A Final Word

Personally. I have ceased counting the nights spent in the attempt to discover new combinations when, completely broken with the fatigue of a heavy day, my body ought to have been at rest. —Auguste Escoffier

No matter how many guidelines are offered on how to compose a dish, in the end its beauty lies only in the eye of its beholder—or taster! Knowing this, Rick Bayless says, “I get really frustrated with a number of my Cooks these days who want me to explain to them, why? ‘Why?’ ‘Why do you do this?’ ‘Why do you do that?’ What I usually answer is, ‘Well, just taste it.’ And I let them see if they can internalize it. Sometimes chefs need to sort of commune with the ingredients and then taste the final dish to know whether they’ve gotten it right or not. I feel very strongly that you just have to taste it and that’s what cooking’s all about—it’s got to be some thing that you appreciate and understand at an intuitive level, much more than just on paper.”