When you are learning to cook, you need to remember to play with spices and seasonings. It can be hard to remember to do so, especially when you are trying to remember how to do something you know you should know how but are having problems remembering how to do it, but it is soething that you need to remember to do. A beginning cook should be doing whatever he can to expand his awareness of cooking, and there is little more fun than messing around with spices.
If you made the mistake of grabbing one of those huge things of miscellaneous spices and seasonings, it's easy to feel intimadated: You have this collection of a dozen or more different options and you have no clue how to use them. Even more intimdating is that you know you should be memorizing each and every one of them because that's what a real chef does, right? Well, no.
If a chef memorized each and every possible seasoning, even the few dozen that come on those season contraptions, he wouldn't need to taste everything he cooks. The reality is that even the great chefs are constantly tasting everything that they prepare. The obvious excuse is that they want to make sure that the ingredients are behaving the way they should, are fresh, and have not expired; while that is true, they are also reminding themselves how their spices taste and continuing to explore how other seasonings taste. At the very least he puts the spice in a family of some sort in order to try it later; you never know when you want to try something different, and having an idea of how something tastes is better than no idea at all. But even the great chefs do not memorize each and every spice that they encounter, and that's the lesson you need to take away from this.
As someone who is just trying to get better at what he does, and make something that is a little bit better than he used to cook, it can only pay to at least go through and taste as many different spices and seasonings you can. Don't bother memorizing each and every one of them; just remember the ones you like and you feel are useful for what you normally cook. Have fun with spices, sure. but don't go overboard; try as many spices as you want, and don't feel obligated to try them all. The key here is that you should always have fun experimenting, and not feel obligated to do so. After all, you should be master of your kitchen, not some silly spice rack. Know it, love it, but don't fear it.
If you made the mistake of grabbing one of those huge things of miscellaneous spices and seasonings, it's easy to feel intimadated: You have this collection of a dozen or more different options and you have no clue how to use them. Even more intimdating is that you know you should be memorizing each and every one of them because that's what a real chef does, right? Well, no.
If a chef memorized each and every possible seasoning, even the few dozen that come on those season contraptions, he wouldn't need to taste everything he cooks. The reality is that even the great chefs are constantly tasting everything that they prepare. The obvious excuse is that they want to make sure that the ingredients are behaving the way they should, are fresh, and have not expired; while that is true, they are also reminding themselves how their spices taste and continuing to explore how other seasonings taste. At the very least he puts the spice in a family of some sort in order to try it later; you never know when you want to try something different, and having an idea of how something tastes is better than no idea at all. But even the great chefs do not memorize each and every spice that they encounter, and that's the lesson you need to take away from this.
As someone who is just trying to get better at what he does, and make something that is a little bit better than he used to cook, it can only pay to at least go through and taste as many different spices and seasonings you can. Don't bother memorizing each and every one of them; just remember the ones you like and you feel are useful for what you normally cook. Have fun with spices, sure. but don't go overboard; try as many spices as you want, and don't feel obligated to try them all. The key here is that you should always have fun experimenting, and not feel obligated to do so. After all, you should be master of your kitchen, not some silly spice rack. Know it, love it, but don't fear it.
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