25 Principles for Cooking
A Few Things I Know
Hey, everyone!
It’s been quite a few weeks since I’ve published here. Life has been busy lately, but I’m hoping to get back into a habit of writing regularly.
I recently came across this excellent post from Sasha Chapin on Substack, and I loved the format. I decided to riff on it and put together a post outlining a few things I know to be true about cooking.
This post is actually based on a Twitter thread I published a couple of years ago that was quite well-received. I’ve added some more details here and expanded on some of the ideas. One day I aspire to turn this into a short book where I can really dive into these concepts. Let me know if you like the format!
Myles
A Few Basic Principles To Improve Your Home Cooking
Salt is the most important ingredient in cooking, by far. Learn how to use it.
I repeat this ad nauseam, but it’s true. Salt is a tool that we use to enhance existing flavors in food and to make food taste more like itself. Proper use of salt is the highest-leverage skill you can acquire as a cook. This guide is a good starting point.
No amount of technique will overcome bad ingredients. Focus on sourcing good ingredients and your food will taste better.
I subscribe to the school of cooking that prioritizes primary ingredients above all else. The better the ingredients that you start with, the less you have to do to make them taste amazing. Reverence for nature and proper sourcing are critical to great cooking.
Shop at local farmer's markets, butcher shops, bakeries, and cheese shops before going to grocery chains.
This goes with the above concept. If you want to source the best-quality products, you’re more likely to find them in these places.
You need one chef’s knife, one paring knife, and one bread knife. That’s it.
There’s a massive industry of companies trying to sell you cooking equipment you don’t actually need. Knife sets are one of the primary culprits. Buy a few good knives and learn how to take care of them and use them well.
A great cast iron or carbon steel skillet will last forever, improve with time, and be one of your most versatile pieces of cookware.
Non-stick cookware is a sham.
Most non-stick cookware is coated with toxic chemicals that wreak havoc on your endocrine system and should be avoided at all costs. Not only is it bad for you, it’s also less performant. You can’t use high heat with non-stick cookware, so you’re unable to get the searing and browning you want on things like steaks. Cast iron and carbon still will become virtually non-stick over time as they season, and stainless steel rarely sticks if it’s pre-heated properly. If you feel that you really need a non-stick, opt for a ceramic pan. Just don’t cook your steaks in it.
Don’t buy cheap olive oil. It's probably rancid or fake.
Acidity is nearly as important as salt. It brightens up food, adds dimensionality, and cuts through fat.
If you’ve ever cooked something and it tastes “flat,” try adding some salt. If the sensation persists, try adding some acidity. The combination of salt and acidity is what we call “seasoning” in cooking, and knowing how to do it properly is a superpower.
Fresh herbs add a ton of flavor to a meal. Use them liberally.
Practice kitchen minimalism.
Simplicity is key in cooking, and this is especially true for cookware. Buy the high-quality items that will last you a long time and that you will actually use. You’ll have less clutter in your kitchen, you’ll actually use what you buy, and you can afford to spend more on these things since you’re buying fewer pieces overall.
Olive oil, beef tallow, butter, and ghee should be 90% of what you cook with.
Don’t be afraid of high heat. That’s how you get a lot of the best textures and flavors in food.
I learned this when I started cooking at Hartwood, where everything happened over an open fire. Ripping hot heat is what allows you to develop deep browning (which creates many of the most flavorful compounds) and amazing crusts on food. With the right cookware you can easily achieve this at home.
When it comes to grills, wood > charcoal > pellets > propane.
I have nothing against propane grills. They’re incredibly convenient and have their time and place. But nothing compares to the flavor you get from real wood fire.
Sweet, salt, sour, bitter, umami. Learn these 5 tastes and how to balance them.
Think of these flavors as the primary colors in your cooking canvas. A lot of what makes things delicious is the interaction between these various components.
Fish sauce and soy sauce are secret weapons to add umami, even in a subtle way.
I’d also add miso, anchovies, and certain hard cheeses to this list.
The best dishes are really simple. Try eliminating something before you add more.
I learned this from Sean Brock. He said: “When you think you are done creating a dish, ask someone who isn’t attached to it to remove one component.” The more I mature as a cook, the more I’m attracted to simplicity.
A quick clean-up of your kitchen before you start cooking will drastically alter the energy of the space for the better.
In the professional cooking world, we used to say that “a clean kitchen is a happy kitchen.” And it’s true. Objects and spaces have energy, and a clean kitchen will free you from distraction and allow you to be more present and creative when you cook.
Mise en place is the most powerful concept home cooks can adopt from restaurant kitchens.
Vegetables taste WAY better when they're in-season. Shop locally and seasonally.
Textural contrast makes food more interesting. Try layering in different textures.
Nuts, seeds, breadcrumbs, or fried shallots for crunch. Soft cheeses, yogurt, and sour cream for creaminess. Pickled vegetables for crisp acidity. Raw vegetables mixed into a grain bowl for a nice snap. The list goes on.
If you want to master a dish, you have to make it many times. Have at least one dish in your repertoire that you've made enough to cook it without a recipe, anywhere and any time.
All of the best dishes are worth making over and over again. There are classic dishes I’ve made many times, and I still learn new things each time I repeat them.
Recipes are overrated. Techniques are more important.
Recipes have their time and place. But you should never follow a recipe blindly— always use your senses, first and foremost, to guide you. Focus on learning the techniques that transcend individual recipes, and you’ll develop a much broader repertoire of cooking knowledge.
Constraint breeds creativity.
I lived with a vegetarian friend for several years, and I came up with some of my most creative dish ideas during that time. The constraint of not structuring a meal around meat forced me to think outside the box. This goes for a lot of things— not having the perfect kitchen setup, all the right cookware, or all the right ingredients can, counterintuitively, be an advantage. It forces you to get creative, and you’ll often be pleasantly surprised by what you produce.
Presence is one of the most important skills in cooking.
Cooking is all about using our senses to guide us. Every time you cook, you’re taking in a ton of different signals in the form of tastes, sights, sounds, temperatures, textures, and more. If you’re distracted, you’ll miss these. Cooking well is all about tapping into the present moment and honing that sensory awareness.
If you enjoyed this post, check out myles.cooking, a website that I built with all of my recipes, plus an AI chatbot tool where you can ask questions and get cooking tips and suggestions.
Great article man!
I’m biased but I think this would make a fabulous zine 😊