A chance to learn

  Think of that delicious meal you had a few months ago, which you told everyone about, and have now made a special effort to have again. You've dragged a couple of friends along so they could enjoy it too but when you get there it's not the same. Think of the disappointment and frustration. *Restaurants have their job made more difficult because they must be consistent or risk pissing customers off.

  When you're cooking at home, on the other hand, you have none of those restrictions and this gives you a magical opportunity to hone your skills. Think of that recipe you love and keep returning too. Do you make it the same every time? Why? You may think it's perfect just as it is but this is not about achieving perfection, this is about subtle tweaks and experimentation.

  By my reckoning, I make the finest scrambled eggs in the universe. No, really. At least equal finest anyway. This isn't a brag, it's just an observation. My objectivity on this matter is... (Whatever. Just get on with it. -Ed.) It's lucky that I love eating them because I make them a lot yet each time I make them there are always tiny differences in the recipe and/or technique.

  By focusing on what's happening, I'm able to observe the effects of my tweaking and fiddling. Not only does this give me the chance to refine my eggs but it informs the rest of my cooking. An example is the addition of herbs. In todays plate, which you can see above, I added parsley. As I'm so familiar with the taste of my eggs, I could gauge the intensity of the parsley.

  This is a fantastic way to learn the strength of things like herbs and spices so you're not as reliant on recipes to tell you how much to add. Over time you'll build up a natural sense of the flavour and intensity of different ingredients and your free-styling will become freer and more erm.. stylin'. (!? -Ed). Think again of the restaurant chef who is making 'that dish' and how they have to know how to adjust it to make it exactly the same. This is how they learn that skill.

Kirk out

  *I'm only referring to decent restaurants where the food is made fresh and they care about consistency.

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