The Cooking Comfort Zone and How to Get There

Does the idea of baking a cake from scratch terrify you? Is the only option for ethnic food take out? Do you laugh (and maybe cry) at the suggestion of homemade bread? Well, you’re not the only one. But that doesn’t mean you can’t do it. In five steps, you can transform your kitchen skills from industrial pawn to creative chef.

Step One: Be active in the kitchen. So maybe your meals come from a drive-through window, or out of a box. The first step to becoming a better cook is to take the leap of faith and start cooking on your own. If you already cook, but your skills are limited—keep up the good work. After all, practice makes perfect.  Create simple meals, snacks and desserts. Integrate what you know with fresh ingredients. Although you can use boxed preparation for pastas, potatoes, brownies, etc., throwing in fresh herbs for savory foods and sweet accents like chocolate chips in a dessert will start to grow your confidence.

Step Two: Try a simple recipe. At this point, you should start leaving your addiction to premade foods behind. It’s okay to use this angle as a crutch for harder recipes, but let’s improve your capabilities by seeking out a few simple recipes. For something to cook, try a straightforward stir-fry.  That doesn’t mean its Asian influenced. Toss some similar sized chicken and vegetables together in a pan and cook it up. If you’d like to try your hand at baking, cookies is a good place to start. Search out more simple recipes from family and friends or even the internet.  

Step Three: Buy a cookbook. Now you have several simple recipes under your belt and a solid confidence to increase the difficulty (and flavor!) or your repertoire. Put together a meal that uses red meat or fish as these are proteins that take several repetitions to fully understand at what point and in what manner of cooking they taste best. To keep the menu healthy, use eggplant or mushrooms as the star of the plate. Risotto is another good dish to try. Keep things small for baking. Cupcakes, bars and other petite confections. Search through your cookbook for ideas as it is now your best friend.  

Step Four: Take it up a notch! Experiment with the flavor palate you have developed and start creating ideas for the dinner course. Cirtus and herbs love seafood. Bold flavors beef up hearty meats and poultry has become versatile. Toss accents into salads and sides like nuts and dried fruits. Try making your pasta fresh with homemade Italian bread. Challenge yourself to create complex goodies like pies and cheesecakes. Turn your favorite cupcake recipe into a two layered cake, using the same icing to decorate. Hopefully you’ve found dishes at either end of the spectrum that are your go-to plan for impromptu dinner parties and holidays.

Step Five: Dazzle with your food.  When reaching this milestone, you can experiment with the succulent offerings of the world. Until now you have likely focused on whatever cultural food you’ve grown up with or your region’s staples, but it’s time to expand. Look to the major culinary fads for inspiration and try making a meal you would have purchased previously only at a restaurant. This same concept translates to the after dinner treats. Something as common as ice cream is now within your reach to make at home. Quality kitchen equipment can now be invested in with the promise of a worthwhile reward. Your skills can span breakfast, lunch and dinner and all pit-stops in-between.

These steps aren’t offered as something you can accomplish overnight or even in a week. Becoming comfortable, flexible and self-reliant in the kitchen takes time. But you should enjoy each step as you go and manage them at your own pace. When recipes become effortless you should move your study to the next level. A variety of cookbooks, supermarkets, farmer’s markets and specialty stores are at your disposal for gaining knowledge and encouragement. And once you have completed the process, you can share your newfound wisdom with others through the gregarious gift of global, fun and flavorful food.

The Breakfast Crawl

While on an unrelated work assignment, I found myself touring bakeries and cafés in the Metrowest and Norfolk county areas of Greater Boston.  My objective quickly transformed from a simple, yet repetitive task to a ravenous, impromptu food critic. Expecting to see mountains of scones, muffins and bagels, it came as a surprise to me that each bakery also sported some savory shade of a luncheon café. Had this trail taken me through these quaint, side-road shops several hours later, surely I would have sampled their great array of sandwiches, but alas, it was barely past the sunrise so I happily dined on delectable pastries. I broke from my typical pattern of eating in which I purchase the same item in order to choose which was best at the end of the day and instead opted to embrace the variety of breakfast fare.

At the beginning of the bakery crawl, I chose to obtain a sampling of a hole-in-the-wall’s delightful muffins, keeping to tradition I had the chocolate chip—slightly warmed. I knew at the first velvety bite that it was a stroke of luck I had a partner helping me that day; otherwise my stomach would soon be none-too-happy with me. We devoured the muffin from its sugary top down, ensuring each bite held a morsel of chocolate. Nearly a mile further down that road was a bagel shop, their everything-style bagel, slathered with lox-cream cheese and a side of iced coffee (hazelnut, of course) paired perfectly for a hearty second breakfast.

We meticulously looped through the town and located a larger, well marketed establishment that had just recently changed hands. The stream of customers boosted my belief in the eatery’s quality. Soon enough, their generous sampling of sweet breads placed precariously atop their counter was vultured clean in seconds. I was merely able to snag a piece of apple danish and cinnamon bread before the platter was retracted.  Nonetheless, the meager snack satisfied my trust in the bakery’s claim of having the best bread in the county. But despite my taste buds begging for another bite of the danish, I had developed a whisper in my head instructing me to trek northward to the mythical home of what I had heard was the best croissant outside of Paris.

Another unplanned stop held me back from the buttery goodness awaiting ten miles away as we parked for a shared frozen mango smoothie. This was the precise boost of fruit needed to urge us further towards the final stop of the day and hopefully the famed croissant. As the mound of whipped cream melted into our mango drink just as the miles faded behind the wheels of the car, we emerged into the bustling town center of red brick buildings flanking a thriving park. Sitting on the common, this bakery was the most vibrant of all the others we had visited that morning. And there it was. Parked next to several incarnations of the luscious dough was the chocolate croissant. Light and airy, it practically floated onto our plate. Drizzled with chocolate and filled with the same smooth substance, the croissant pulled apart in flakey layers. Like unwrapping a long awaited Christmas present, I cherished each piece of the croissant before inhaling the thick, luscious center.

As the final bite disappeared, I regretted sharing this scrumptious pastry, devilishly eyeing its counterpart as it too was devoured. Feeling heavier already, we relaxed at the table long enough to recall how nearly each bakery we visited also boasted cupcakes; dainty cakes in all sizes: mini, cup or jumbo. Classic versions, specialty flavors and two for three deals. It was settled: as soon as we recovered from the marathon eating event, we would venture out again to discover if these bakeries could support an equally delicious cupcake crawl as well.