Almost all of my childhood memories involve food. From my early days in the kitchen with my grandfather to spending my weekends with a Ken Hom cookbook and carefully measuring every ingredient. It would take me hours to follow a recipe that taught me what flavours went together but not how to cook. I could spend all day in the kitchen making things from scratch but at the end of the day it would never be as good as the restaurants.
I remember then finding it frustrating. I would spend so much time and end up with an average meal. We would sit down for dinner as a family and it would be consumed within minutes. My brothers always in a rush to get out the door for Saturday night drinks and all I would get is a cheers Jim and off they went.
I loved it tho, and was the beginning of my 25 years in professional kitchens.
Does it sound familiar? Putting so much effort into your meals and it just not tasting how you want or expect it to.
As a personal chef I hear the struggles of cooking all the time