Cooking Ideas From Dining Out

By Author: Tom Straub
Total Articles: 14
Comment this article

When you go out to eat, what type of cuisine do you usually end up ordering? We all have our number one favorite> However, there are a few of us that like to cook, but would instead enjoy our favorite foods at a restaurant. If you too, like to cook, it is almost a sure thing that, you also love to go out to eat on occasion, to taste your favorite cuisine. It may surprise you, that restaurants make an excellent place to find inspiration for your own cooking as well.

Favorite Restaurants

First off, to begin using your dining experience to enhance your cooking, you will want to examine your favorite restaurants. Develop a list of the restaurants you have loved in the past and ended up visiting often. Also, think about what it is you really enjoy about them. Is it their food? Or, maybe, it their atmosphere. What dishes did you find delicious? Simply by determining why you like a restaurant, you can start to use these same elements to your own cooking and in your kitchen.

Examine The Menu

We each have a personal cooking style, that enhances our eating. If you take a good look at the restaurant menu, you ...
... can get an idea of the kind of ingredients and seasonings that the chef prefers. Then, you can jot down the special items that look interesting and very delicious. Afterwards, you can try out some of these new recipes, seasonings or whatever idea came from the notes that you wrote down.

Consider for a moment, a stuffed crab that was so delicious, that you almost drooled over it at a restaurant. When you were looking over the menu, you spotted a stuffed crab, caught in the Atlantic Ocean, fast roasted in butter and lemon juice. It was very appealing to you so you ordered it. After your crab dish arrived, you got a whiff of fresh, white crab meat, coated with melted butter and lemon sauce. That is the perfect time to take some notes, like that the crab was from the Atlantic Ocean in cooked quickly. Then, right after it was taken out of the oven, the crab was covered with a warm sauce made of butter and lemon juice.

Chef Classes

For a more direct approach, you can get the cooking techniques from your favorite restaurant by inquiring if the chef offers classes where you live. Then, you can practice their techniques during their classes and learn from a professional. Once you have mastered these new skills, you can apply them in your own kitchen and enjoy your favorite dishes anytime.

Experience Different Cuisines

An easy and a good way to get introduced to a different cuisine is to dine at the restaurant that specializes in it. This is a key method to help you learn about how the food should taste. If you try it at the restaurant first, you will have something to measure by as to what it is supposed to taste like. Then, if it is to your liking, you can attempt to cook the dish at home. This puts you on the right track, verses trying to guess at how to cook it first, before tasting it already prepared.

To learn more cooking ideas, you can easily find on the Internet, an ebook that discusses everything you ever wanted to know about cooking, but never dared to ask. Then, you can enhance your restaurant and cooking experiences even more.