5 Tips To Up Your Game In The Kitchen

Why is it that we can buy the freshest ingredients but can never quite replicate restaurant food? Most restaurant food comes perfectly prepared every time. At home, not so much.

No matter how hard we try, we just can’t seem to replicate it perfectly. We can often get close but your vision of what you wanted your dish to be, never fully works out. Reproducing a professional chefs food is like trying to copy the Mona Lisa, somewhat always a failure.

Here are the top reasons why your dishes will never match up and some tips that will help you up your game in the kitchen.

#1 Restaurant kitchens are professional businesses

Coordinating and orchestrating a kitchen is no easy task. It takes years of experience and a wealth of culinary knowledge to effectively run a kitchen, especially at the top level. While you may be an expert at cooking quick recipes at home, preparing a restaurant grade meal takes a little more experience and finesse.

Restaurant kitchens are fully equipped with everything that’s needed to turn out amazing food, your kitchen probably isn’t. If you want it to be you will need to invest in a lot of kitchen gadgets.

#2 Preparation is key

Perfect recipes, sharp knives and skilled technicians, that’s what you can expect to find in any world-class kitchen. Does your kitchen at home measure up? The skills acquired by just the commis chef far exceed even the most talented home cooking enthusiast. Your best efforts are no match for years of experience and excellent mentorship. If you want to come close you may want to enroll in a culinary institute.

#3 Salt is not the enemy

Salt just makes the food taste better by enhancing the natural flavors of the food. It helps accentuate the whole dining experience. Don’t be afraid to use salt. Most professional chefs are heavy handed with it and you should too.

Your dishes won’t taste salty, they’ll just taste better. Learning to add the right balance comes with time and you might have to over salt a meal or two in order to get your technique right. You’ll start to realize that a steak or pork chop without salt tastes remarkably different than the one that’s salted.

Our bodies do need salt. It helps control fluid balance and the functioning of muscles and nerves. Just don’t overdo it.

#4 Blazing Ovens

Industrial ovens used in restaurant kitchens are monsters. They often reach temperatures of 500 degrees and are the reason why your food turns up so fast. With the skill of a chef, the food is perfectly cooked to perfection in high heat temperatures. So relax if you just can’t seem to get that steak perfectly crusty, or the skin of the salmon crispy at home. In order to do that you’ll need to invest in some professional or industrial appliances. 

#5 Sharing Food

At the end of the day, a meal is about sharing food with family and friends. While you may never be able to achieve the level of a head chef, that shouldn’t stop you from trying. Equip your kitchen with a few items that will improve your culinary prowess and read through a few good recipe books for ideas on new dishes. Above all, stay inspired and have fun!