Break Out of Your Culinary Comfort Zone With These Helpful Tips

Cooking is one of those skills in life that we practice by doing it more often. We have to cook on a regular basis to get used to knife skills and regulating temperatures, and we also need to cook more often if we want to expand our recipe knowledge. As long as you’re cooking on a regular basis and learning new recipes, then you’re eventually going to get more comfortable in the kitchen and you’ll find that tackling harder recipes and making tasty food becomes second nature.

But what if we said that this comfort zone isn’t a good thing?

You see, when you get really comfortable with cooking certain foods, your culinary skills can get a little dull. You need to constantly challenge yourself with new recipes if you want to continuously improve your cooking, but most people don’t do this. If their motivation is to learn how to cook a specific dish, they’ll stick with that and then never cook anything else until they find the motivation again.

Source: https://unsplash.com/photos/yWG-ndhxvqY (CC0)

Cook something that takes a bit longer than what you’re used to

Most people tend to cook stuff that is convenient for them. After all, many of us cook because it’s a lot cheaper than going out to eat or getting takeout food all of the time. This means that many of our staple recipes are fast, simple, but still really tasty. But with that said, why not try to cook something that is a little out of your comfort zone?

For example, you could try this seared duck breast recipe. It takes around 30 minutes to cook which isn’t long by most standards, but it’s certainly a bit longer than what many of us are used to. It’s a great starting point for longer recipes that might involve long simmers or baking times. Thankfully, most of these recipes that take a bit longer aren’t necessarily harder; they just take a bit more time to cook and there’s a little more preparation.

However, there are also some longer recipes that take several days because of all of the preparation involved. Take ramen for example. It’s something that you can cook in just five minutes if you make an instant variety, but it’s also a food that can take several days if you make everything from scratch. Is it worth making the broth yourself and cooking it for many hours? It’ll definitely taste different, and it’ll teach you a lot of useful culinary skills. It’s not as practical, but it’ll help you get out of your comfort zone.

Try out ingredients that you normally don’t use

There’s a good chance that there are ingredients you’ve rarely ever used. Even if you’re a seasoned chef with a lot of experience in the kitchen, there are probably spices that you’ve never touched, proteins that you’ve never cooked with, and even preparation methods that you’ve never tried. But perhaps the most exciting of all of these is trying out new ingredients that you’ve never worked with before.

Maybe you’ve always been curious about certain types of ingredients that you pass by when shopping at your local supermarket. If so, why not do a bit of searching on Google to find out what they’re used for or some of the easier ways to incorporate them into your daily recipes. Perhaps you can find a new source of umami to add to your vegetarian dishes, or you might realize that there are lots of different seasonings that you can add to your favorite chicken dishes to make them more exciting.

In short, don’t hesitate to try out different kinds of ingredients. Expand your horizons and give everything a try.

Get inspired with cookbooks and cooking channels

Cookbooks and cooking channels on YouTube are fantastic options for inspiration. They’ll show you all kinds of different recipes that you can try, they’ll introduce you to new ingredients and cooking methods, and they’re usually really entertaining. If you ever feel like you’re lacking the motivation to cook or find that your dishes are a little boring, then looking at cookbooks and cooking channels is a fantastic way to reignite your passion for cooking.

This is also a fantastic way to expand your horizons with cooking in general. Learning about cuisine from different cultures is a good way to get out of your cooking comfort zone, and there’s no better way to introduce yourself to different cuisine than to get inspired with cookbooks and cooking channels.