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You're NOT a Professional Chef - That's OK! | Tips to Cook AMAZING Food at Home | Cooking with Anadi
Nov 9, 2020
Do you love the experience you get when you eat an amazing meal at a restaurant, and you're just dying to recreate that dish at home? What's stopping you from doing it?
Are you afraid that you'll never get the skills of a professional chef, and as a result of that you'll never be able to recreate the dishes you know and love from restaurants or what you see online?
NO! Don't be!
In this video, I hope to dispel some misconceptions that may be holding you back from realizing your true potential in the kitchen! You DON'T need fancy equipment, you DON'T need to be able to chop an onion at lightning speed, and you DON'T have to aim for perfection! You just need to start and discover how empowering using your own hands can be to create truly stunning dishes!
Practice, practice, practice! I know you got this! Whether you're already an advanced cook or just starting out in the kitchen, Cooking with Anadi is a community of passionate home cooks who are looking to learn from each other! With new recipes and educational videos every single week, cooking here is fun every day! The kitchen can teach you so much about yourself, and you'll be amazed with what you can do if you stop limiting yourself and just go for whatever your heart desires!
So what are you waiting for? Be sure to subscribe to the channel and hit the bell icon so that you never miss out on a new educational video or recipe!
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RECOMMENDED PRODUCTS
Chef’s knife: https://geni.us/PmwSRZ1
Pairing knife: https://geni.us/kShRDg5
Sharpening steel: https://geni.us/2OmlwY
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
have you ever felt intimidated to cook
0:02
restaurant quality food at home
0:05
have you ever felt like um this is
0:07
restaurant food
0:08
and what i make is home food did you
0:11
ever make that distinction in your head
0:13
i did and there are a number of reasons
0:15
why that was the case
0:16
growing up when my mom would try to make
0:19
these restaurant quality dishes that we
0:22
loved um at our favorite restaurants
0:25
it would never turn out the way we
0:28
remember the way we wanted it to taste
0:30
and it would just not be the same so you
0:33
would always
0:34
kind of think that let's say let's say
0:37
i'm talking about a great burger
0:40
so back then if a burger was made at
0:43
home
0:44
well it would automatically classify as
0:46
a home style burger
0:48
and for a real burger you would want to
0:51
go to a restaurant
0:52
and you can't really do much about it
0:54
because you just always felt that
0:56
well how do i even get this um
0:59
to taste the same and to be the same at
1:01
home because it's just so hard like i'm
1:03
doing everything i can
1:04
i put in all these arts i put on all
1:06
this work why is it not
1:08
turning out the same and i feel like you
1:11
do develop
1:12
a minor sense of impostor syndrome
1:16
where you feel like well we should leave
1:18
the restaurant quality food
1:20
for the professional chefs and you just
1:23
don't feel comfortable
1:24
trying to make it by yourself because
1:26
you just know in your head
1:27
that it's just not going to be the same
1:29
so why even try
1:31
am i even doing it right like you just
1:33
doubt yourself
1:35
so much that you basically give up
1:38
and that's what i'm here to talk about i
1:40
want to make it clear that
1:41
restaurant cooking and home cooking is
1:45
really similar all you need to do is
1:48
remove that barrier
1:49
from your mind and just try things to
1:52
really
1:52
realize how easy it can actually be and
1:55
for me
1:56
that barrier was broken the moment i
1:58
made my first butter chicken
2:00
that was actually my first attempt at a
2:03
restaurant quality dish
2:05
and that was all thanks to this indian
2:08
restaurant here in canada
2:10
that really disappointed me and really
2:12
did not
2:13
fulfill my craving when i was homesick i
2:16
talked more about such restaurants
2:18
in the video linked over here so you can
2:21
check that out if you like
2:22
but basically what it boils down to is
2:26
when i attempted to make this recipe
2:29
it was actually by world famous indian
2:32
chef
2:32
sanjeev kapoor that was my first
2:34
iteration of the butter chicken
2:37
it just opened my eyes cause not only
2:40
was it better
2:41
than the restaurant i tried the butter
2:43
chicken at
2:44
but it was just it was just mind blowing
2:48
like i just felt
2:50
this super powers in my arms in my hands
2:54
that i created this i created this
2:57
from scratch from from can of tomatoes
3:01
ginger garlic and just ingredients i
3:03
literally
3:04
went down the store to to get to get
3:07
this restaurant quality
3:08
meal prepared and i feel like a lot of
3:11
people
3:12
need need that push need that barrier to
3:15
be broken
3:16
to really realize that you can easily
3:19
easily make these things at home and you
3:22
don't have to rely
3:23
on restaurants for fulfilling your
3:26
cravings
3:27
now in no means is this bashing
3:30
restaurants
3:31
as i said before in many other videos
3:34
i love going to restaurants it's a lot
3:36
of fun
3:37
but obviously you cannot do that every
3:40
day
3:41
so don't feel like you have to settle
3:43
for food
3:44
that's not as good because it's all
3:47
under
3:48
your control you can do what you want to
3:51
do
3:51
and how to get started well it all boils
3:54
down
3:55
to the basics so first things first
3:58
don't feel like because you're not a
4:00
professional chef
4:02
that you can't do the same things that
4:05
they can
4:06
you're not a professional chef and you
4:09
don't have to be
4:10
and you don't need to be because the
4:13
restaurant
4:13
setting when you're cooking and prepping
4:16
is so
4:17
different than home cooking just take a
4:20
simple skill
4:21
like chopping onions for instance in
4:24
restaurants
4:25
you have limited amount of time to get
4:28
all your prep done
4:29
get all your sauces all your measure
4:31
plus in place
4:32
to be ready for service and on top of
4:35
that
4:36
you have to do enough prep to serve
4:39
hundreds of people if not more
4:41
now that's a lot of work the most you'll
4:43
be doing at home
4:44
is preparing a dinner for a dozen or so
4:46
people and in most cases
4:48
three or four so that automatically
4:51
scales down
4:53
the difficulty one of the key skills of
4:55
a professional chef
4:57
is to deliver consistent quality
5:00
great food to hundreds of customers
5:03
again
5:04
and again and again you have to do it
5:07
only once
5:07
or maybe four times to like four people
5:12
and that's that's so much easier i hope
5:14
you feel better already
5:16
but let me go on so take a simple skill
5:18
like chopping onions for instance
5:28
yeah i can chop onions really quickly i
5:30
can slice an onion really thin
5:33
in less than a minute but why do i have
5:35
to
5:36
i'm not chopping hundreds of onions to
5:39
prepare for a sauce or something
5:41
i'm preparing one onion maybe even half
5:43
an onion
5:44
for a simple curry and that's all it is
5:47
so i can just take my sweet thyme
5:49
and do it right so i'm sure a lot of you
5:52
watch a lot of other food channels and
5:54
lots of chefs
5:55
that are probably better than me and you
5:57
may get demotivated that
5:59
oh i can't chop onions that quick i
6:01
don't know if i have the skills to
6:02
prepare that dish as well as he can
6:04
yes you can yes you can i don't know the
6:07
last time i had to chop onions that
6:09
quick
6:09
to get my food ready usually i just take
6:11
my sweet time while watching some tv
6:14
because i'm not a professional chef
6:15
anymore i'm not i was never a chef
6:17
anyways i was a professional cook so i
6:20
really appreciate
6:21
the uh the comments on instagram when uh
6:24
you guys approached me and and asked me
6:26
to be like a mentor
6:28
um so they can learn under me but i
6:30
guess what it is
6:31
is since i don't have that barrier that
6:33
separates restaurant quality cooking
6:35
from home quality i just make what i
6:39
like
6:39
what i want to make and i just make it
6:42
look nice i make it pretty
6:45
and i just don't care that it's a
6:47
restaurant quality dish i just make it
6:49
i just make it i look at a picture and i
6:52
make it i make it look like that i make
6:53
it look better if i have to
6:55
and that's what that power can do once
6:57
you don't have that barrier in your head
6:59
anymore
7:00
it's all in your head right i don't want
7:02
to sound cliche
7:03
but you are what you think you are in
7:05
your head
7:07
just do what you want to do and you'll
7:09
get where you want to be
7:11
simple so the next time you hold a knife
7:14
pretend you're a professional chef and
7:15
chop away
7:16
grab your wooden spoon and cook away and
7:20
cook like a professional chef because
7:21
the only one who's judging you
7:24
is yourself and you cannot lie to
7:26
yourself also
7:27
other things that might intimidate you
7:30
is if you are a home cook and you want
7:32
to
7:33
go deeper in the world of culinary arts
7:36
are all these fancy equipments and tools
7:39
that are marketed to you
7:40
i remember when i was looking for my
7:42
first knife you see these
7:44
big sails on all these fancy knife
7:47
blocks with like
7:48
a dozen knives a bunch of steak knives
7:52
and all these other fancy things a whole
7:54
cooking set
7:55
you really don't need any of that if you
7:57
want to be a good cook
7:59
i did not have any of that when i first
8:02
started learning
8:03
i just had a cheat night from target
8:06
and some old pants and you just
8:09
use what you have and make the most out
8:12
of it
8:13
personally all you need to start cooking
8:16
like a professional chef are three
8:19
things
8:19
a nice heavy chef's knife so don't get
8:23
it online
8:24
go to a store and try to hold the knife
8:27
and then judge what feels good to you
8:30
i can link my knife if you want in the
8:33
description box but you pick what
8:35
works best for you so a chef's knife
8:38
a paring knife which is great for much
8:41
smaller tasks like peeling an onion or
8:43
peeling a garlic
8:44
or coring a tomato and the last thing
8:47
is a sharpening steel and that's just to
8:50
keep that knife nice and sharp
8:52
because the sharper the knife is the
8:54
safer it is
8:55
and in terms of cooking equipment all
8:58
you need are
8:59
three tools essentially you need a nice
9:01
non-stick pan
9:03
a stainless steel pan and a pot
9:06
and you'll be good to go you can use
9:08
these few
9:09
tools to really make anything you want
9:13
after all it's the skill and the pursuit
9:15
for excellence that matters
9:17
and not the tools you can give somebody
9:19
all the fancier tools the best
9:22
demire cookware the best henkel knives
9:25
and if they don't have the motivation if
9:28
they don't know how to cook and if they
9:29
don't have
9:30
the urge to learn how to cook
9:33
all the food they're gonna produce are
9:35
gonna be garbage
9:37
compared to somebody who has the
9:39
perseverance and who has the drive
9:42
uh to learn how to cook and really
9:44
better themselves and they can
9:45
create wonders with an old oven
9:48
or a rusty old pan or a dull knife they
9:52
can make anything with it if they have
9:54
those tools
9:54
so in essence to get started all you
9:57
need is to
9:58
remove that barrier and just start
10:01
cooking with what you have
10:02
and the last thing i want to talk about
10:04
in this video i know it's getting kind
10:05
of long
10:06
is recipe books recipe books are great
10:11
but i feel like they're severely
10:13
underused
10:14
when was the last time you made every
10:17
single recipe front to back
10:19
from a book it's a lot of fun you should
10:22
try it make it a challenge for yourself
10:24
and you know what even if a dish does
10:27
not turn out right
10:28
you're gonna learn something because
10:31
only somebody
10:32
who has the proper palette who knows the
10:36
proper techniques and who knows
10:38
what a dish should have been like can
10:40
determine
10:41
that something is off with that dish and
10:44
why don't you
10:45
challenge yourself to improve that dish
10:48
to what
10:49
you prefer to what your palate enjoys
10:52
and guess what you've automatically
10:55
learned something
10:56
and you're a better chef already also
10:59
there are a ton of different techniques
11:01
in all these books take pasta sauce for
11:03
example
11:04
there are literally hundreds of types of
11:07
sauces
11:08
and i'm sure you've only tried the top
11:11
three maybe
11:12
alfredo pesto marinara the most common
11:15
ones
11:16
why don't you try something new this
11:17
time if you follow me on instagram
11:20
you may have noticed a few months back i
11:22
really got
11:23
into a loop of making napolitana style
11:26
pizzas
11:27
and i made that i think every week and i
11:29
still have some
11:31
dough in my freezer for the next time i
11:34
decide to start cooking
11:35
uh napoltana style pizzas and this has
11:38
quickly become my favorite pizza of all
11:40
time by the way and i only found this
11:43
because
11:43
i was literally going front to back
11:47
on my pizza recipe book it's a great
11:49
book
11:50
and i've learned so much from it and i
11:52
would have never tried it because
11:55
i like a nice beefy cheesy pizza and
11:58
thought up a thin crust style pizza like
12:00
a napolitana
12:01
did not appeal to me until i'm like okay
12:04
fine
12:05
i'm at this page it's napolitano let's
12:08
give it a shot
12:09
and guess what my life changed after
12:11
that so basically
12:12
all i'm trying to incite in you
12:15
is go ahead go out there and try things
12:19
try new things and just remove that
12:22
barrier
12:23
you don't have to have it and you're
12:25
just doing it to yourself
12:26
go make what you want to make you love
12:29
naan
12:30
go make your own naan just try it you
12:33
may need some special equipment for some
12:34
of these dishes
12:36
just because we don't have the same
12:37
professional equipment in
12:39
our home kitchens but there's always a
12:42
way
12:42
there is always a way and you need to
12:45
know that in your head
12:47
if you look at something you should be
12:49
able to tell yourself that
12:51
i can make that or i want to make that
12:53
and then just try it
12:55
and then don't get scared don't be
12:57
scared
12:58
of food it's just food right it's you're
13:00
gonna eat it anyways
13:02
even if your dish doesn't turn out
13:03
perfect i'm sure it's still going to be
13:06
good
13:06
and if it wasn't then you'll know what
13:09
to do next time so just keep going right
13:11
i hope i have motivated at least one
13:15
out of 100 viewers for this video
13:18
if i even get there but the point is
13:22
i'm trying to get you excited about
13:24
cooking at home
13:25
and i want you to remove all barriers
13:29
just make what you want to make i think
13:31
i've said that
13:32
for the 10th time now so i think i'm
13:34
done now i'm gonna head out
13:36
and make some great food for the day and
13:39
i hope
13:40
you do the same and i'll see you guys
13:42
again on the next one
13:44
by the way if you want some inspiration
13:47
on what to cook
13:48
you can always go on my website it's
13:50
called cookingwithanadi.com
13:53
and you can check out some of my
13:54
favorite recipes on there
13:56
and don't forget to hit subscribe and
14:00
hit that notification bell so you don't
14:02
miss my next video
14:04
okay i'll see you then bye guys