Building a plate

The template

• A protein: chicken, fish, beef, pork, eggs, beans, tofu. Seared, roasted, braised or poached.
• A starch: rice, potatoes, pasta, bread, grains, polenta. The part that fills you up.
• A vegetable, or two: one cooked, one raw is a good habit. Roasted, sautéed, or a quick salad.
• A sauce: a pan sauce, a vinaigrette, a yogurt sauce, a salsa, or just good olive oil and lemon. The thing that ties the plate together.
• Something fresh: herbs, citrus zest, a crunchy element, pickled onion, a few flakes of salt. The last thirty seconds, and the part most home cooks skip.

How to invent a side

Pick a vegetable. Decide on a method: roast it hot, sauté it fast, or leave it raw. Add fat (oil or butter), salt, and one extra idea: garlic, chili flakes, lemon zest, parmesan, toasted nuts, a vinegar. That is a side. Roasted broccoli with garlic and lemon. Sautéed spinach with chili. Shaved carrots with olive oil, salt and mint. You can make a hundred sides from that one sentence.

How to invent a sauce

Salt, fat, sugar, acid. A sauce or a dressing is those four plus an aromatic, loosened with a little liquid. Olive oil, lemon, a pinch of sugar, garlic, salt: a sauce for fish. Yogurt, lime, honey, cumin, salt: a sauce for chicken or lamb. Peanut butter, rice vinegar, a spoon of honey, soy for the salt, ginger, warm water: a sauce for noodles. Taste it and ask which of the four it is missing. Change one ingredient at a time and you will find your own.

Flavor pairs that always work

• Lemon, garlic and parsley: chicken, fish, vegetables.
• Soy, ginger, garlic and sesame: beef, pork, noodles, greens.
• Lime, cilantro, chili and cumin: tacos, grilled meat, beans, corn.
• Tomato, basil and olive oil: pasta, chicken, eggs.
• Butter, thyme and shallot: steak, mushrooms, potatoes.
• Mustard, honey and vinegar: pork, chicken, salads.

Taste as you go

The one habit that makes the rest work. Taste before salting, after salting, and before plating. Run the method: salt, fat, sugar, acid, then heat. If it is flat, it is almost always salt or acid. If it is sharp or bitter, a pinch of sugar. If it is heavy, it needs acid or something fresh. If it is thin, it needs fat or a reduction. Cooking without a recipe is just tasting and adjusting until it is right.

When it goes wrong

It tastes flat

Salt first. Then acid.

It feels heavy

It needs acid or something fresh: lemon, vinegar, herbs.

It is sharp or bitter

A pinch of sugar, or a little fat.

Everything on the plate is soft

Add crunch: toasted nuts, raw onion, a crisp vegetable.

The whole plate is brown

Put something fresh and green on top.