Скачать или смотреть ep. 3 overcoming my fear of failure by making experimental pesto

ep. 03 of overcoming my fear of failure by making “experimental pesto”!

i watched culinary class wars this past week and was really inspired to explore and experiment with new flavors (like i’ve never cooked with green chard before AH). i was quite nervous going into it because i didn’t know if i could trust my taste buds to understand which flavors would go best with each other since we’re steering off the traditional basil, pine nut, & parmigiano route!

by the way i used the cookbook “salt, fat, acid, heat” by Samin Nosrat for inspiration and the pesto ingredient ratios! such a good foundational book, i love it.

takeaways from this experiment:

1. at first, it was hard to imagine how flavors would taste with each other i did have a hypothesis that ingredients with a more “soft” or “mellow” flavor would go well with stronger and punchier flavors (mostly from the cheese). i was shocked how this logic kind of worked out in this scenario and i think testing out my hypothesis was pretty cool! I guess there’s no better way to learn than by trying the thing first hand.
2. i accepted that not all combinations would taste “optimal” or “perfect” and by going in with this mindset, it really helped me have a fun time. instead of stressing about what could go wrong, i tried to focus on what could go right and in the end i found a new pesto that i really liked! and even the parsley pesto that wasn’t my favorite, i now understand that strong flavors can really fight each other - so it’s a good learning takeaway for me!
3. learning how to make things from scratch is so valuable. although i did use a blender for the greens which isn’t the traditional method, i still think that making homemade pesto from scratch tasted WAY better and helped me understand why pesto tastes the way it does! having the ability to adjust the saltiness and flavors to my preference was also really cool and i think i’ll have to keep making my own at home (as long as time permits!)

week 3 overall thoughts: this series has helped me become more confident in the kitchen for SURE. it gives me the courage to step into the new and unknown and excited for other recipes i have yet to make. of course, there’s still that voice in the back of my head saying “what if this is a total flop?” and “is this even worth sharing?” but i’m glad that i’ve kept going because there’s so much yet to learn!