How a Beginner Cook Can Improve Just About Any Recipe with 5 Ingredients

Have you newly donned the hat of a home cook? You probably already have a favorite recipe or two, if not more. The most important step to becoming a successful cook is quite simple--repetition. The more you cook, the better you get. Once you prepare a recipe a few times, you can start to experiment with the recipe to make it your own. From this you'll soon have your own unique recipe. I can't teach you to cook here, though, and it is important to conquer the basics of any recipe before you get crazy. I just want to introduce you to five very basic ingredients that every chef and any serious home cook uses, but the beginner home cook is usually unaware of, or at least doesn't think to buy.

For the record--it's impossible for a home cook to prepare a recipe to a professional chef's standards. There are dozens of reasons for this. Obviously, chefs have training that a home cook lacks. A chef also has the paramount benefits of prolonged practice, preparing any given recipe over and over again. This is not to minimize the roles of skill and study, but repetition counts for a lot. Every home cook (well, not the serious, wealthy ones) also lacks professional-grade equipment, which is worth far more than a beginner home cook suspects. Restaurants generally get better quality, fresher ingredients than a home cook can or will buy. The list goes on, but I won't.

This is not to discourage you. A home cook can turn out marvelous dishes and make any recipe downright delicious. Below are probably the 5 most important, basic ingredients you'll need to get your hands on and start using whenever you cook. They'll do for just about any recipe. These ingredients are in every restaurant kitchen and any serious home cook's kitchen as well. They all serve one primary purpose in every recipe--to enhance the depth of flavor. What makes this even simpler is that these ingredients are really just substitutions for components every recipe calls for, components with which even the novice home cook is already familiar. Also, these are all readily available to every home cook.

SEA SALT/COARSE SALT: Salt is ubiquitous when you cook, and a crucial flavoring agent for any recipe. It's not used just for its own flavor, though. Salt has a magical way of bringing out the flavors of the food it's used on. While standard table salt does this, sea salt and coarse salt do it better. The larger grains are easier to measure out with your fingers (which is very helpful to chefs working at an extreme pace), and, when not dissolved, can also provide some added texture.

KOSHER SALT: Kosher salt is another important variety, with a more potent salt flavor than other salts. Usually in flake form, as opposed to granules, kosher salt dissolves rapidly.

SHALLOTS: Shallots are basically a garlic/onion hybrid, containing the flavors of both in a more subtle manner. Shallots can substitute for onion or garlic in absolutely any recipe, and can be prepared in all the same ways. One of the more appealing aspects of shallots (especially for restaurants and for the home cook who entertains) is that they can usually be eaten by people who otherwise have problems consuming garlic and/or onion.

UNSALTED BUTTER: The common butters sold in supermarkets are salted, and not all that lightly. But your supermarket carries unsalted butter too. If you've ever made a recipe that came out too salty, and you couldn't understand it because you carefully followed the salt measurement in the directions, it was probably because of the salted butter. Chefs only use unsalted butter because controlling salt levels is crucial to the success of any recipe.

FRESH HERBS: You know that spice rack or cupboard you have with all the little shakers of chopped dried herbs? No self-respecting chef would be caught dead with those. They don't have a fraction of the flavor the fresh variety has. They may not have any flavor at all. Dried herbs do have a shelf life, their taste ever-diminishing. And really, how quickly do you go through that jar of parsley? Those shakers will really hold any recipe back. Here's an additional tip for the beginner home cook, on the subject: while you cook your food, use whole stems rather than just the leaves of fresh herbs. This imparts much more flavor. So if you're making a roasted rosemary chicken, toss entire rosemary pieces, stems and all, in with and on the bird. Remove them after cooking, and finish the dish with just plucked leaves (new ones, not from the batch that was in the oven).

These five ingredients can be used by any beginner home cook to improve just about any meal recipe. I'd suggest reading up a little on the different salts available and when to use them--I provided only a brief introduction so that you'll be aware of the most useful varieties. Have fun and keep at it, and you'll be a seasoned cook in no time (get it? seasoned?). And a caution--when you finally create a recipe you love, don't forget to write down exactly what you did, lest it be lost forever.