First, thank you to everyone who watched and sent messages related to the newly released episode of "Beat Bobby Flay". It was a lot of fun going up against a great competitor, Chef Demetrio, and hanging with Ted Allen, Marc Murphy, and Bobby Flay. I really enjoy working with Food Network and receiving all the viewer feedback. 

On to the subject of today's post! As some of you may know (especially if you follow me on social media) I travel quite a bit between NYC and Seattle. Specifically, I am in Seattle so often to spend time with my three kids who range in ages 10-15 years old. Not being able to spend as much time with them as I did when we all lived under the same roof in Seattle each visit greets me with a slew of questions from the kids. One question in particular always arises from my 12 year old son Ace, which is "Dad, can you teach me how to cook?".

I created my YouTube channel in part as a way to share with my kids what I know and I often direct Ace to the channel to answer his questions. It was a happy surprise to me when during a visit this past week while Ace and I were cooking dinner he repeated one of my go-to lines "you can always add more but you can't take it out!".  

This post is dedicated to Ace and I hope that you all find it useful too. For a refresher Part One of my Pro Tips can be found here. 

1. Tame that Flame: so the first thing to remember is that whatever surface you are using--whether it's a pan or a grill--needs to get hot first. Once you place whatever ingredient that you are cooking--vegetables or protein, etc.--you need to "tame that flame" and adjust the heat accordingly. Kids and novice cooks tend to want to speed up the cooking process by putting the heat on full blast. When you gain experience as a cook you achieve the wanted outcome of an ingredient through temperature and time control.  Too hot may overcook or burn one side while leaving the other side under cooked or raw in the worst case scenario. 

2. Size Matters: it's not what you think of when you first read it (get your mind out of the gutter!) this applies to cooking. The first thing this is applied to in cooking is equipment. For example, make sure that you have the right size pan/knife/bowl for the job. I've seen cooks overcrowd- meaning putting too many ingredients--into too small of a pan and everything boils away therefore nothing gets carmelized. In that instance the ingredients could have gone into a pot of boiling water and the result would have been the same. Likewise I've seen people overfill their bowl and they waste time and energy trying to combine and keep all the ingredients
   in too small of a bowl rather than beginning with the right size to start. The second thing that this is applied to is the ingredient itself. For example if you're cooking a stew or stir-fry the size of the cut matters to how long it takes too cook.  Obviously the type of ingredient matters--vegetable vs. protein, etc.--but the cut size and cook time needs to be taken into account as well.

3. The More Preparation the Faster the Work gets Done: This is a long one, but it's a Chinese saying that applies to how I operate in the kitchen. It's pretty self-explanatory but I've seen failed dinner parties where hosts spend more time in the kitchen at go time than with their guests and enjoying the meal.  This means the start of every meal and process is creating a menu. You have to ask yourself a few questions in order to properly prepare whether it's for 2 or 2000. I'll break it down as simple as possible. 1. How many people are you cooking for? 2. Can I execute this menu? 3. How much time do I have? 4. Do I have the right equipment/space to prepare these items? Once you can successfully answer these questions then you can draw up a game plan to make it all come together. Learn what you can prepare ahead of time and if you're trying a new recipe my advice is to test it before you go live. 

   Ace, I hope this helps! All my readers, I hope you find these tips useful too!

   Until next time...

   Chef Seis