1. Start by chopping all of the ingredients first. Pay careful attention to uniformity of size and shape.
2. If your recipe calls for marinating animal proteins, try to set them up in the marinade a day before you’re going to cook them. Cover and refrigerate overnight so that the marinade has time to soften and flavor the meat (or poultry). The exception to this is fish, which should not be marinated for more than an hour before cooking.
3. Before reaching for the salt shaker, consider what herbs might work well with the recipe. Experiment with no more than 3 single spices in any recipe.
You can prepare restaurant quality meals in your kitchen by:
1. Starting with restaurant quality ingredients. Fresh is best!
2. Keep your recipes simple. Most restaurants do not have very elaborate, time-consuming recipes.
3. Try to find recipes that have pictures. That way you’ll know what the dish you’re making should look like when it’s done.