The value of really learning how to cook.

I remember my college roommate baking cakes he couldn’t eat because of his diet, or coworkers bringing in baked goods that they or their partners made, and I thought what a waste. But I didn’t realize the value of iterating and improving for self-betterment. Forcing repetition.

I stumbled into a new hobby. I should try to remember how I arrived there, but I don’t really recall. I think it was post-breakup and I really wanted to perfect a few things. A pancake I could be proud of, a curry that didn’t taste like a white dude trying his best, some Kung pão tofu that could rival that from a takeout place, and a pizza that wouldn’t make me interact with a delivery driver. Scones.

Then I started.

Then I did it, and I wanted to try other things. Reading books (This should be another article. The argument of learning from books, even though YouTube exists and is great, and blogs, etc) made it clearer that the real important base of all of these dishes are a few techniques and know-how. And reading some technical books like The Food Lab gave examples to practice techniques, like pan-searing and then making a pan sauce from fond. Doing this helped me even more, and helped me refine more dishes than I even dreamt of. I even started experimenting with bread and crackers to limit my trips to the store, and no longer need to rely on factory-produced smelly bread, or $5.50 boules (compared to $0.30 experiments)