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Cooking makes us better cooks. Edit: I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.

by myshpa 3y ago

BookhouseGames 3y ago
Agreed. Practice at something makes us better at the thing.
- r0b1n 3y ago
  Disagreed. Practice is just one component in a cycle that makes us better: We watch something, think of something, read something. Then we try it out in practice. Then we observe or have someone else observe the practice and result. Then we take suggestions and improvements into account from that observation. Then we start over at one of the points above. If you only just repeat the "practice" step you'll get set in your ways, get used to doing the same mistakes all over, etc.
  - myshpa 3y ago
    When it comes to cooking, it's hard to imagine someone getting progressively worse, especially when they are the ones tasting their creations. If it doesn't taste right, they'll naturally adjust and improve. The feedback loop is immediate and personal.
    - r0b1n 3y ago
      "Better" is very one-dimensional, but cooking isn't. You can get worse at taste but better at health. Better at health and taste but worse at time consumption. Better at price but worse at hygiene. Many things are possible, but without an audience or at least your own critical acclaim, you cannot prioritize. And, of course, "there is no accounting for taste" meaning that some of the aforementioned dimensions are very subjective.
    - light_hue_1 3y ago
      It's easy to imagine people getting worse over time. I see it regularly. People don't do blind taste tests when they cook. They cook something and compare it to their previous memory. Then they slowly diverge and enter some crazy part of the space where no one should be cooking an ingredient that way. There's no notion of something tasting right on its own. You need to compare it against a better version of that dish. It's easy for two people to cook exactly the same dish, following the same recipe, both of them to think it came out great, and then when they taste each other's to discover that one is dramatically better.
- throw0101a 3y ago
  > Practice at something makes us better at the thing. You can practice at something incorrectly, building bad habits, which can make you worse. See also the idea of "Deliberate Practice": * https://jamesclear.com/deliberate-practice-theory https://jamesclear.com/deliberate-practice-theory
have_faith 3y ago
Sure, but there's a world of difference between doing something and practicing it.
scotty79 3y ago
Disagree. I'm crap no matter how much I cook and I even cook some things worse than I used to.
- myshpa 3y ago
  What helped me when learning to cook vegan was focusing on the basics. I studied a few recipes (such as Indian curry) and identified the fundamental ingredients (onions, garlic, ginger, tomatoes, spices, and protein), creating a list of non-basic spices and other potential ingredients. I mastered the process of this basic recipe: browning the onions with cumin and bay leaf, no salt, adding garlic and the remaining spices, introducing tomatoes with salt, then adding vegetable stock and protein, and cooking until finished. From there, I began experimenting with additional spices, ingredients, vegetables (almost anything works), and proteins (beans, lentils, peas, etc.) Always stick to the basics. Many recipes out there are needlessly complex. After all, you can make almost anything taste delicious with just onions, fat, salt, and pepper. I'd recommend the book 'Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat' – I've only skimmed it, but it seems to ring true.
  - robertlagrant 3y ago
    The internet is amazing! I never thought I'd meet another person who cooks vegans!
    - myshpa 3y ago
      :))
  - selimthegrim 3y ago
    One of the fundamental parts of curry making is cooking the spices until the oil separates - that is until all the water boils off, and the tomato skins blacken. This is usually not explained terribly well in written recipes.
    - myshpa 3y ago
      Yeah, I've seen the step, but decided to skip that to save time. Seems like I'll have to try that anyway. Thank you.

Cooking makes us better cooks. Edit: I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.

by myshpa 3y ago

Cooking makes us better cooks. Edit: I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.

BookhouseGames 3y ago

Agreed. Practice at something makes us better at the thing.

r0b1n 3y ago
Disagreed. Practice is just one component in a cycle that makes us better: We watch something, think of something, read something. Then we try it out in practice. Then we observe or have someone else observe the practice and result. Then we take suggestions and improvements into account from that observation. Then we start over at one of the points above. If you only just repeat the "practice" step you'll get set in your ways, get used to doing the same mistakes all over, etc.
- myshpa 3y ago
  When it comes to cooking, it's hard to imagine someone getting progressively worse, especially when they are the ones tasting their creations. If it doesn't taste right, they'll naturally adjust and improve. The feedback loop is immediate and personal.
  - r0b1n 3y ago
    "Better" is very one-dimensional, but cooking isn't. You can get worse at taste but better at health. Better at health and taste but worse at time consumption. Better at price but worse at hygiene. Many things are possible, but without an audience or at least your own critical acclaim, you cannot prioritize. And, of course, "there is no accounting for taste" meaning that some of the aforementioned dimensions are very subjective.
  - light_hue_1 3y ago
    It's easy to imagine people getting worse over time. I see it regularly. People don't do blind taste tests when they cook. They cook something and compare it to their previous memory. Then they slowly diverge and enter some crazy part of the space where no one should be cooking an ingredient that way. There's no notion of something tasting right on its own. You need to compare it against a better version of that dish. It's easy for two people to cook exactly the same dish, following the same recipe, both of them to think it came out great, and then when they taste each other's to discover that one is dramatically better.
throw0101a 3y ago
> Practice at something makes us better at the thing. You can practice at something incorrectly, building bad habits, which can make you worse. See also the idea of "Deliberate Practice": * https://jamesclear.com/deliberate-practice-theory https://jamesclear.com/deliberate-practice-theory

have_faith 3y ago

Sure, but there's a world of difference between doing something and practicing it.

scotty79 3y ago

Disagree. I'm crap no matter how much I cook and I even cook some things worse than I used to.

myshpa 3y ago
What helped me when learning to cook vegan was focusing on the basics. I studied a few recipes (such as Indian curry) and identified the fundamental ingredients (onions, garlic, ginger, tomatoes, spices, and protein), creating a list of non-basic spices and other potential ingredients. I mastered the process of this basic recipe: browning the onions with cumin and bay leaf, no salt, adding garlic and the remaining spices, introducing tomatoes with salt, then adding vegetable stock and protein, and cooking until finished. From there, I began experimenting with additional spices, ingredients, vegetables (almost anything works), and proteins (beans, lentils, peas, etc.) Always stick to the basics. Many recipes out there are needlessly complex. After all, you can make almost anything taste delicious with just onions, fat, salt, and pepper. I'd recommend the book 'Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat' – I've only skimmed it, but it seems to ring true.
- robertlagrant 3y ago
  The internet is amazing! I never thought I'd meet another person who cooks vegans!
  - myshpa 3y ago
    :))
- selimthegrim 3y ago
  One of the fundamental parts of curry making is cooking the spices until the oil separates - that is until all the water boils off, and the tomato skins blacken. This is usually not explained terribly well in written recipes.
  - myshpa 3y ago
    Yeah, I've seen the step, but decided to skip that to save time. Seems like I'll have to try that anyway. Thank you.