I do not like cooking. I might like it if it involved one pot and no more than 3 ingredients that could be thrown in at the same time, without chopping or cutting or measuring.
When it comes to following recipes and adding things gradually… oh boy. I simply cannot follow! Cooking is akin to witchcraft to me - you either need to be born with it or you need a magic wand. I have neither.
But I am lucky enough that I am married to a cooking wizard. He touches a few pans, crushes mint or basil between his fingers, whispers a few things and something amazingly delicious and unbelievably beautiful is produced. I seriously don’t know how he does it. Hence I suspect witchcraft. If I try copying him to the tee - guess what happens? Something overcooked, under-seasoned and looking grey or brown. Those are my cooking colours, by the way - my dishes remind me of a heap of leaves in a late autumn or wet concrete.
Then I discovered muffin making! I will not exaggerate it if I say that my world has been turned upside down. Well, the cooking world that is. I stumbled upon them out of necessity: my child had suddenly refused being spoon fed. I had to throw things in on a fly and guess what? The monkey loved it! I have made chilli con carne muffins and bolognese muffins, sounds bizarre, but there is such a thing as savoury muffins if you goggle it. I also make normal deliciously smelling breakfast muffins with bananas and raisins.
“The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you've got to have a what-the-hell attitude.”Julia Child
Without further ado, my main tip for this post: try finding your cooking super power and sticking to it to make it into something amazing and skilful. Then you might want to move on and become a master chef.
1. Start with something relatively easy.
Do not try to establish your super power through cooking Micheline starred restaurant inspired dish you tried a few year ago in Paris. You need to be realistic - if you are not a good cook - like me - you need to take that into consideration. Start with googling ’simple and easy recipes’ and think which dishes you love and would like to start making.
2. Halve you’re recipes to avoid food waste.
The main tip is to try halving your recipes if at all possible to see if you can make something small but eatable without wasting too much food.
3. First two attempt do not count.
Do not give up after a few failed attempts. Those are just warm up sessions. Take a break if needed, but always try and see if you can finally conquer that dish.
4. Enjoy the process.
That’s the magic ingredient - you must enjoy the process. Whatever it is you have decided to cook: a cake, muffins, soup, pressure cooked dinners - you need to be enjoying the actual process of making it otherwise it might quickly turn into ‘yet another chore’.
5. Enjoy your super power.
Do not feel like after mastering one skill you must learn something new. Absolutely not, unless you feel ready and eager to go further. This super power is called ‘super power’ because it can remain your one and only and there is nothing wrong with it.
Final Thoughts.
I truly believe that if cooking is not something you enjoy - delegate it to someone else, buy ready-made or frozen pre-cooked dishes or join food plans, like ‘Jane Plan' (this is not an affiliate link, I just saw it on TV). There are so many options nowadays to enjoy food without needing to cook it every day. But do give it a try by mastering something unique and you might actually surprise yourself one day by joining that Micheline star restaurant as one of their chefs.
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