How to Cook like a Professional Chef

Throughout their cookbooks and on their cooking shows, chefs seem to give the same advice. As I have applied their advice to my own cooking I have learned that cooking like a chef has many advantages to home cooks like myself. Cooking like a chef will help you make your meal with minimal mistakes, save you time, and help you enjoy the process of cooking.

1. Read through the recipe before you begin. Make sure you have all of the ingredients and tools that you will need. Visualize the process so you know what you will be doing.

2. Have key ingredients prepared and ready before you begin cooking. Having key components of your recipe ready to go means that your meal will come together faster. If you need to keep taking the skillet off of the burner while you chop the next ingredient, you will lose time waiting for the skillet to re heat after it has cooled down.

3. Know what needs to be measured accurately and what can be guesstimated. All ingredients in baking need to always be measured accurately. Otherwise, get a good idea of how much space a teaspoon of herbs takes up in the palm of your hand or how big of a blob a tablespoon of oil makes in you pan.

4. Mix ingredients in a larger bowl than you think that you will need. This will cut down on messes left on the counter and allow you to mix ingredients thoroughly quickly and easily.

5. Keep your most commonly used utensils nearby and ready to go. Towels and oven mitts should always be kept near the stove. A good supply of spoons and spatulas should also be kept nearby. A bowl of salt, a pepper grinder, and a bottle of oil are also handy near the stove. If you bake often, keep your measuring cups, spoons, and baking ingredients near the counter space where you work.

6. Keep your messy work near the sink. Any spills and splatters can be quickly wiped into the sink and washed down the drain.

7. Clean as you go. If your sauce needs to simmer for ten minutes, rinse the dishes and cooking utensils you have used and load them into the dishwasher. Keep the trash can at your side or use a large bowl to collect trash. You can also reuse a plastic grocery bag one last time to collect scraps and trash as you go.