The second time I started on medium-low heat and the shallot and garlic still burned in a couple of minutes.

I don’t have a very powerful stove, but I was using a pretty nice tri-ply pan. I don’t know what’s wrong, but I always burn minced garlic, no matter what heat it’s on.

Ugh, burnt garlic tastes so bad.

The first time I changed the oil in my car, it took me an hour and a half with my friend coaching. Now I can do it in a leisurely 10-15 minutes.

Something is intuitive only after you understand so deeply you no longer see the details, but the principles. Simple is what you have internalized.

Michelle–I had learned the “how” of some types of cooking at my mother’s knee, but I always wondered about the “why” myself. St. Julia helped me understand some of those whys. I had been out of cooking for awhile, but stumbling over Barbara’s blog here got me going again: learning the whys of new & old cuisines. With the Internet and some of the new cooking books, I can now learn the science behind the whys, and internalize those principles.

I am learning how to cook. I began cooking from scratch, in earnest, last summer as a way to save money.

For me, my biggest problem is that I grew up in a family that didn’t cook. Eating out consisted of burgers and fries, so I didn’t even know what foods were available out there to cook!

Another problem I’m facing now is the “why?” behind cooking. Why simmer and not boil? What makes cornbread crumbly as opposed to cakey? Why add salt to water when boiling noodles? What would adding or omitting an egg do to a recipe? Why don’t my buttermilk pancakes rise as much as I would like? Recipes don’t generally include that info.

As for simple, I think it all depends on where you’re at at any particular time in your cooking journey. I can whip up some fettucine alfredo completely from scratch and not blink. I think it’s a simple recipe now, but it wasn’t long ago at all that I thought it was a complicated, exotic meal.

Thanks for your blog!

I am glad to hear from others that I am not the only one who has troubles with saying, “Oh, its easy, you just….” and then go into a novel-length explanation that would make a normal person’s head spin with confusion.

Timothy–you are welcome–come back soon, and let me know how your potatoes turn out.

Diane–to me, at this point, it is nothing for me to make a simple Chinese-style stir-fry, in large part because my pantry is fully stocked with all I would need. I have plenty of cookbooks to consult, too, but I don’t always do it–often I will just go with what is fresh, or what I have on hand, and make something that appeals to me.

When a cuisine gets under one’s skin that way–when you are familiar enough and your panty is stocked well–you can just pick up and cook in a leisurely fashion–it is a meditation of sorts. It is certainly very relaxing and comforting.

To anyone else, those stir fries might seem hard, but they are the soul of simplicity to me now.

Tricia–yes–long, -complete- instructions written with an eye for detail does not mean that the recipe is going to be difficult, necessarily. It means that it is explained thoroughly–and that is necessary.

I know I find it easier to follow complete instructions, even though I am experienced enough to infer the correct method from sketchier, more incomplete ones. For less experienced cooks, complete directions are necessary.

Andy–well said. I agree completely–and, I have been known to wade into another person’s kitchen, and improvise something on the spot to the amazement of others. People act like I just invented rocket fuel or something and half the time I bask in the glory and the other half, I want to scream, “Good lord, it isn’t rocket science–I am not a genius–stop that!”

I seldom cave to that impulse–I usually bask, though I have been known to explain how simple it all is really, though usually people’s eyes glaze over before I am done….

Kris–I hope you liked those fingerlings! You are right–it is all in what you are familiar with cooking!

Stephanie–if you apply yourself at writing recipes in the same way you write your instructions for software, you will do fine. Remember, use descriptive terms, include the senses (it will smell like this, or feel like this, or look this way…) and you will go a long way towards helping your readers understand what you are talking about.

Raspberry–you are correct–it is amazing to me how amazed people can be by the simplest cooking tasks. It always reminds me how rare good cookery skills are anymore. Kind of frightening, really.

Stephanie–if only we could get more people to cook more often–it has been my goal for years to effect that change among as many people as I can.

Ah, Ladylark–you remind me of my experiences with bechamel in culinary school. My least favorite sauce. My bane. Ick. I can make it just fine–and could when I went into the program, but the method they wanted me to use was different than the one I had learned, so I kept buggering it up.

Until I did it my way, and then it was fine.

Sometimes, simple is not so easy….

Bomboniera–you made me laugh! Yes, sometimes, it is not that easy!

We did laugh the day she asked me about making… Easter bread, I think, and I admitted to her, “You know what? It was not that easy.” She acted like I’d split the atom.