with my cooking - and I'm not bad

DP is like this. So much of cooking really well is about intuitive understanding, using a recipe as a guideline but then going off piste and using your own knowledge and feel.

Cooking times and temperatures need to be adjusted. Amounts of ingredients need to be adjusted, especially seasoning and spices. All British recipes can take at least five times the amount of garlic the recipe says. Pinches of this and glugs of that mean wildly different things in different contexts. Some ingredients can be substituted, some can be left out, other things can be added that aren't specified. None of the above are rules, as far as I can tell he senses it all as he goes along.

Plus very few things in the kitchen go according to plan 100% - but to have the knowledge and confidence to rescue a dish that isn't turning out right is really important!

I follow recipes to the letter, temperatures and times to the letter, amounts to the letter. I will go to multiple shops to source a particular ingredient that's in the list that DP says I don't need. I have no actual intuition in the kitchen so if I depart from the recipe there's nowhere for me to go and I can't really do it. If it's not turning out as it should I get into a flap and have no idea what to do. My dishes all turn out mediocre at best.

That intuition isn't just about loving food - I love food very much! - but about building up experience and confidence in the kitchen over many years. Often from childhood - like learning a language, if you start young you learn the rules without thinking. Plus also having a certain amount of aptitude for it, I guess - it's underrated how much dexterity and skill you need to do things like chop finely in a decent amount of time.