Some people can't cook.
"How is this supposed to be encouraging?" you may ask.
Of the total amount of kitchen failures that have occurred since Prometheus gave us fire, I would fathom an estimate of .0001% happened because of an inherent condition of being entirely inept in the kitchen. The vast majority are due to a lack of presence to the task at hand. But there is another factor which must be addressed before we discuss the things you can change. Food Karma.
I first discovered the existence of food karma while working as a line cook many years ago. I am certain at some point you have had a dinning experience go so incredibly awry that you vowed never to return to the establishment responsible for your misery. There is a fair chance you were the recipient of bad food karma. What you, the customer, can not see is the machinations of this force in effect. As the cook you do, but are unable to stop them.
Example: Broiled sole with buerre blanc, braised endive, potato gratin.
(I know it is pretty pedestrian but it will do for an example)
1st round: Sole fine, buerre blanc breaks, 3 trys to not break one, fish now over cooked
2nd round: Sole fine, sauce ready, gratin from the first round still passable, no cleaned endive, even better, chef didn't order endive, get server who is ticked off because it's taking forever to go to the table to ask what you would like as a substitute.
3rd round: You chose spinach, cook makes spinach, we are now at a 30 minute ticket time for a dish which should have taken 10. The sole goes on the plate though it's not quite hot enough since it has been sitting on a sizzle tray atop the broiler, the gratin is trimmed of the over cooked crunchy bit and put on the plate, spinach goes on, sauced out the door in a mere 45 minutes. Serve angry, customer angry, cook needs a smoke.
While all of the problems here could have been avoided, the difference regarding food karma is that while this one plate has been a source of woe, 50 others went out perfectly fine. It's the plate that just won't go away. No matter what you try to do to correct the situation it just snowballs because the universe just doesn't want the customer to be satiated tonight.
Also, brunch is a serious conduit for food karma, so be warned.
And as a total aside: Why do people who would make reservations for 12 for dinner feel it's o.k. to walk in for brunch with 12 people along with 7 other similar parties of 6-14 all at 11:45 and expect to get their eggs in 10 minutes? If you have more then 4 people for brunch make a damn reservation, your server will appreciate it, the kitchen will appreciate it and it will generate good food karma for you.
So, food karma aside, people seem to have problems with attention. As an instructor I have had the opportunity to observe otherwise entirely intelligent and capable people completely maraud the kitchen with their lack of focus. It seems they think that cooking is an endeavor which can be undertaken with half presence to the task. I also know for certain that as much as people like to goo over celebrity chefs, most people when confronted with a living, breathing cook think that we do this because we weren't smart enough to go to college. If that monkey can do it, anyone can, right?
Here are some key ways to minimize the possibility of failure:
Starting with your recipe, read it thoroughly and visualize the steps you are going to take.
Understand what it is you are doing. If you don't recognize a technique look it up.
Check your ingredients, that you have all of them and they are of good quality. I recently spent the better part of the afternoon making tamales only to find upon eating one that my masa had gone off. Much sadness.
Know the difference between a Tbsp and a tsp.
Don't screw around. If the recipe says beat until stiff peak, beat until stiff peak. If it says boil for 2 minutes then shock in ice water, don't run the beans under tap water, shock them. Trying to take shortcuts while cooking when you don't understand the importance of the step doesn't cut it.
Leave it alone. As little poking, prodding, flipping, peaking, pinching as possible.
Stir when you need to stir. While keeping a watchful eye on dishes is critical, especially those which might scorch or stick, when sauteeing, continuous motion isn't necessary. Let it cook.
Taste it. Taste it. Taste it.
Don't over salt, don't undersalt. Start with a little and go from there, you can always put in more but you can't take it out.
Overall - Pay Attention
There are obviously a multitude of small things to be mindful of but if you just start with the intention of being mindful overall success should be less likely to elude you.
