My running list of recipes to master, places to eat, and techniques to learn. As I go through the list, I’ll cross off what I accomplish and recap my experience.
Recipes to try and hopefully memorize:
- Roasted Vegetables
- Thai BBQ Chicken
- Thai Crying Tiger Steak
- A good beet salad with chicken
- Shrimp Scampi Pasta
- Korean BBQ
- Pickled Veggies
Techniques to learn:
- Weekly Meal Prepping. Make a week’s worth of food ahead of time. People swear by it and it helps them save money and eat healthier. (1st thing to try: Breakfast Burritos)
- Freezer cooking a la The Pioneer Woman. Cook a frequently used ingredient (like chicken breasts) and freeze it for faster mid-week cooking.
- Sous Vide – I had some amazing Trout on Black Friday 2015 and learned it was prepared via Sous Vide. I want to try making one using our slow cooker.
Places to eat:
- NOMA – Copenhagen, Denmark
- Le Bernardin – New York, USA
- Osteria Francescana – Modena, Italy
- Alinea – Chicago, USA
- El Celler de Can Roca – Girona, Catalonia, Spain
- RyuGin – Tokyo, Japan
- Narisawa – Tokyo, Japan
- Momofuku Ko – New York, USA; Experience in a nutshell: Ate here for my Mrs. B’s birthday in 2015. Food was dope as expected. Best dish was a seared Mackerel. The coolest part was sitting at the bar facing the open kitchen. We had the chance to chat with the chefs and I picked up some useful tips about Mise En Place.
- Sukiyabashi Jiro – Tokyo, Japan