With cooking, there’s always something to learn. Even a three-star Michelin chef can struggle from time to time when introduced to a brand new cooking language. Of course, the basics often remain the same – cook something so it’s safe to eat – but outside of that you can really go in almost any direction. But even steak tartare can prove that foremost assertion wrong. We saw how the fish-out-of-water mentality came when Gordon Ramsay attempted to cook a Pad Thai. That’s not to knock him, it’s hard to know the intricacies of perfect authenticity with every dish, but of course, keeping your humility is often the remedy to that.
But as a home cook, learning to understand a new cuisine and its flavors can be a tough ask. Where do you begin? Well, of course, by eating the food and finding out what your preferences are. If you don’t love a certain dish, you don’t have to master it. But you may also find some success with the following methods:
Learn Its Various Spices & Purposes For Each One
Most dishes need to be seasoned, and so understanding which spices are (and are not) used can help you understand the basic lexicon of how flavors are put together in this discipline. Japanese cooking might seem simple on the surface, for instance, but ingredients like wasabi powder, togarashi, and dried seaweed add different flavor profiles to make a dish stand out. Learning what the purposes are – some for bringing heat, others earthiness, and many umami, can help you think through constituent elements as opposed to just a final product. A gentle approach works best here, so starting with small amounts helps you develop an understanding of how each spice behaves.
Consider Baseline Cooking Utensils
Every cuisine has its essential tools and sometimes, investing in them can help you begin to truly understand them. A wok might seem unnecessary if you have good enough pans, until you try making proper fried rice or a stir fry that doesn’t quite finish the way you want. That’s because the curved sides and heat distribution make all the difference. The same goes for items like bamboo steamers, which create a gentler cooking environment for bao and many other asian dishes. Good tools last for years, so taking time to research quality options pays off, and can be a lovely source of pride in your expanding knowledge. You could consider it both a treat and an investment.
Have A Set Of Baseline, Reliable Ingredients
Of course, the true ingredients on hand will matter. Sesame seed oil or coconut milk isn’t necessarily something you have on hand, but can be essential for certain Asian dishes. Starting with five or six essential items for that cuisine helps develop your confidence without feeling stun locked by how much you have to use at once, so try to focus on that approach.
Storage matters too, so keep that in mind. Some ingredients need cool, dark spaces, while others might do fine in room temperature, and knowing the difference is important. A set of Indian spices for curries can be relied upon then (to use an example), and no matter where you go from there, you’ll have the basic foundations down.
With this advice, we hope you can more easily understand new and unfamiliar cuisine going forward.