As a chef I am always encouraging people to cook more at home, because it saves money and leads to a delicious life (IMO); but when it comes to cooking with ease- meaning you don’t want to throw a pot across the kitchen- you must first master the fundamentals. In cooking, as in life, one must walk before they can run.

Read Recipes All the Way Through

This is STEP ONE, and often the most overlooked aspect of recipe selection. When selecting recipes people generally read the ingredients and decide whether the recipe is a “make” or a “pass”, but this is only half the information. 

Reading a recipe fully means you will know the equipment required, the process and more nuances that you only get reading the instructions of a recipe.

Pick Recipes You Understand

This should go without saying but if you read through a recipe and at any point wonder WTF they are talking about, this recipe is a pass- or a postpone for when you have more time on your hands!

STAY TUNED FOR AN UPCOMING EPISODE WHERE I CLEAR UP COMMON COOKING TERMINOLOGY

Find Similar Ingredients

If you are one of those people that gets overwhelmed at the prospect of buying a lot of different ingredients, you need to find, what we call in the industry, a hero ingredient, which you will build your meals around. This means, less ingredients, and less stress in the grocery store.

Reading recipes is a fundamental step in creating ease around the process of cooking and meal planning and if you didn’t know, now you know ;)