How I would learn to cook if I could start over.

I want to explain how I would learn to cook if I could start over. Because in

the past 7 years, I've made over 400 videos about food and cooking. I've read

thousands and thousands of comments, and I've thought about cooking every single one of the past 2,55 days. And over this time, I've come to

days. And over this time, I've come to this realization. The way we teach

this realization. The way we teach people how to cook is backwards. So, in

this video, I want to explain three things. one, why I wouldn't start by

things. one, why I wouldn't start by cooking with recipes. Two, why I'd focus on learning how ingredients provide flavor. And third, and most importantly,

flavor. And third, and most importantly, why you need a cooking system. But

before we jump into those, I want to explain where these ideas came from.

Because I didn't come up with this all on my own. These are partly lessons that I've learned from all of you. Seven

years of seeing what videos resonated with you and which ones didn't, reading your comments, seeing your feedback, and understanding how different people cook in the real world. And I believe that

great home cooking is built on three core principles. First is food science

core principles. First is food science and technique, which is understanding the why behind good cooking, but only just enough to help you do the thing.

Second is inspiration, which is knowing what is possible in the kitchen and what excites you to cook. And lastly is lifestyle, which is building cooking systems that work for your budget, your

schedule, and your goals. And the kicker is learning how to cook can become truly life-changing if you learn these three principles at the same time. Because the

tricky part about teaching people how to cook is that no two home cooks are the same. We all live different lives. And

same. We all live different lives. And

what we end up cooking on a given day is not based on an idealized version of cooking, but it's usually just based on our real life constraints. For example,

almost all home cooks do not need to know how to perfectly execute the eight basic vegetable cuts on page 622 of the professional chef in order to get dinner on the table on a Tuesday night at 700

p.m. What you do need to know is what

p.m. What you do need to know is what are you in the mood for? How much time do you have? How many people are you feeding? What ingredients do you have in

feeding? What ingredients do you have in your fridge, freezer, and pantry? And

what do you know how to make? And the

hardest part of all is the answers to those questions will often change day by day, week by week, or year by year.

Sometimes I cook to eat healthy.

Sometimes I want comfort food in just 20 minutes. And sometimes I want to explore

minutes. And sometimes I want to explore new cuisines. And this is all a big part

new cuisines. And this is all a big part of why I wouldn't start cooking with recipes.

For almost all of us, recipes are our first introduction to cooking. And they

were for me, too. The first thing I really tried to make on my own was my grandma's bread rolls when I was a teenager. And of course, I asked her for

teenager. And of course, I asked her for the recipe. And recipes can be great.

the recipe. And recipes can be great.

They can help you recreate something exactly. They preserve memories. They're

exactly. They preserve memories. They're

perfect when you want precision, like in a lot of baking recipes. But they're

also incredibly limited because recipes don't teach you why something works.

They don't explain how the techniques or the ingredients interact. And these

days, they tend to be overly specific.

Basically, they're not really good at helping you figure out what to cook at 7:00 p.m. on a Tuesday night based on

7:00 p.m. on a Tuesday night based on your constraints. And this is why if I

your constraints. And this is why if I was learning to cook all over again, I wouldn't start with recipes. I'd start

with frameworks. And this is a lesson I've only really come to understand through all the videos I've made and the comments from all of you. And there is one video that really solidified this

idea for me. How to meal prep if you hate meal prepping. And in that video, I shared the Sunday braise framework where I would braise a large cut of meat typically on a Sunday morning, then turn

it into several different meals throughout the week. And I think the reason why this resonated with so many of us is that it exists at the intersection of those three principles.

I presented it primarily from a lifestyle perspective because it is simple and can save you time, money, and mental energy. But we also talked

mental energy. But we also talked through the core technique of brazing and why it works. And lastly, we talked about inspiration. I showed you three

about inspiration. I showed you three different dishes that I happen to make, but many of you have done this framework and used it to create hundreds of dishes that I didn't even show you how to make.

And that is the power of a framework.

You can learn one and unlock hundreds of meals. Learning frameworks also changes

meals. Learning frameworks also changes how you think in the kitchen. Instead of

staring into the fridge feeling stuck, you start thinking in terms of possibilities. You'll waste less food.

possibilities. You'll waste less food.

You'll shop more efficiently. And then

when you do go back to recipes, you'll understand them on a much deeper level.

Now, there is one big problem with trying to learn frameworks, and that is they don't really exist. And when I was putting together the graphic for this video, how to cook healthy meals and

never run out of ideas, this problem became crystal clear. Even if I made one framework video per week, that's like 50 a year. And there are so many more

a year. And there are so many more frameworks that could be created and shared. And selfishly, I had a bigger

shared. And selfishly, I had a bigger problem on my hands because I realized that I wanted to be able to learn from frameworks, too. Because after 7 years,

frameworks, too. Because after 7 years, I've realized there is more to know about food and cooking than is possible to explore in a single lifetime. And

frameworks are one of the core reasons why we are building the Cookwell companion app, which is live on Kickstarter right now. Now, this is not

just another recipe app. It is an app designed to teach you how to think like a home cook. And first up, we are building frameworks just like the ones you've seen in past videos of mine,

except in a way that we can build out tons of them across those three core principles of lifestyle, technique, and inspiration. We'll break down what you

inspiration. We'll break down what you need, why it works from a fundamental perspective, and how to do it. And

what's even better is that you can save the frameworks to your profile and leave custom notes on them. So then you can save and look back on them daybyday, month by month, and year by year. I

don't need or want to make a video for every single framework. They'll just be there ready for me and you to use because frameworks aren't just for beginners. They are for anyone who wants

beginners. They are for anyone who wants to keep learning about food and cooking and feeding themselves every day. And I

would really appreciate it if you do check out the Kickstarter because the app is a lot more than just frameworks.

It is an entire home cooking system.

There are grocery templates to help you shop smarter based on lifestyle or cuisine. And instead of trying to

cuisine. And instead of trying to memorize food science and techniques, they are all built natively into the recipes and frameworks we have if you need a reminder while cooking. There's

also a calendar and other tools designed to help you answer those key questions every night. What are you in the mood

every night. What are you in the mood for? how much time you have, what is in

for? how much time you have, what is in your fridge, freezer, and pantry. And if

everything I've done in the past seven years has led to this point, this is where the next seven years are going to start because I believe that learning to cook will change your life. We just need

a better way to teach it. Now, to be clear, this is not Ethan makes an app and then disappears from YouTube. In

fact, it's going to be quite the opposite. If we can get the app up and

opposite. If we can get the app up and running, I personally will be able to make higher quality content and more often that will just always be freely released on YouTube. Also, another big

part of the long-term vision is being able to support other creators to make more content in a variety of formats with these core principles at play. The

core design is done and we've already kicked off development. But this funding will help us build much faster because there is quite a lot of work that needs to be done on both the content and

development side. But now let's move to

development side. But now let's move to number two. Wide focus on learning how

number two. Wide focus on learning how ingredients provide flavor. On day one, if I was starting over, I would be asking questions like why is salt added basically every time we cook? What is

the difference between tomatoes, onions, and garlic in terms of flavor? Why does

this dish use butter instead of olive oil? And what do spices provide to a

oil? And what do spices provide to a dish? And why do sometimes we add them

dish? And why do sometimes we add them at the beginning of cooking versus at the end? Also, why do certain

the end? Also, why do certain ingredients show up again and again in cuisines from all around the world? And

these may seem like very advanced questions to be asking on day one, but if you really want to understand how cooking works, these are some of the most important questions you can ask.

For example, by having this mindset, instead of reading a recipe and seeing you're missing a specific ingredient like vinegar and are like, "Oh, well, I need to run to the store for vinegar. I

guess you'll instead start to see that you're missing a key flavor component, something sour." And there are lots of

something sour." And there are lots of ingredients that can provide sour taste.

And for me, I didn't really start learning this stuff until I started making the deep dive videos into single ingredients where I had to start asking myself questions I'd never thought about

before. For example, in one of the first

before. For example, in one of the first videos, are San Marzano tomatoes actually worth it? It started from that lifestyle perspective of like, should I be spending $7 on this can of tomatoes?

But to answer that, I needed to know some food science concepts. I first

needed to know generally what is the flavor of canned tomatoes? What do they smell like? What do they taste like?

smell like? What do they taste like?

What is the texture? Some of the canned tomatoes were noticeably more sour.

Others were richer and slightly sweeter.

And depending on how they were used, raw versus cooked versus simmered with spices, the taste and aroma and texture shifted in different ways. And as I kept

making more and more of these ingredient deep dive videos, I realized I was talking about the same concepts over and over, but I didn't have a language to

explain them. And this is when I started

explain them. And this is when I started to break down flavor into six categories that you might have seen in the more recent videos: taste, aroma, texture, sight, physical, and the human element.

And these are the six ways we experience food. Because flavor is so much more

food. Because flavor is so much more than just how something tastes. It's how

a dish smells. It's how it feels in your mouth. What it looks like, how it

mouth. What it looks like, how it affects your physical senses. And the

human element is what emotions does it generate, such as nostalgia, happiness, or cultural associations. And the tricky part about learning flavor is that it's actually a perception formed in your

brain. Like two people could be eating

brain. Like two people could be eating the exact same dish and have a completely different perception of whether they like the dish or not, whether they think it's worth the time or money it costs to be made, and if one

is clearly better than the other. And

this is why I realize it's helpful to have a common language that we can use to describe how ingredients provide flavor. And on Cookwell, we have a good

flavor. And on Cookwell, we have a good basic start to what we call the fundamentals by breaking food down into molecules, which are the building blocks of all food, reactions, which are the

result of those food molecules changing, and techniques, which are how we cause reactions to occur. But honestly, there is so much more we still need to learn

about flavor. Like, one day, I'd love to

about flavor. Like, one day, I'd love to help support or fund like a food science lab so we could test and ask more questions. But in the meantime, instead

questions. But in the meantime, instead of trying to memorize these, remember learning how to cook will become truly life-changing if you're learning these three principles at the same time. And

this is why with Cookwell, the core fundamentals are tagged throughout the app, whether it's on a framework, a recipe, or a grocery list. For example,

there's an aroma profile if you want to see the core ingredients providing smell. There are molecule tags for core

smell. There are molecule tags for core ingredients like a fat. There are taste tags when ingredients are primarily sweet, salty, sour, bitter, or umami.

And the reason why it's better to learn these while you are cooking is because you're not just memorizing facts. You're

creating sensory memories. It's one

thing to read about flavor properties or food science in a book or watch one of my videos, but it is an entirely different thing to actually taste the difference yourself. And this is one of

difference yourself. And this is one of my favorite parts about making these videos because I've got all the books and have read countless of them on food and cooking, salt, fat, acid, heat. I've

even got a food chemistry textbook. But

the things that I read in these books don't really stick until I test them.

Like when I tested a bunch of canned tomato options, when we did fresh garlic versus jarred versus granulated, when we compared the flavor of different onions or dug into parmesano reano, sometimes

the differences in flavor are crystal clear. And a lot of times the

clear. And a lot of times the differences are way more subtle than the books or videos would make them sound.

And it can be kind of unsatisfying or annoying in some ways, but a lot of times the answer does end up being it depends. And a great example of this is

depends. And a great example of this is from that canned tomato video. Yes,

there were some clear differences and in a 1:1 test, I definitely prefer the San Marzanos over some of the other options.

But the real takeaway came after I did the testing. Because now that I know

the testing. Because now that I know that some canned tomatoes taste a bit more sour than others, especially the ones that are packed in water instead of puree, I will cook with those tomatoes

differently. For example, if I only had

differently. For example, if I only had a sour can available to me, I might cook them down longer to concentrate the sweetness, add a bit of tomato paste for some depth and body, or just balance it

with a sprinkle of sugar. And this is the part that you can't always capture in a blog post, a cookbook, or a deep dive video. There's nuance you can

dive video. There's nuance you can really only start to understand when you ask the question, "How does this ingredient provide flavor to this dish?"

Reading and watching can give you a good starting point. But real learning comes

starting point. But real learning comes from asking questions, tasting the difference, and figuring out how to adjust the flavor. And this brings me to the final piece of the puzzle. Why you

need a cooking system? The most

important question that I would ask myself if I was starting over is why do you want to learn to cook in the first place? Yes, we do all need to feed

place? Yes, we do all need to feed ourselves at the end of the day. But

beyond that, the why can be any number of reasons. Maybe you want to save

of reasons. Maybe you want to save money, explore new cuisines, eat healthier, and lose weight. Maybe you

have a family to feed. Maybe it can be recreating a grandma's recipe. It could

be something as simple as wanting to stop wasting food or wanting to feel more independent or confident in the kitchen. Or cooking can be a way to

kitchen. Or cooking can be a way to express your creativity. And there's no right or wrong answer here. And for many of us, it may be all of the above. But

here's the thing. If you want to make cooking a long-term part of your life, you need a system that supports your why. And there is that classic quote

why. And there is that classic quote from Atomic Habits. You do not rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems. And another big lesson that I've learned from all of you

is that every home cook has a different cooking system. Because every one of us

cooking system. Because every one of us lives a different life. And that's where the system starts with a simple but important question. What does your life

important question. What does your life look like? And the answer to that

look like? And the answer to that question shapes the rest of the cooking system. how you get inspired, how you

system. how you get inspired, how you shop and source your ingredients, how you actually do the cooking, how you clean up and reflect, and how you repeat that process day after day. But then

there's the other side of that equation, which is what tools do you use to keep track of that system? And for me, I've never loved the tools that I've used. My

system is spread across notion pages, notes app, cooks books, grocery list, YouTube videos, and way too much of it just lives in my head. And the

complexity of that only grows when you like to cook for a lot of different reasons health flavor creativity or just out of habit. So, I started to ask

myself, what if there was one place where you could bring this all together?

a place where you could browse frameworks and recipes, build your grocery list, understand how ingredients work through food science fundamentals, see how you're feeding yourself over

time, and adjust as life keep changing.

And this is that core reason why I was like, we have to build the Cookwell app.

I can't actually go back and start from scratch, but I can start from today with the best cooking system that I've ever used. And ultimately, that is how I

used. And ultimately, that is how I would learn to cook if I could start over. I'd first go with frameworks, then

over. I'd first go with frameworks, then move to recipes. I'd ask, "How do ingredients provide flavor?" So, when I'm looking at recipes or frameworks, I understand what the ingredients are

doing, why a substitution may work or why it might not work, and how certain flavor combinations just seem to taste right. And most importantly, I would

right. And most importantly, I would start building a cooking system that supports why I want to cook. Now,

obviously, I've mentioned the Cookwell app throughout this video. It's not

going to work for everybody, but it is what I want to use in the future, and I think it may work for a lot of you, too.

So, I would really appreciate it if you check it out. But other than that, there will be lots of content coming over the next seven years. I appreciate you.

Thank you. Peace, y'all.