Is cooking supposed to be "easy" or is my perception of it wrong?

[BAPyessir6]

TLDR!: I have found that, the more I cook, the easier it gets. I feel now it's kind of intuitively easy, and I wonder if I'm just quite good by now, or am I measuring my skill wrong. I'm learning less than ever before from outside chef/cook sources. Is this a plateau, or am I reaching a new level of skill/general cooking knowledge?

The long version!

I actually find that most cooking shows I used to learn things from (good eats, Food Network in general), I'm learning much less than before. The YouTube/social media chefs that I frequented say, 2-3 years ago, now seem kind of boring as they show things that I already, somehow intuitively know. (Yeah I know what those ingredients and cooking methods are. In my mind, "everyone" knows how to roast a chicken or make shakshuka. Who needs a recipe when it's all right there?)

I wonder if this means my cooking skills have massively improved, and I worry I will start to plateau soon (when I got married and moved out, I started cooking much more than before, as my mother didn't allow me to cook much growing up).

Is this normal to have happen? I know that cooking is something that technically never ends (as to how good you can get), but I'm curious if anyone else has had this feeling or has it now.

If you've seen the Matrix, I feel like I'm actually just starting to "see" cooking (like Neo "saw" the Matrix in the end of the movie) like instinctively know what goes together, and how, and why l. I can actually taste things I've tasted before in my mind, and figure out if they would go together and how. I eat out and think "oh I would make this X way and do this instead and it could taste even better!" (For my palette).

Granted, in baking, and breads in general, I'm almost but not quite there yet, as I don't bake as often as I cook, but sometimes I shock myself when I try a new recipe or cooking technique and nail it the first time ever.

This isn't supposed to be like a post of "I'M THE BEST COOK EVER MAN" but more of like: how do I determine how good at cooking I actually am? Is there a way to even do this? I always figured I'm not that good "yet" but everyone always raves about my food. And the idea of being able to "see" cooking is very cool!

 

[Andy M.]

Any activity becomes easier as you practice it. So now you can handle knives with more confidence, you know when a pan is hot and when to add ingredients. You learn what things go together, when to turn meats over to cook on the other side, etc.

It could be you're in a rut of familiarity. You mostly make the same or similar recipes repeatedly so there is no challange. Now try some cooking "thing" you've never tried before. One that includes cooking precesses you don't do now. Measure how "easy" it was. It will be more difficult but next time it'll b easier.

I make favorite recipes mostly from memory, just looking up some of the quantities to be sure it tastes the way we expect it to. When I try something new I spend more time with the entire recipe.

 

[dragnlaw]

Think of it this way... you didn't run the Boston Marathon when you were 10 months old. Andy has the right of it. Repetition is your teacher, you just don't realize it.
1 Tbsp of butter, 1 Tbsp of flour, 1 cup of milk and you know what you have. Do you know how often I had to look that up? 1 + 1 + 1... I can honestly say I only really learned that in the last couple of years. I mean it doesn't take a rocket scientist - and that's why NASA never hired me.
You are certainly a lucky person to be able to "taste" something to know what will go together. As much as I would love to - I do not have that ability. Is it because it is just as easy for me to rely on someone's recipe? Is it because you really want to learn and do, so of course you remember as you can't be bothered to look it up again when you have something else you need to do while doing it!!!?

I am often amazed the first time I try a recipe and I almost always "nail it" - I could have beaten Bobby Flay with that recipe!... .. and then... the other shoe drops. I go to do it a 2nd time and it is a disaster. After that it becomes a hit or miss.
I will say as I mostly cook for myself I do not have a "rotation" of menus but cook mainly what appeals to me at suppertime. So most recipes are only repeated once in while.
I've learned now, thanks to DC, that if I don't make notes it is very possible I will make the same mistakes over. So 1 month away from being 80 - I'm still learning.
And yeah, the cooking shows I used to spend hours devouring? I just don't watch anymore. There's nothing new.

 

[dcSaute]

seems you have made the effort to learn/use/"perfect" the various techniques.
which, imho, is most of "good cooking."
example: searing a (beef) steak . . . knowing how to recognized when the meat has seared, and not just turned brown,,,, that is the same 'knowledge' you use on ground beef, chicken breast, pork chop, chuck roast, tenderloin, flank steak, etc etc etc

as above - I can make a roux, turn it into a white sauce without a recipe or even thinking much about it. when you 'master' that technique, it works for everything from mac&cheese to souffle, etc etc etc

what usually, imho, sets a top notch resto apart is the prep / execution of especially delicious sauces / dips / specialty items. some of that stuff takes hours and hours of prep&cooking - the kitchen staff does not come in a 4 and start dinner service at 5:30 with those kind of things. they can justify it - but if you're cooking for 2 people and you need three tablespoons of a nice glaze . . .

specialty items - a resto served up spectacular pop-overs for the bread course.
been working on it . . . ain't as easy as it looks . . .