When we were very young, my mom bought us a cookbook. After a while, we memorized the recipes, so we often didn't even need to open it. When I was 6 or 7, she gave us a pound of meat and let us loose on the spice rack. I think this is where I really started to learn which flavors worked well. Today, I rarely pull out a cookbook. Sure, there are some things that require specific chemical reactions through measurement, like baking, but much of cooking is knowing what mixes well with something else. It's a creative realm. You have to know your flavors and spices. Do you want a savory dish? Vinegar, garlic, onion, savory, sage, coriander... You want a sweet dish? Tarragon, basil, ginger, thyme... Rosemary can go either way.
Salt is NOT, I repeat, NOT!!! a seasoning. It is a flavor enhancer. First get the dish to taste like you want it to taste, and THEN add a small amount of salt to bring out those flavors. Sugar works the same way. Sometimes you have to work in the opposite direction to pop flavors. Vinegar or a bit of salt can make things sweeter than sugar alone can make. If you want to make a dish that tastes like a dessert, add the cookie foundation: brown sugar, eggs, butter, flour. You can puree or shred almost any vegetable, add these ingredients in the right amounts, and have a crowd go crazy.
It's like frying foods. You can fry a tennis shoe and it will taste good! A tablespoon of olive oil tossed with almost any veggie and broiled is AMAZING! You just have to know what will maximize the flavors you need, and suddenly you don't have to add a bunch of junk to make something taste better. Most foods have a really spectacular taste all on their own, if you know how to draw it out. Steaming, broiling are great ways to do this. Boiling is not a great way to do this. Boiling is for bagels and pork ribs and hard boiled eggs. Very few foods are improved through boiling.
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