Much of learning how to cook is really learning how to observe. It is difficult to observe much of anything if you are running
This passage occurs in our discussion of mise en place, the French term for prepping all of the ingredients before starting a recipe. As with entertaining, having everything ready to go makes the act less stressful. In addition to improving your mindset, you have more time to actually socialize with your guests. Prepping all of the ingredients for a recipe is very similar: you are less likely to freak out, to be sure, and you are able to spend “quality time” with your ingredients, getting to know them intimately as they caramelize, sear, etc.
Taken out of context, the proposition “learning how to cook is really learning how to observe” is mildly provocative and needs to be unpacked a bit. We wrote this shortly after finishing the Cooking Methods and Techniques chapter. At the beginning of that chapter (page 1042), we wrote the following:
Marion began this chapter in 1975 with an anecdote well worth repeating: "A hard-boiled professional cook was asked what she regarded as the most useful, elementary advice for an ambitious beginner. She tersely replied, “Stand facing the stove.” While Marion’s deadpan wit may lurk beneath this nugget of common sense, we think a different reading might be worth considering. To begin, we must open our senses to observe and appraise our tools, the workspace, and situate ourselves in relation to them. Much intervenes between a recipe on the page and food on the plate: the quirks of your stove or cooktop, the particularities of the ingredients you purchased, the tastes and preferences of those you cook for. These myriad factors can only be accounted for by an inquiring mind observant of its surroundings."
Our explanation of Marion’s anecdote is an attempt to arrive at a more holistic picture of cooking than the exacting, scientific approach—or, for that matter, the idea that cooking is an artform that must be mastered. Cooking does not have to be framed as “scientific” or “artistic.” Central to both is the simple act of observing: taking the measure of ingredients, adjusting heat, interpreting the instructions of a recipe… “stand[ing,] facing the stove,” as Marion wrote. You may be guided by a desire to put things together in a graceful way or you may be animated by a need for precision and the promise of guaranteed outcomes. Or, you may simply be hungry. Regardless, at the heart of cooking is a never-ending conversation we participate in. Our appetites and aspirations meet the world, we assess the situation as best we can, and try to negotiate a good meal out of the exchange.
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