The Cook's Role

I. The cook's first job is to delight. Your first identity is as sensualist, then nutritionist, captain, aesthete, or anything else. Lure with aroma, entice with color, disarm with texture, seduce with flavor.

II. Feed others as they wish to be fed. The Golden Rule: Prepare the dish as you would want to enjoy it yourself. The Platinum Rule: Prepare the dish as the person eating it wishes it to be.

III. Feed others as only you can feed them. Yes, you want to please them, but know, too, they want you to do it. That means bringing your substantial and unique contributions to the mix.

IV. Work from your strength. Don't try to master everything. Become known for a few dishes, perhaps even the near perfection of one. Discover your obsession, then make yourself a slave to it: the mastery of a traditional dish, the combination of ingredients that have never before been met, precision in presentation,devotion to a culinary heritage, the introduction of color where it never before existed...

V. Aim at master of craft, not art. Know the basics. Repeat and practice, and the sublime will rise at rare, unexpected moments. Be opening to capturing art when it comes, but craft is your highest daily priority.

VI. Don't TRY to be different. You are different. Cook from your gut.

VII. Embrace the mundane. Do not bemoan the pedestrian tasks. Find pleasure in peeling a carrot, steaming rice, searing a steak, prepping, cleaning. Your reward is in the work, not around it. Cooking is not about convenience, but the pleasure earned through creation and in giving pleasure to others. Shortcuts are tempting, even necessary from time to time. But if you rely on pre-cut vegetables, pre-marinated meats and canned sauces, you are not cooking. You are assembling.

VIII. Cook globally. Apply the thematic greatness of diverse cuisines to your cooking. The French taught us to build flavor with aromatics, stocks and sauces. The Chinese gifted us with the pass-through process of locking in flavor with hot oil or water before stir-frying. Enhance your cooking using such techniques and sensibilities. Explore unleavened breads. Go Biblical on us. In Indian cooking, spices are often toasted before being ground. (To toast in this case means heating at low to medium heat in a dry pan until your nose tells you it is ready.) Toasting deepens and darkens both the aroma and the flavor, like turning up the volume on everything the spice has to offer. This is genius. Toasted coriander, for instance, smells like popcorn and oregano.

IX. Justify your food in at least two ways. A dish must taste good and be seasonal, or look good and be healthful. Having dual objectives raises your standard of execution. Plus, when a single purpose falls short, you have provided yourself a safety net.

X. Please, PLEASE slow down. To save time, avoid injuries and do better work, don't rush. No frantic action. First, master your craft, then earn speed as the external expression of internal fluency.

XI. Above all, do no harm. Primum non nocere. Let things taste of what they are. Think seasonally. Know the product and let it be.

XII. Dare to do less. Do not pull every trick from your toque when you cook. There is a time and a place for every technique, flavor combination, ingredient and plating style. You will get the chance. For now, do merely what the food requires. "Simplicity," wrote da Vinci, "is the ultimate sophistication." True refinement is invisible.

XIII. Preside happily over accidents. Get in the habit of knowing and honoring your mistakes and seeking lessons. We can only grow through learning, making mistakes, and trying again. The souffle that didn't rise, the broken sauce, the tough sirloin, the curdled creme anglaise--every mistake is a chance to turn misfortune to education and, in some cases, discovery.

XIV. Don't be grim. Meal preparation should be demanding and enjoyable. So should you.

XV. The best compliment for a cook... "More, please." Or speechlessness, or, in some cultures, a belch.

XVI. Eat. Just as a good writer must read, a good cook must eat. Know the experience of receiving and consuming food at least as well as you know the experience of preparing and serving it.