How to Become a Better Cook

Preparing gourmet food or special dishes can be a rewarding hobby or the start of an exciting career in the culinary arts. Follow these steps to upgrade your cooking skills.

Instructions

1. Try new recipes. Perhaps you feel you are inept at cooking but if you haven't experimented with different recipes, this could be part of the problem. Recipes can be found online, in magazines and in cookbooks. Try different dishes to improve your cooking skills in various areas like baking desserts as well as cooking main dishes.

2. Cook easy dishes to begin with and practice. Follow all directions carefully as many recipe errors result from lack of following directions, practice and incorrectly measuring the ingredients. It takes time to learn the culinary arts so be patient and if you fail, try again.

3. Invest in good cooking tools and ingredients. If you have good quality tools, the outcome will improve. Non-stick pans, proper utensils and measuring spoons and bowls will help you follow a recipe and will improve the outcome of your dishes.

4. Cook with a pro. If there's someone in your family or if there's a friend whose cooking skills you admire, ask to spend time in the kitchen with them. This can help you pick up valuable skills and tricks to make a vast improvement on your cooking skills.

5. Take a class. This is entirely optional but taking a class can teach you the technical skills behind cooking. If you want to learn to properly julienne or flambe like a professional, a class is the place to learn these skills. You can check your local classifieds for a cooking school or check in with your local school or recreation center to find out about night courses offered.

Tips & Warnings

• Learn how to pick fresh ingredients. Ingredients are a big part of the success in making gourmet meals. Ask your grocer if you want assistance in recognizing how to pick fresh fruit, vegetables and to learn about the right cuts of meat.

• Fresh spices make a dish beautiful in terms of presentation, aroma and flavor. Experimenting with new spices can be a great way to enhance the flavor of your cooked dishes. You also smaller quantities of fresh spices versus dried seasonings.