Project "Start Here" Chapter 1

Month One. Chapter one. The journey to becoming a better chef, a more educated recipe developer, and maybe to having a fun side passion begins. And what better fearless leader to guide me on this journey than Sohla El-Waylly.

If you don't know who Sohla is, she is a culinary genius who treats food like her canvas and her recipe book like a peephole into her thought process. She's also done a lot of cool things and made many proud achievements, of course.

Her book is broken into 12 chapters that act as 12 "culinary lessons:" 6 are for cooking, 6 are for baking (if you're going to follow in Sohla's footsteps, you too must be a jack of all trades).

The first chapter is dedicated to seasoning food. Ya know, where you can take a taste of something and know immediately if it needs more salt, sugar, herbs, or otherwise. Like a culinary superpower of sorts.

Each chapter is crafted so that the recipes will slowly become more complex and difficult as you master the designated skill more. This chapter, for example, starts with cucumber salads. Something inherently hard to mess up. In fact, most of this chapter doesn't involve actual "cooking." It's easier to season and taste the difference in seasoning in cold foods rather than hot. If you can master seasoning salads, you can master seasoning soups and steaks, too.

And so I began. Three cucumber salads. I started with what Sohla recommended, and then tasted. And tasted. And tasted. And adjusted as needed. Some tasted perfect to me right away, others I knew needed a little something, and others I fidgeted with just for the heck of it to see if I could tell the difference.

Surprisingly, you really can tell the difference with an additional pinch of this or that. Cucumbers are essentially a blank canvas, so any flavor you add is noticeable.

That sensation of being able to tell the difference when adding different seasoning slowly but surely became fine tuned, even as the seasonings became stronger and the canvases were more complex.

While I'd love to go full "Julie & Julia" and write lengthy anecdotes for every recipe, I admittedly am not quite the witty genius that she was. So instead, here is a small, "blurb sized" break down of each recipe in Chapter 1:

Raitha's (3 diff flavors):

These yougurt-based dips came in three different flavor profile "recipes:" Citrus, Sweet/Smoky/Hot, and Onion. I quickly learned I do not thoroughly enjoy Raitha, but this is likely because my seasonings were off...and I put way too much MSG (Sohla warned me not to overdo it...but this was admittedly my first time using MSG). It did, however, make for an excellent chicken marinade the next day.

Rating: 4/10 (but my fault)

Cucumber Salad (also 3 diff flavors):

Much more up my alley, these were REALLY easy to tell what seasonings were needed to make it pop...good experience. The cucumber salads also came as three separate tasting recipes: Hot & Tingly and Smashed, Greek-ish, and Dill Pickle. The chili crunch on the hot and smashed cucumber salad was my personal favorite, with rice vinegar and soy sauce to add that umami kick. The dill pickle was fun and refreshing, and the Greek-ish salad could easily be turned into a whole meal if you added beans or pasta.

Rating: 8.5/10 - would make time and time again

House Salad:

Very simple, very make it your own, very tasty! Simple as that.

Rating: 8/10 (all depends on what variation you go with)

Waldorf Salad with Buttermilk Honey-Mustard Dressing:

I love the components of a Waldorf salad. The apples, nuts, and blue cheese really make this for me. This is more of an "ingredient" salad than a SALAD salad, but I thought it was a fun twist on a classic!

Rating: 7/10 - would make alongside a Roasted chicken breast

Super-Savory Tomato Salad with Nori and Sesame:

This was very seaweedy to me--and I am not the biggest fan of straight-up tomatoes. It's something I am working through. However, my boyfriend who loves seaweed AND tomatoes said this was incredible. Do with that what you will.

Rating: 6/10 for me, 10/10 for him

Cannelini Beany Melt:

This was essentially a tuna melt made of BEANS? What's not to love. Plant based protein, melty cheese, plenty of pickles--so fun and an easy meatless sub!

Rating: 9/10 EXCELLENT lunch idea

Citrus & Saffron with Bitter Lettuces:

This is my first time cooking with endives AND my first time supreme-ing an orange. Endives are a DELICIOUS, crunchy, bitter green, and supreme-ing an orange did not go so well. More like orange globs than perfect, skinless orange slices. The flavor however is the PERFECT simple side salad, which feels fancy because of the saffron and the should-be perfect orange slices.

Rating: 8.5/10 on flavor, 5/10 oranges

Collards & Corn with Homemade Ranch Dressing:

I am a diehard ranch fan. I grew up eating chickpeas with ranch dressing for lunch. Maybe weird to some--delicious to me. So making my own homemade ranch, I was admittedly a little nervous it wouldn't quite hit the same. But low and behold, it ended up being light, flavorful, and fresh! I could have gone lighter on the dill, but with a darker green like these collard greens, I didn't mind. There is also a fun textural component to this salad, with the combination of fresh corn and corn nuts.

Rating: 8.5/10 excellent summer salad to add to any BBQ!

Bravas Potato Salad:

BY FAR my favorite dish so far. Baby potatoes are always fun to make, and these happened to have an infused oil, PLENTY of heat and acid and spice, and the perfect texture change with potato chips crumbled on top. A stroke of GENIUS by Sohla. Incredible work.

Rating: 10/10 NO notes

Watermelon Chaat with Lime, Ginger, and Cashew Clumps:

I made this for my family when home for the holidays, and I was admittedly a little nervous, as these flavors aren't their typical cup of tea. However, the watermelon, lime, ginger, and jalapeno were all so flavorful and shockingly complimentary. The spiced cashew clumps on top made it like a party in your mouth--everyone was a fan!

Rating: 7.5/10 EXCELLENT on a summer day, preferably by a pool

Grated Beet & Crispy Chickpeas with Lemon, Oregano, and Feta

Spoiler: this was also for my family, and NONE of us like beets. Sohla stated in her book that you could sub for other root vegetables, and while I am pro being by the book, she encourages utilizing individuality and preferences! So I subbed beets for carrots. We absolutely made the right choice, too--the carrots mixed with the spiced chickpeas and shredded feta were zingy and an awesome lunchtime salad.

Rating: 8.5/10

Nutty & Salty Gunpowder Spice for Dunking, Sprinkling, & Fun-Dipping

These came in a whole variety of flavors, and while they were all tasty seasoning powders in their own right, I admittedly was at a disadvantage. I did not have a spice grinder. Whilst I thought my trusty mini food processor would suffice, it unfortunately did not break some of the components into small enough pieces. I still enjoyed the ones that panned out (there was a nutty, graham-crackery dip that was the BEST apple pairing), but others I did not get the full experience. You live and you learn.

Rating: 5/10 (my own fault)

Homemade Mayonnaise:

Much easier than you would think. You whisk egg yolks, cold water, and oil into oblivion until an emulsification occurs. My mayo was slightly thinner than the store bought version, but I didn't mind it. Once you have the main concept of mayo down, Sohla gives you variations too. Dijonnaise, Saffron Mayonnaise, and Tartar sauce are all on the table, each equally delicious.

Rating: 8/10 a pantry staple

Mayo & Sardine on Toast:

A basic recipe, but I admittedly am not the biggest fan of straight sardines, so I am not the best judge of this recipe.

Rating: 5/10 probably delicious if you love sardines

Velvety Soups:

The final, fully warm dish(es)! Now that I had mastered cold seasoning, had dabbled in seasoning warm items, and felt ready for the next step, I was able to really reflect on how much I had learned over the past month. I fearlessly tackled each soup via the process of sweating aromatics, adding plenty of flavoring to the broth, and blending into velvety oblivion. The final soups were honeynut and miso (a fun twist on a fall classic, a cauliflower & coconut soup I made a bit too spicy, and a creamy tomato soup (the PERFECT grilled cheese accompaniment).

Ratings: 6/10

My flavor profile in general has expanded, as "Start Here" allowed me to try recipe combinations I wouldn't have ordinarily gone for. I found myself getting more creative in my own cooking as well. If her book is culinary school, the basic foundation of seasoning has been learned and executed by this student.

Next month is eggs--I will reflect on that journey next!