Most home cooks hope they can one day master the fine art of improvising in the kitchen; that is, being able to cook a variety of dishes with ingredients on-hand without a recipe. The good news? Every time you cook something you are gaining experience and building your improvisational muscles. The bad news? It takes a lot of time and cooking to get to that magical “I can improvise anything whenever I want.” It’s a level of master few home cooks ever reach.
In this episode I share a few ideas and inspiration to up your kitchen freestyle skills. Enjoy!
Mentioned in this Episode
At least one high-quality kitchen knife is a must for anyone who spends time in the kitchen. If you could only get one knife and didn’t want to spend a fortune? I’d recommend either an 8″ or 6″ in cook’s knife by Wusthof (keep your eyes peeled for an excellent deal on the cook’s knife and pairing knife combo set, like this one). The Henkels folks also make a decent and very reasonably priced knife.
If you are interested in the book about magic I mentioned, check out Abracadabra by Nathaniel Schiffman.
If you need some good resources on hand for your food improvising adventures, check these out:
The Flavor Bible by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg
The Deluxe Food Lover’s Companion By Ron and Sharon Herbst
How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman
Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat
Here is a good list of pantry essentials from Real Simple.
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