About the Episode 🎙️
In this episode of Life Kit, Marielle Segarra and reporter Andy Tegel, along with chefs Samin Nosrat and Margaret Ebye, explore practical strategies for people who don't enjoy or feel up to cooking. The episode aims to demystify cooking, offering tips on how to build confidence in the kitchen, read recipes effectively, and trust your own taste buds. It also emphasizes the importance of expanding one's definition of cooking and embracing the convenience of the microwave.
Key Takeaways 💡
- (05:40) Cooking is a skill that improves with practice, not an innate talent, and anyone can learn to cook if they are motivated to make time for it. To get motivated, find an aspect of cooking that you enjoy, whether it's the creativity, the help from kids, or the money saved by not eating out.
- (07:49) Expand your idea of what counts as cooking, it doesn't have to be fancy or complicated. Assembling a charcuterie board, making bean salads, or even having "dip for dinner" all count as cooking. Using a can opener is also a valid cooking method.
- (10:47) Microwaves are efficient steam ovens that are great for cooking foods with high moisture content, such as soups, oatmeal, baked potatoes, and rice. You can even cook eggs in the microwave, whether scrambled or over easy, as long as you use a microwave-safe container.
- (14:15) When working with recipes, remember that they are open to interpretation and are not set in stone, unless you're baking. Don't give up on a recipe just because you don't have the exact ingredients; use what you have and adjust accordingly. Reading the comment sections of recipes can provide helpful substitutions and workarounds.
- (18:00) Trust your taste buds to guide your cooking and build confidence in the kitchen. If you know what you like to eat, you can figure out what you like to cook by paying attention to the balance of salt, fat, acid, heat, and texture in your food. You can learn about flavor combinations by googling recipes or following chefs you like online.
- (21:34) It's okay to rely on easy options like bagel bites or avocado toast when you're not up for cooking. Mistakes are a part of the cooking process, and it's important to be generous with yourself and not let perfect be the enemy of good. If you accidentally oversalt a dish, try balancing it by adding more of everything else, but if you make a major mistake, it's okay to start over with something easy.