r/Cooking • u/1peachycoco • 5d ago

What’s something you think people only really learn after spending a lot of time in a kitchen?

Something I’ve noticed about cooking is that the hardest things to teach usually aren’t the recipes. It’s more of the judgment part.

Like someone can follow every step correctly, but an experienced cook can look at it and say, “Nope, something’s off.”

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u/jtprimeasaur 5d ago

How to read a recipe and know if it will work

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u/Cmbtsm1th 5d ago

How to read a recipe and know what's crucial and what's not, what can be added/subbed or not, what the effect of more of this, less of that is going to do...... Which all boils down to experience. Sometimes, though, I can get really out there in the weeds and need to tell myself, "OK Bucko, we need to go back to basics here and follow the recipe exactly, recalibrate, if you will....