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Kitchen Literacy: Reflecting on Your Cooking

by Megan Fenton on 2019-08-30T10:48:39-04:00 in What To Read | 0 Comments

Megan Fenton is an Adult Services Librarian at the Greenburgh Public Library. She enjoys contemporary fiction, audio memoirs, and most of all exploring the library's cookbook collection. She is a self-taught home cook and hopes that Kitchen Literacy will help other aspiring cooks explore the basics of cooking and getting to know their way around the kitchen. 

 

In my last two posts I talked about how learning to cook requires mastering recipes and cooking techniques, finding and trying new dishes, and learning how flavors come together. The practical nuts and bolts of food preparation are necessary to becoming a great cook, but there is also another component- cultivating your joy for food.

Like most of life, cooking is about the journey not the destination (although if we're all honest with ourselves, the delicious results are a great reward!). Perfecting techniques, discovering new flavors, and delighting others with your delicious food is one of the best ways to develop this joy. In addition to all of these practices, another excellent way to build this joy is to be reflective about your cooking. This could involve keeping a personal cooking journal, starting an online cooking blog, or forming a supper club/cookbook club with your friends and neighbors where you all get together to talk about cooking. These reflections give you the opportunity to consciously notice the influences on your cooking, identify patterns that show you what you're good at and where you'd like to improve, get feedback from others, and to build your cooking self-esteem. Reflection is essential to learning in the kitchen. 

Do you need some inspiration to get started? Noted chefs and restaurant critics have written insightful memoirs and reflections on their culinary experiences. Don't worry! You don't need to write a whole book to be reflective, but reading these great personal stories may be just the inspiration you need to begin thinking more deeply about what you do in the kitchen:

 

Cover Art Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl

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