Kitchen Finesse: Visual Measurements

Kitchen Finesse: Visual Measurements
One of the many Trade Secrets Revealed

One truly helpful cooking tip that all the pros use is the art of visual measurement. Do you think a restaurant chef is going to get out a measuring cup every time for each dish he’s making? Of course not.

While it’s true that many kitchens rely on one person to prepare the ingredients and seasonings, and another chef to actually cook the meal, it remains a system of learning to guess by sight, and season accordingly. Most restaurant chefs don’t even have the time to sample a dish before it goes out to the customer (Would you really want them to?) so the mark of a good chef is getting it right, or close enough to perfect, every single time.

Every chef guesses one way or another, some slightly high, some slightly low, some times the estimate you make is even influenced by whether or not you personally like the herb or spice in question. Like when a restaurant changes cooks and the spicy soup never seems quite the same.

If you’re a visual learner, there’s an easy trick to start yourself off on the visual measuring scale. (If you’re not, keep practicing and you might find a way that works best for you.) Practice with clean hands (obviously) and salt/sugar. Take a measure of each common measurement, ¼ tsp, ½ tsp, 1 tsp, ½ tbs, 1 tbs. Start with ¼ tsp, cup your palm, and pour that much salt into your hand, pay very close attention to the size of the pile, how tall is it, how much does it weigh, how big is the diameter. Try to memorize it. Then pour that salt off, and without measuring, pour the same amount into your hand. If you think you’ve got it right, then try to carefully pour it back into the measuring spoon to see how close you were.
Adjust, and try again.

This is the first step to visual measurement. After you’ve had some time to practice, or you just prepare the same dish long enough, you’ll be able to toss the ingredients together directly in the pan, and with a little tasting to be sure it’s right, you won’t need to measure for some recipes at all!

Now, clearly this only works for small units of dry seasoning. Liquid seasoning you can practice by pouring into a clean bowl, then into a measuring spoon, but the practice and attention to detail is still required.

For larger servings, say, diced vegetables, the absolute best way to ‘cheat’ and improve your ability guesstimate larger measurements is to get a set of tiny to medium glass mixing bowls. Yep, just like the TV chef’s use. I received two sets of glass mixing bowls, (The smallest is the perfect size for individual dipping sauce) and they are the MOST used items in my kitchen.

Using bowls of different sizes is the ideal way to establish a sense of scale, whether it’s a ½ cup of diced shallots, to 2 cups of diced carrots, you’ll be able to get an approximation of size, no matter how light(spinach) or heavy(potatoes) the item is.

Even if you doubt your ability to get things right without measuring, the best aspect of learning this skill is the confidence you will develop in the kitchen. Feeling like you can cook well isn’t a matter of how easy it is for you to do, it’s a matter of practice, start small, learn little tricks like these, and even if you’re never cooking a five course chicken cordon bleu you’ll still feel happy and comfortable cooking the things you CAN cook in YOUR kitchen.
Cooking is fun! Enjoy it!