Mastering Sauces: The Home Cook's Guide to New Techniques for Fresh Flavors: The Home Cook’s Guide to New Techniques for Fresh Flavors

flimsy, poorly made tools are never a bargain.

Don’t give up on your food—try to reimagine it. Different isn’t bad. Now and then you will make mistakes. That’s okay: The best chefs in the world do too. They just don’t broadcast it. They think of alternative ways to get good food on the table.

Chop, sauté, deglaze, simmer, strain, heat, season, enrich, and finish; that’s how that wonderful sauce was made.

I know a vegetarian who can’t pass up the occasional bite of roasted duck, avid carnivores who order soy lattes, and cooks at award-winning earth-to-table restaurants who have a fondness for Coke Slurpees and late-night fast-food drive-thrus. I love that!—it seems very human.

three fundamental principles: maximize flavor, manipulate texture, and season confidently.