Overcoming Intimidation: Gaining my culinary confidence

 

Tonight we grilled a 3 pound tomahawk and it occurred to me that I am no longer intimidated by preparing and cooking food that I would categorize as extraordinary, unique, special, or what you could call gourmet.  This wasn't always the case, once I was afraid to try my hand at dishes that would not be normally "homecooked" meals but I remember what dish helped me over my timidity over messing up food.   

My boost of culinary confidence came from, of all things, making saganaki, the famous flaming cheese that is a staple at many Greek restaurants.  Saganaki is a rather expensive appetizer at the restaurant and few restaurants within 100 miles of us even offer it.  Saganaki requires a special cheese and certain preparations and methods, but I mastered it after only a few tries.  Tammy and I had a taste for it, we googled the instructions, sourced the kasseri cheese and took a stab at it, and I'm glad we did.  I've played around with a few ways of making it and I've improved on the recipes I studied and now Tammy and I make it several times a month, almost like it's nothing.  

I have enjoyed this lack of intimidation when it comes to tackling good food that we might not normally try, and I truly enjoy cooking with Tammy, and cooking new and exciting meals that we really enjoy.  I guess I took the approach, "What's the worst that could happen?"  So the food doesn't turn out and we toss it in the garbage, who really cares?  I've had a few meals that didn't turn out so great, but those are mere fractions of the overall great experiences we've had cooking.  My encouragement is to give it a try, if there's a meal you've longed for and feel fearful, you lose more by not trying to cook it than you could lose by attempting it and failing at it.  

Once you find out how easy lobster is to cook at home, you'll think twice about ordering it off the menu when you eat out.  The idea of cooking lobster shouldn't be terrifying, it is one of the easiest dishes to cook.  

We enjoy meals at home for a reasonable price that we never could afford at a nice restaurant.  For example, a frenched rack of lamb is under $40 at Sam's club, it includes around 14-16 or so servings, a serving portion of three lamb "lollypops" is over $50 at most restaurants, so we are getting about 5 times as many portions for about $10 less than if we ate out..  The same is true for Chilian Sea Bass, a few ounce portion is around $40 at the restaurant, if you buy it at the seafood store or frozen from the grocery store, you'll get a pound of Sea Bass for the same price.  How about fillet mignon, Prime Rib, or even a brisket?  It's far more reasonable to make it at home, but even more so is the rewarding feeling and the sense of accomplishment that you overcame your fears and made an incredible meal that you're proud of, that is priceless.  

If you have the stomach for it, check out the videos below, the videos are not everything we've cooked but only a sample, I share these videos to whet your appetite and to hopefully inspire you take up the challenge of cooking something difficult but delightful.  Bon Appetit!