Are we asking the wrong question?

Katerina Pavlakis written by

The real problem isn’t what to cook, it’s how to make it taste good.

We’ve been asking the wrong question

Most of the stress around dinner comes from this one question:

What’s for dinner?

It sounds innocent enough. But for many, it’s the daily dread. A mental block. A recurring burden. A source of decision fatigue.

And we’ve been taught to solve it the same way, over and over again: by focussing on the what.
What recipe. What ingredient. What method. What plan. With lists of what to buy and what to cook.

But here’s the thing:
Real kitchen confidence doesn’t come from knowing what to cook.
It comes from understanding how to cook.

And even more crucially:

How to make anything taste good.

.

Think about it:

If you knew that whatever you made would taste delicious...
Would you still worry so much about what to make?

Probably not.

Because the fear would be gone. The doubts would quiet down. You’d be free to just… cook.

This is why understanding flavour matters.

Not in the fancy, sommelier-style, this pairs with that' kind of way. But in the deeply practical, everyday sense:

• How to balance acidity with richness.

• How to bring a dish to life with a hit of lemon or soy or spice.

• How to turn a few humble leftovers into something joyful.

We’re not talking about gourmet pantries either. We’re talking lemon, garlic, vinegar, salt, a pinch of sugar, some basic spices.

The kind of ingredients you probably already have. Used with a bit of know-how and a lot of trust in your own taste.

.

Because when you understand how flavour works...
Suddenly, the what doesn’t matter so much.

Eggs and salad? You know how to make that sing.
Frozen peas? Easy. Add butter, lemon, maybe a hit of chilli.
Leftovers? You’ve got five ways to remix them into something new.

With that mindset, the fridge becomes a place of possibility, not limitation.
And cooking starts to feel like play, not panic.

We don’t need more recipes.

We need more confidence.

And confidence comes not from knowing what to do—
But from knowing how to make it work.

Trust your taste. Learn the basics of flavour.

And dinner gets a whole lot easier.

.

PS. This is exactly the kind of thing I teach in my Bland to Brilliant workshop. It’s a practical, flavour-first session to help you stop guessing and start cooking with confidence—whatever’s in the fridge. Check it out here.

Categories: : (RE)THINK