AN ENGINEER’S GUIDE TO COOKING🍲

As children we learn from observation. Languages are best learnt when immersed and surrounded by it. When in school, for my Hindi language exams, I’d be listening to only Hindi music the day before the exam to try and make my mind think in Hindi. Similarly, cooking is a language and form of expression. The fastest way to learn cooking would be to shadow cooks, although they’d be annoyed :P The next best thing is thus to watch cooking videos! Tons of it. Search up your favorite recipes, find channels you like and just watch videos. That’s how my journey began.

In your mind you start assembling building blocks of the language of cooking noting how different ingredients and foods interact with each other, to different kinds of heat, etc.

Be curious. Be determined and aim to want to be able to cook confidently one day. The first few recipes and attempts may be disastrous. Do not let that deter your faith and determination. It’s all a part of the learning journey. Everyone starts somewhere.

Now that you are able to speak words, form sentences and express yourself through cooking, it’s time to join school, the school of cooking. Some of our parents learnt cooking directly and purely through practice and exposure. Ask them why add a certain ingredient, and they may not be able to explain why and would get annoyed at further questions :P At the same time one can get too lost in the theory of it, and for daily cooking eventually ultimately it’s more about practice to get more efficient. However theory goes hand in hand, and the fastest learning is through simultaneous investments - practicing, experimenting, understanding, questioning, etc. - in both practice and theory, to take cooking to the next level.