This list, of The Top 10 Signs You're Becoming a Better Cook, makes me feel much better. Because my husband grumbles at me sometimes for not following recipes, or not knowing exactly how much of an ingredient I use in a recipe, or substituting one thing for another. And these, plus the fact that my parents trust us with Thanksgiving, except the turkey, are apparently signs of improvement and skill, and not laziness.
The only one I don't have down is 5. I still consult my recipes pretty regularly, but mostly to remember what-all goes in something, or the right ratio of barley to water. But I choose to believe that I need to use recipes because I choose to make increasingly complicated meals.
Do you think the signs are spot-on, like I do? Or do you have your own list of what makes you a better cook? (Like, the fewer times you have to throw away dinner or trash the leftovers, the more you are improving?)
The thing I've noticed that I need to do (I do all of these pretty much, but I was raised by eyeball measuring non-recipe following cook-everything-from-scratch people!) is to trust myself when I am following a recipe. If the dough seems weird, I need to go ahead and make it feel like what I think it should instead of sticking precisely to the recipe.
ReplyDeleteYay you! (My new Thanksgiving recipe is a chocolate pecan pie. We always do pecan, but adding cocoa and some instant coffee to the filling makes it AMAZING!)