Nineteen notes on the art of cooking.

I learned to cook alone, but I am not self-taught: I was taught by the experiences of countless people online and in print, and by the experiences of many millions before them. Cooking is the private enjoyment of a folk art, and one is always indebted to many for every lesson gained on it. Here is a list of all lessons on cooking that I can remember, which I will update as I remember more.

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1. The most important elements for cooking are salt, a sharp knife and a constant flame.
2. A dull knife will make cooking frustrating, no matter what else changes or remains the same. It will also make cooking significantly more dangerous, as a dull knife slips under pressure and moves in unintended directions.
3. There is no reason to buy expensive ingredients, other than conspicuous consumption. Lower-mid range ingredients will almost always be fine, at least if you live in a place where regulations control the corporate desire to debase food.
4. Buy either raw ingredients (a fish, a vegetable, a bag of chicken drumsticks), or slightly processed ones (chopped and frozen garlic, precut fries). Sligthtly processed ones are really important in cooking, as there are some things that you just can't recreate perfectly at home.
5. If you can, make your own sauces instead of buying them.
6. When in doubt of how to cook something, start with your main ingredients and think: what other edible things come from this part of the world? How are they often prepared?
7. Nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves are not just spices for sweets and desserts.
8. Knowing how to elevate ingredients that are considered cheap is the mark of a good cook.
9. Celebrity chefs and cooking shows are the mortal enemies of cooking. By turning it into a specialized discipline they pass as their own what they have received from countless unknown cooks, and try to make inacessible the common heritage of all to profit from this gatekeeping. The only well-known chef that is worth listening to is Julia Child.
10. When going to the market, try to buy what is good and on sale in large quantities, and prepare different dishes with these ingredients to last you until something else is on sale. This is the best way to try new things, and learn new recipes and methods of cooking, since necessity is the mother of invention.
11. Aim to have all spices in your cupboard. If needed be, invest good money and time in acquiring and properly storing all spices in existence. A spice is a new flavour compound, and any single new spice could provide a thousand new aspects to dishes you have been cooking for years.
12. When your mother and your grandmother are gone, the closest thing you will have to relive your time with them will be their cooking. Try not to overestimate how good they were at it, however. Your grandmother might be terrible at cooking and not an example at all to follow, and that is all right. There are other things in life.
13. In this day and age, growing your vegetables is truly the best way to get them. Unfortunately most of us cannot do so due to the general inavailability of land, so there is an important flavor deficiency in our cooking. This is something we have to live with.
14. Cooking is not just for humans. You can also cook for your dog, your cat, and your aquarium fish, among others.
15. Cookbooks from one or two centuries ago are great sources of inspiration.
16. Most of the cooking advice that you will receive will be wrong. Many people don't cook beans with salt because they think this will make them tough, when it has been scientifically proven that the best way to make soft (but not mushy) beans is to soak them in salted water and cook them in salted water as well.
17. A salad is not an afterthought. It is an integral part of the meal, and should be treated as such.
18. Flavor complexes in a plate should be separated, so that they may be mixed or unmixed at will. When making ribs in a pressure cooker, for example, resist the idea to make rice in the broth that the ribs leave behind. The rice will taste like ribs, when it should taste like rice — it is the job of the ribs to taste like ribs.
19. Sharing recipes is a wonderful way to connect with old ladies at the supermarket.