Cooking is a Science and Scientists Don’t Fail

I am reading the book Start: Punch Fear in the Face, Escape Average and Do Work that Matters, by Jon Acuff. And it is a great book. The book won’t actually be released for a few more days, but you can pre-order it. I got a copy at a blog conference I went to a few weeks ago where Jon Acuff was a speaker.

I am only halfway through Start, but I am really enjoying it and can’t wait to finish it. I keep marking all kinds of pages and quotes from it that I want to remember and refer back to. I know it is a good book when I have post it notes all over it.

Start is about life, goals, and dreams. And oh I could write a whole lot on how this book applies to me. I have spent way too much of my life being happy with being average and just getting by, but this is a cooking website, so I will stick to cooking and not my life today.

Yesterday, as I was reading the book, the quote ” Because scientists don’t fail; they experiment” caught my attention because it applies to so much more than just life and goals. It applies to cooking as well.

So maybe John Acuff had no intention of this relating to cooking, but stay with me here on this one. This really does relate to cooking and life in the kitchen.

You see cooking is a science. When you work in the kitchen you are a scientist and the kitchen is your lab. 

It is all about the right liquid to dry ingredient ratio. Too much baking soda, too little salt, too much acid, or not enough spice. All these things can change a recipe. For good or bad.

Many people get discouraged by cooking failures and I see why. Cooking disasters are no fun. I have had a few many. Some are edible, but certainly not great. Some end up in the trash. Those days are not fun, but I keep at it. I keep trying in order to get it right.

Next time you have a cooking disaster don’t look at it as a failure. Look at yourself as a scientist and scientists don’t fail they experiment. You are experimenting. You are working your way towards that perfect dinner. That delicious cookie. That really good loaf of homemade bread.

Scientists don’t succeed overnight. It takes a lot of work. Hours of experimenting and tweaking. Learning to cook does not happen in a day. It is a process and a life time journey.

You do not have cooking disasters you have cooking experiments. Keep at it. Keep experimenting. You will succeed!