Like many people, I learned a lot of my cooking skills from my mom. She isn’t a professional, but a home cook who has always been passionate about trying new things in the kitchen. She’s learned and perfected so much: making all sorts of breads, cheeses, pasta, tamales — you name it and she’s probably made it.
With my renewed interest in cooking at home more, I’ve been trying lots of new ingredients and techniques. With this, I find myself wishing I could just get in the car and drive over to my mom’s house to have her show me how to do some of these things that I want to learn. Like making pepperjack cheese. Or how to make a sourdough starter. Or maybe we could make some raviolis together (actually, not sure if she’s made those before, but I bet she has, and they’ve been on my mind a lot lately).
Unfortunately, she lives many states away so it’s not possible, but I do email and call her to get instructions and advice on various foods and dishes. Modern technology is great, don’t you think? However, in a pinch, I have realized something else that technology has brought us: YouTube videos. It doesn’t replace a mom’s advice, but gosh, it sure it helpful for learning new cooking techniques and all about new ingredients.
Now, I’ve been married for quite a while (almost 20 years) and I have been cooking this whole time. Sometimes more, sometimes less. But when I first started cooking, there was no YouTube. There was no Google. You had the library, and magazines, and some cooking shows. But today…wow.
Recently I bought my first mango to make Mango Guacamole. I had NO idea how to get it from it’s whole shape to the little chunks of fruit that I needed. With a few clicks I had dozens of short videos SHOWING me how:
When I was cooking with leeks for the first time, I was unsure about how to get them clean. With a quick search, I found lots of different videos on cleaning and cutting leeks:
Then, back a few weeks more I was looking up recipes for hummus. I was fairly clear on how to make hummus, but I did stumble upon a YouTube video that showed the steps. It was great to get a clear visual:
So, for this week’s Works For Me Wednesday, my tip is: Learn Cooking Techniques on YouTube! I know with my mom, YouTube, all the great food bloggers out there, cookbooks, and all my favorite cooking shows – I’m covered!
(Be sure to check out Works-For-Me Wednesday to see what’s working for other bloggers!)
anudivya says
Well, I call my mom every now and then too with questions… and more often than not, I rely on the world wide web 🙂
Christy says
I learned to make biscuits by watching a youtube video. Great tip!