Former cook Jonas Mikka Luster has a great post on Quora concerning his 10 Commandments of Cooking. It’s worth repeating.
Honor what you use. For every piece of food, every ingredient, every vegetable, slice of meat, herb, or spice, someone had to work, an animal had to die, trucks, vans, trains, and boats had to move. Every celery stalk and every pork loin has made a permanent impression on this planet. Honor the men and women who worked for your food, the animals who had to die for it, by giving everything the best treatment, thinking about how you can make it better, and by not wasting or throwing away food items.
- Don’t lose touch with your food. Tongs and other contraptions only serve to keep you away from it. Losing touch, figuratively and literally, yields worse dishes. Touch your steaks, your salad, everything. Learn how it feels, smells, looks, and tastes.
- Try something new every month. Follow foreign cultures and preparations. Your life will be richer and your food better, even when you’re preparing common staples.
- Before you use the tool learn to do it with your own hands. Buying a julienne peeler is nice and can save you hours over the course of a lifetime. But only by learning how to cut, mash, grind, sear, saute, and whisk with your hands will you keep touch with your food and get the best results.
- Cook for others. Enough said.
- Use fresh where possible, canned where necessary and frozen when desperate.
- Taste everything. Repeatedly.
- Let your food items come to room temperature before throwing them into pans.
- Work clean and clean as you go.
- When cooking, taste. When baking, measure.
