What's Cooking?

Being able to make myself a cup of tea; or fixing 2-minute noodles in 20 minutes, don’t necessarily qualify as cooking skills. I had no reason to venture beyond this level of competence. Growing up as the eldest grandchild in a joint family with doting grandparents and disciplinarian parents, the only reason for me to enter the kitchen was to steal goodies from secret jars, when the elders were either napping or busy with chores. And yes, I always shared the booty with any sibling that caught me red-handed!

Consequently, learning to cook was never a priority or even a passing interest. Cooking seemed an esoteric gig. Imagine remembering all the ingredients that go into any dish; the proportions and the cooking process itself… All of these seemed too much for me to try, let alone master! The sheer complexity that came with cooking seemed intimidating. Naturally therefore, I had nurtured a fear of standing in front of a stove to create anything edible; and had grown to respect all those with enviable culinary skills.

Thanks to the lockdown, while home and office became one, I entertained the thought of trying my hand at cooking. Egged on by well-meaning friends, I faced my fears, armed with online recipes and video tutorials! The only risk I was taking was using my mom’s cooking gear - damaging or breaking any of them meant banishment.

I now cook at least once a week and every time I do, I discover a new me. It seems as mysterious as peeling one layer of an onion, only to discover a juicier layer inside. This discovery of the unknown ‘me’ has come with some precious lessons and reinforcements. Here are four from my adventures in the line of fire!  

Preparation: In my eagerness to dish out tasty recipes, I tried imitating what the chefs do on the videos - chop vegetables or prepare for a sub-process, as they begin to cook. When I tried what seemed like a cool-dude act of chopping onions with oil in the pan; it resulted in the mustard and cumin seeds assaulting me like bullets from a machine gun while I struggled with teared-up eyes to continue chopping the onions. Thankfully, the low visibility didn’t come in the way of my right hand landing the knife on the onion runway, and not on my left finger tips. That would have been a permanent reason for my runaway from cooking!

Prep-time is crucial. It is essential to keep all the ingredients processed (peeled, chopped, marinated etc.), and ready before you begin any cooking project. And mind you, prep-time often is longer than the cook-time itself! After a couple of initial fiascos, I now religiously get all ingredients ready before I light the stove.

Reinforcement: ‘Preparation’ is as crucial in cooking as it is at work; or for learning any new skill. In fact, the longer one INVESTS in preparation, the smoother and quicker is the process of learning and even mastering a new skill.  

Rather than finding shortcuts for prep-time, it actually pays to learn sub-skills required for the job. For cooking, it could mean learning to peel and chop vegetables, especially onions and tomatoes; or learning to mix dough; all of which will help in shortening the prep-time. Remember, every minute spent here (I choose to see this as an investment) pays rich dividends!

Isn’t this true for any project at work? Haven’t you laboured for weeks working late evenings or bringing work home, and even working over the weekends to prepare for a crucial presentation or a workshop? Perhaps, your moment of truth may well have lasted just a few minutes. Now, upon reflection, you will agree that it was the weeks of preparation that enabled you to deal with tricky questions or impress your stakeholders or clients.

Process: Almost all cookery videos come with cooking instructions as described by the chef - the sequence in which the ingredients need to be added in the cooking process. For example: the chef will want you to first create the base, and only then add other ingredients. Remember, the sequence is important. While making aloo paneer, you add potatoes early in the cooking process, but add paneer almost at the end of it. Every ingredient has a cooking time - the time required for it to blend well with other ingredients. This could vary for different dishes. Adding an ingredient either too early or too late, could alter the taste of the dish, or give you an unpalatable one! 

If you are an amateur cook like myself or are feeling inspired to try your hand at cooking; pay attention to all instructions, even if they seem trivial; for example: after you have prepared the base and added the main ingredients, you usually allow them to cook on medium or high flame with the lid closed. Notice that there is usually an instruction to add enough water before you close the lid. I had once disregarded this little instruction, only to spend more time scrubbing the pan later, than cooking the main course itself!

Reinforcement: Processes define most areas of work. Some of us from the service industry understand the importance of ‘Standard Operating Procedures’ or SOPs that form the processes. They exist for a reason. They not only define what is to be done; but when and how, and in what sequence. I see processes as nothing but distilled wisdom from past mistakes committed by others. All accepted processes and procedures is what we know in corporate lingo as ‘best-practices’. Processes operate behind the scenes; for example: the online order you just placed has to go through a sequence of picking; sorting; packing and shipping. And, each of these steps is governed by an SOP that, when followed, ensures that you get your desired product on time.

Practice: You are lucky if your first dish turns out to be edible. Mine barely did! That, and the encouragement from your loved ones, keeps you wanting to try your second, and the third… It is essential to not give-up even if your first attempt is not very complementary. Like any other skill, being able to dole out yummy and finger-licking good dishes, comes with practice. 

What makes cooking interesting is that once you understand the basic fundamentals, you can use them to cook any dish; for example: adding salt while frying onions, will make them turn soft and golden brown faster. And when boiling milk, it tends to stick to the vessel if it is not stirred continuously. If you want your vermicelli kheer to impress your guests (and post pictures on Insta!) make sure you keep stirring the milk as it boils. Lest it gets stuck to the pan and lends a burnt taste to your dessert.

Reinforcement: Cooking techniques; like skills, are transferable. What you learn while cooking one dish, will come in handy when you are cooking the same vegetable or following the same process for another dish. And learning the skill can take some time. Even if you are a quick learner, it pays to practice cooking the same dish a few times before you volunteer for the next potluck.

With practice comes new discoveries. I learn something new about Word, Excel or PowerPoint, even after using them for decades. This is true of Zoom, WebEx, Teams and a galaxy of new online tools.

Patience: Mouthwatering dishes are not always the outcome of a list of ingredients processed in a certain order. Beyond the list of ingredients and the cooking process, is the creativity of the chef. Much like an artist or a poet, who exercise their poetic license to add a brushstroke here or introduce a word there, to radically transform their work of art, the chef too can use her imagination to add or substitute ingredients or processes. Neither of this would have happened in the first few attempts at cooking, or the first time you try learning anything new. Improvisation can bring an outcome that is either congratulatory or utterly embarrassing. It is those ‘tricks of the trade’ that is never available in any textbooks, nor is it taught in any course. You also learn new hacks by watching family and friends, who are expert cooks. 

Reinforcement: New learning happens when you apply old learning in new situations. Once you are fairly conversant with the fundamentals of cooking, permit yourself to be creative. Experiment with replacing one ingredient with another, as I tried to replace cornflour with powdered oats to build density in my Broccoli soup, and achieved the same consistency and complements!

We have all been through times where, in the heat of the moment, we have said something in meetings or replied hastily to an email, only to regret it later. But, when we have taken time to reflect and respond - perhaps by carefully choosing our words, or by being more empathic towards the other person or their situation - we have been able to get the desired outcomes without denting or damaging reputations or relationships.

Preparation; Process; Practice and Patience will help any learner in mastering a new skill. The 70:20:10 rule emphasizes that ‘learning by doing’ forms the largest and the most pivotal chunk of all learning, especially in adults.

Oftentimes, what we do at work are skills learnt ‘on the job’ either by deliberately following instructions or by watching our peers and other experts performing a particular task or executing a project. Learning by doing, requires the adult learner to suspend one’s mental distractions fully, in order to be fully present in the learning process and absorb the learning. It calls for active listening and active observing; two skills that cannot always be taught. One is able to actively listen and observe completely, only when one can suspend one’s judgement of both, the action and the actor. Judging introduces filters that contaminates absorption of the lessons.

In the current situation, as we all stretch ourselves to don multiple hats, at home or at work; having to perform tasks that we are not familiar with, or are not part of our JDs, there is a need for us to ‘learn on the go’. 

As we traverse unfamiliar paths to an uncertain future; it is Preparation, Process, Practice and Patience, that will keep us open to sighting new possibilities; agile at adapting to them quickly; and learning continuously as we journey towards glorious destinations!

If you are cooking for the first time or trying to learn a new skill, what will come in handy besides having an open-mind, is the willingness to make mistakes, preferably early in the process - and being ‘aware’ of them. Learn; unlearn and re-learn are the secret ingredients to staying relevant!

Bon Appétit!