There’s more than one way to be a good cook (or just to know how to cook, if you’re not really good). One tastes good but the other one matters more.
Do you know how to make food . . . or do you know how to make meals? Complete, nutritious, well-balanced, on-time meals, without assistance or tears? That is the question.
A good loaf of bread, a tasty casserole, the best mashed potatoes in the world don’t make an entire meal. A complete meal is even an entirely different undertaking from all of its elements separately. Even a simple, mediocre meal is better than a single spectacular dish, when it comes right down to having to live on it.
I’ve faced this reality myself. The fact is, I’m much better at making a single dish. That’s where my cooking skill really lies. Complete meals (on time!)? Hmmm. Not so much! But the thing is, the life of a home cook is made up of complete meals . . . and lots of them.
How are you doing? Can you plan good meals . . . and then bring them to fruition?