Make Michelin-quality Food at Home: Hints & Tips
You don’t have to be a trained chef to have a go at recreating some of the dishes you’d find in top restaurants the world over. If you’ve got a passion for food and plenty of patience, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with giving Michelin-style food a go at home. What we mean by that, of course, is taking some tips from the best – via cookbooks and online tutorials – and trying to put them into action. After all, if you don’t give it a go, how will you know if your food isn’t already Michelin-quality?
If you fancy trying your hand at preparing first class food, here’s what you’ll need to do before you get going:
Source Quality Ingredients – First things first, you’re not going to get very far when it comes to fine food if you search out low quality ingredients. Instead, think produce that’s at its absolute best in terms of freshness, visit independent grocery shops for organic fruit and veg, and don’t settle for anything featuring preservatives or other additives. Remember, you’re trying to create an air of luxury; so think M&S not Iceland.
Master the Techniques – Now, this is the bit that takes time – and lots of that aforementioned patience. Start with a dish that isn’t too expensive to make; you don’t want to be having to throw huge steaks in the bin, so instead go for something simple like a really good vegetable soup. Take a look online for some recipe suggestions and get going. Think about flavours, methods and the way you present your food – and when you think you’ve cracked it, experiment again to discover how you might make it even better.
Experiment – Is that hint of spice just not working in your stew? The best thing to do is add spices slowly, tasting as you go. Don’t be tempted to tip a load of herbs and spices in early on; if you don’t like the end result there’ll be little you can do to change it. Start slowly, seasoning a bit here and a bit there. If you like, have a willing taste tester on hand, too; they’ll help offer a second opinion and can act as a food critic in the process!
Be Prepared to Try, Try and Try Again – Cooking is a skill that requires patience and plenty of time. True, some people are naturals when it comes to making the perfect chocolate ganache or ensuring a beef wellington is cooked just so; pastry crumbly in texture and not overdone, while the meat is rare and buttery soft. But the fact is, most of us need to put the time into such skills. Don’t feel defeated if you can’t get it right first time; when you finally do, it’ll be all the more rewarding.
Don’t Forget About Presentation – Great cooking is as much about the presentation as it is the food itself. Think about the last time you spent some serious money on a meal out; we bet you’d have felt a bit robbed if your food looked like it’d simply been thrown on the plate. So next time you’re planning to try making a Michelin-quality meal, think about the way it looks.
Want to enter the leisure jobs industry? You can do far worse than taking a look over the above tips and making your first tentative steps to making Michelin-quality food. Go on, give it a go!
