Rachel Roy Dress Tibi Dress: February 2013

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Soul Food Recipes - 3 Golden Rules of Preparation

Soul food recipes have a reputation of being simple but not always easy. There's a unique difference. With practice and patience most people can master the average soul food recipe. The problems mount when you mistake a simple recipe as an easy recipe. This usually results in taking an ingredient, cooking technique or method for granted.

Before you take on any recipe, make sure you understand what cooking technique you must apply, what cooking tools and equipment you'll need and what ingredients the recipe calls for.

The sound of "what happened" comes from the lips of most would-be cooks who thought skipping what they thought was a small and not so important step the recipe called for. This is an obvious golden rule to remember. But there are 3 golden rules to having success with soul food recipes. I'll cover them here.

1. Thou Shall Make A Shopping List

This is a simple actions many people neglect to do. Research has proven people who use a shopping list save 10 - 45% more money and save almost twice as much time shopping than those who don't. This doesn't count having to go back to the store because you forgot something important the recipe called for.

2. Thou Shall Learn The Language Of Recipes

Or at least keep a good dictionary close by. There's an old saying that if you can read you can cook. That's saying is partially true, but not completely true. A more accurate saying is If you can understand the language of recipes you can cook. You have to know the difference between searing, braising and roasting, if not your result will turn out different than you planned.

3. Thou Shall Learn From Thy Mistakes

This is one of the most important golden rules of all. Why? Because every cook makes mistakes even the worlds best. The difference between a good cook and a bad cook is the good one's took the time to learn from there mistakes. Notice I said take the time to learn from their mistakes. When you burn , overcook, undercook or goof up a recipe, the first impulse is to throw your hand up in despair and quit. But the key hear is to retrace your steps, find out what you didn't do and try it again.

If you take the time to follow these simple golden rules I can't promise you'll end the next Rachel Ray, Emeril Lagasse or host your own cooking show. But I can promise you'll improve your soul food recipe cooking successes.