Kitchen Confidence Secrets WORKSHOP

VIDEO REPLAY

Chat text file.

“I’M ALWAYS DOING THINGS I HAVEN’T DONE BEFORE. THAT’S HOW I GET TO DO THEM”

– Pablo Picasso

Here’s what you’ll need:

+ 1 jar tomato passata OR canned tomatoes (chopped) OR 1 can coconut milk
+ fine salt (kosher salt or fine sea salt)
+ soy sauce
+ red wine vinegar (or other vinegar eg apple cider, white wine, sherry, rice vinegar)
+ balsamic vinegar
+ extra virgin olive oil
+ 8 x small glasses, jars or cups
(they don’t need to be the same size)
+ 8 x teaspoons for tasting
+ measuring spoons (you’ll just need the 1/4 teaspoon)
+ measuring cups (you’ll just need the 1/4 cup)
+ water for drinking
+ a cup for spitting (optional)

NOTE: If using coconut milk make sure it is warm so the fat won’t be solidified.

NOTES

Part 1. CONFIDENT

Ninja trick for feeling more confident
TEA – Thoughts >> Emotions >> ACTIONS
If you want to feel confident – choose thoughts that make you feel confident.
Sample Thoughts
Negative >> I don’t know. I don’t know how. This is hard. I don’t have time. Cooking is a chore.
Positive >> I can do this. I want to learn. It’s fun to learn new skills. I love learning to cook. This will help me.
EXERCISE >> Choose one positive statement about cooking and read it every day. Use reminders on your phone or post-its.
Even if you’ve never cooked a single thing you have decades of eating and tasting every single day.
YOU are the expert on YOUR taste buds.
Clancy’s Law of Cooking>> “If you think something will taste delicious it usually does.”

Confidence Insurance
Big reason we are afraid to learn new skills and do new thing is what we make it mean when we ‘fail’. eg waffle kitchen fire story.
Decide now – what are you going to think when you mess something up? This isn’t working, I’ll never get it? OR will you think ‘this is the part of the process’ ‘this is great! It’s a sign that I’m trying something new’ or there’s something I can learn here.  Failure is part of the process.

3-Step Process to becoming an Intuitive Cook.
Step 1. Decide to be confident (choose thoughts to support this). I can do this. I WANT to do this.
Step 2. Cook one simple recipe.
Step 3. Repeat / Practice Cooking it every week for at least a month.
When you start to get bored challenge yourself to tweak – use the variations.

EXERCISE>> choose ONE recipe now.
Decide when you will buy those ingredients and when you will cook it.
RECIPES: 20 x Plan-B Recipes (workshop only)
RECIPES: 31 x Plan-B Recipes (Simple Meals Plans + Naturally Healthy Club Members)

Part 2. INTUITIVE

The secret to making anything taste amazing
3 key tools >> seasoning + sauces + flavour bombs

SEASONING
What is seasoning? Making food taste better.
Seasoning story – Mexico trip + winemaking exams
2 main levers we can use – salt or acid. also sweetness
Salt
Why salt? Salt dials up all the flavours  AND unlocks delicious flavours + aromas.
Masks bitterness / unpleasant flavours eg dark chocolate
Enhances sweetness – think salted caramel
Health concerns about salt – significantly less than processed food (they used to use the maximum- salt is the cheapest ingredient after water.)
Blood pressure – minimal benefits – better to experiment with reducing carbs.
How to Salt
I use 3 types: –
1. Fine salt (Himalayan (or kosher) for most seasoning
2. Iodised sea salt for cooking water.
3. Sea salt flakes for at the table.
Also salty ingredients eg. fish sauce, soy sauce, cheese eg feta / parmesan, ham bacon prosciutto, olives, miso, capers

TASTING EXERCISE 1. >> WITH SALT + SOY SAUCE
How to taste like a wine maker – put a little in your mouth and swirl to coat your whole tongue.
Tune into your senses – get curious and remember ‘I can do this’ rather than telling yourself you can’t do this OR I don’t know what I’m looking for.
1. Standard
2. + 2 fingered pinch salt
3. + 3 fingered pinch salt
4. +1/4 teaspoon salt
5. + 1/4 teaspoon soy sauce

Which one did you like best and why?

Acid
What is an acid? – anything that tastes sour
Why acid?
Acid makes things taste bright and clean
Makes our mouths water – literally
Changes mouthfeel – especially in wine making – flabby vs lean and ‘on rails’.
Think fish and chips without lemon or vinegar
main types – vinegar, citrus juice
other acidic ingredients – dairy (yoghurt, sour cream, cheese), tomato, wine, tabasco or other hot sauces, green apples, pickles, fermented veg.

TASTING EXERCISE 2. >> WITH VINEGAR + OIL
6. +1/4 teaspoon red wine vinegar
7. +1/4 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
8. + 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

Which one did you like best and why? Did you notice how the oil changed the mouthfeel?

OTHER TASTING EXPERIMENT IDEAS
Add salt to your vinegar samples and see how it changes.
Adding melted butter to this above
Different brands of the same ingredient eg. Chocolate
A few drops of soy sauce on vanilla ice cream
Always be tasting – play around + pay attention + have fun
Before and after adding salt esp. sea salt flakes
Before and after adding sauce eg. tabasco
Advanced tasting >> do it ‘blind’

Seasoning Problem Solving
Always easier to add more than remove – so go easy.  A little at a time.
Use a clean teaspoon each time (helps with not over eating) + set the intention to not over eat.
– too much salt >> try acid, then sugar then  dilution
– too acidic >> balance with fat
– too sweet >> balance with salt.

SAUCES
RECIPES: 10 Best Sauce Recipes (for workshop only)
RECIPES: A-Z of Sauces (Simple Meals Plans + Naturally Healthy Club Members)

FLAVOUR BOMBS
Ingredients that add big bold flavour + sometimes texture as well.
Generally in the umami / savoury spectrum.
LIST: Flavour Bombs

Exactly how to rescue (almost) any disaster.
Rescuing / troubleshooting  – common problems
– bland >> use seasoning skills. Salt. Acid or add a Flavour Bomb OR a sauce
– too dry >> overcooked protein. add some oil or a sauce.
– tough protein – blame the protein! or overcooking .
– sticking to the pan / sheet >> heat pan >> when pan is hot add oil >> let oil heat  + oil first. Use baking paper instead of foil.
– burning – use timers + don’t leave the kitchen! Err on the side of lower temperatures for longer time.
– not browning – crowding pan or not using a pan with low sides.
– cooking time different to the recipe – this is part of the process.

The secret to actually enjoying cooking.
Trust the process – and follow the process – recipe by recipe
Choose positive thoughts – remember TEA
Decide to be kind to yourself when you ‘fail’ – ask ‘what can I learn here?’
Make it intrinsically rewarding – eg Supraja – meal planning habit + you tube videos.

RESOURCES

RECIPES: 20 x Plan-B Recipes (workshop only)
RECIPES: 31 x Plan-B Recipes (Simple Meals Plans + Naturally Healthy Club Members)
RECIPE: Abundance Bowls (workshop only)
RECIPE: Abundance Bowls (Simple Meals Plans + Naturally Healthy Club Members)
LIST: Flavour Bombs
RECIPES: 10 Best Sauce Recipes (for workshop only)
RECIPES: A-Z of Sauces (Simple Meals Plans + Naturally Healthy Club Members)
ARTICLE: How to Normalize Blood Pressure Naturally
BOOK: Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat
MEAL PLANS: join Simple Meal Plans here.
COACHING: Join the Naturally Healthy Club wait list here.

If you have any questions leave a comment below. I check them every day.

With love,
Jules x