Rule #2

Ok, you've got your mix of nice and medium ingredients, what's Rule # 2? Don't screw them up. This is it, it's what every chef tries to do, to get the essence of flavor as perfect as possible. This is why sometimes you go to those fancy organic restaurants and all you get for dessert is two plums and knife. Because sometimes that's all you need. But we're talking about cooking today.

I can't tell you exactly how to cook. I know there's people out there that like what some would term as overcooked greens (they're brown) or well done meat. I even knew a lady that would come into the bakery I worked in and request our darkest pastries because she liked the burnt flavor. I do, however, suggest that you try these things again, cooked in a more conventional way. If you don't like it that way, cool, but at least you know what all the fuss is about.

We're not done yet! Rule #2 goes beyond not burning the heck out of whatever you're cooking. (Although that's helpful) It's also making sure you use your ingredients, no matter what the price, appropriately. An example is when you're cooking with wine or another spirit. By now, you've heard 1000 times that you shouldn't cook with anything you wouldn't drink because you will get the essence of the wine in the dish. That doesn't mean that you need something expensive, though. Find a good, basic example of the wine or spirit and you'll be ok. Cooking with a bottle of Opus One is wasteful and useless unless 'cooking with it' means you're drinking it as you go along. I don't judge.