Celebrity Chefs Share Healthy Cooking Secrets

For as long as we have all been dieting, eating out has been our arch nemesis. We all know to avoid fast food, but even more formal sit-down style restaurants can be terrible places to try to count calories and stay on the straight and narrow. This means that the more you can cook at home and control what goes into your meals, the better off you will be, but cooking at home is still very intimidating to many people, especially those that didn’t grow up in an environment where cooking was a prized skill. Fortunately, there is a way to fundamentally understand a bit more about what works and what doesn’t in the kitchen, and a quick survey of some of our chefs at Bistro MD helped us understand what drives them to create, and fail, in the kitchen and how they deal with success as well as setbacks.

Tip One: Find Your Muse

Inspiration is a funny thing. We can draw it from the most unlikely of places, but most of us would agree that we can’t be expected to do something passionately without the proper motivation and inspiration. Many celebrity chefs were inspired at a young age, either by other chefs or by a family member who was able to bring aromas, flavours and ingredients together to make magic on a daily basis. If you are serious about learning how to cook, you should search for your muse, as well. Inspiration can come from anywhere. Whoever makes you want to learn how to combine fresh ingredients and create works of culinary art will suffice. Before you know it, you’ll be inspired to take on even the most complex cuisine right in your own kitchen.

Tip Two: Love Your Ingredients

We all know that fresh ingredients mean a better tasting meal, but many of us don’t know how to shop for the freshest produce and ingredients. You don’t have to break the bank to create a fresh and delicious meal. You can pick and choose where to spend you food budget so you surround yourself with as many high quality ingredients as possible. Trust us, if the celebrity chefs attempted to make a box of mac & cheese, it would turn out tasting pretty much like it would if you or I made it. The real difference comes with the ingredients you start with.

Tip Three: Love Food

Now this one sounds downright silly, but one of the most important components of cooking well is loving the foods you are cooking with. This means exploring new flavors that you may not have had before. Go to your local produce section and pick up a few items that you aren’t that familiar with. Don’t worry, if you have to ask the stock boy or an employee what a particular vegetable tastes like or how you would cook it, its fine, that’s what they are there for. Nature has given us a million different flavours. If you are cooking with the same six every week, you are going to be out of options fairly quickly. Remember, part of cooking is failing, but it is what you take from those failures and apply to successes down the road that counts.

Tip Four: Have the Basic Building Blocks on Hand

Along with having the freshest ingredients around, you also need to have the basic building blocks on hand to help create the dish you are working on. This means having a full spice rack as well as pots, pans, knives and the rest. This may mean you need to make an initial investment, but in the long run, it will pay off a hundred times over. You can’t be expected to fall in love with the art of cooking if you don’t have the palette, canvas and brushes to start with.

Tip Five: Less Really is More

If you live near a four or five star restaurant, go look at the menu. You probably think fancy meals are the most complicated, with the most ingredients and the most preparation. You’ll be surprised to learn that the majority of fine dining is based on the K.I.S.S. principal. When you aim to create a new meal from scratch, choose a handful of ingredients and combine them in a new and interesting way. Not only will you stretch your budget, you’ll learn how to make the most from those flavours instead of trying to drown everything in a mountain of complex sauces.

Tip Six: It is All About You

Recipes are general guides on how to make things. If you want to change things up because you prefer the flavour, go ahead. Remember, these meals are all about you and what you enjoy, so if you break a few rules along the way, you’re fine. Who knows, your version might become the “right” way of doing things in the future.

To Place Your Order Click Here

Related Links - Celebrity Chefs:

This website is only for the purpose of providing information and should not be substituted for the advice of your doctor.
Please consult with your doctor before starting any weight loss program or supplement.

Want a Diet Analysis from our experts?
Take this FREE Diet Profile now!

Height
ft. in.

Year Born

Weight
lbs.

Goal Weight
lbs.