Keep It Simple

I was a foodie for years. Actually I am still like that, but eating at home has become a more important part of my life. And for a while I tried to compete with the food that I was eating in the restaurants.

But here is the thing.

You can't.

You can do better.

In the restaurant you are eating a meal that hits the 1500 calorie mark rather than 600. Sure it tastes good, but you are eating: Butter, oil, and salt. And more butter and while we are at it a little more salt. Restaurants are not know for their health benefits unless that is their angle.

So sure you can do it, it is easy to make your home dish restaurant quality – add a stick of butter!

Of course you can't say that it boils down to just that. But it is a big part of it.

They cook with gas. I don't know about you but it takes time for my stove to get hot. Their stoves get hotter than yours by like a factor of three. That is hotter and faster. And the whole environment is made to make food the center of their attention. When they are working on one meal they can have multiple other meals on hot burners. Something comes out or off while another meal is going in the oven. I would love a gas stove (but it isn't possible), but I would have a nervous breakdown if I had to prepare that much food.

Another thing, you are paying for this space. Cooking high quality food takes space, space that they have to make prepare food in advanced. As you surely know most aspects of cooking that take time. They have the time to cook beef stock, at home you don't have the time to reduce it for days and days in progressively smaller pots.

But don't get disheartened there are things that you can do to improve the experience.

Lately I have been working my kitchen in a number of different directions. Thai on Tuesday? Sure. Welsh Wednesday? If you really want to I'm game.

Country home cooked food has been making more of a showing lately. Mainly because it tastes great when done with love and it is easy.

But you don't need to go all rustic if you want to make it a stress free kitchen. There are some techniques that make the process easier and more fun. My biggest secret is to turn my stove as hot as it can go only once all my ingredients are ready. Until then don't even bother to turn it on. My grandmother taught me that. She always made sure that all of her onions were chopped and shallots minced and all that other veggies done well before things start getting hot. If not you're in big trouble.

Another thing that will keep you sane in the kitchen is not to cook from recipes posted online. That one is pretty handy from time to time.

And keep this in mind when you are looking for recipes: In a restaurant someone else gets to do the prep work and another person does the dishes. If you make a complicated meal you get to cut everything and when it is done you get to wash every dish. The food work ratio doesn't balance out in that case.

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