Cat Cora's Tip For Feeling More Confident In The Kitchen, No Matter Your Skill Level

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When it comes to building confidence in the kitchen, even seasoned chefs know it starts with small, intentional steps. Cat Cora, culinary trailblazer and the first female Iron Chef, shared this advice during a Reddit AMA when a home cook asked, "What would you advise people like me, who don't feel very confident in the kitchen?" 

Cora's answer was simple and empowering: "I would say if you're not feeling very confident, when you have enough time to really focus on cooking a dish, take your time, really research that dish, get a recipe in front of you, and my belief is if you can read you can cook. Get a recipe and follow that to the T. And do that until you feel confident enough to go on your own a bit. That's what I did, I would follow a recipe until I got it on my own."

Her words remind us that cooking isn't always about perfection — it's about learning, experimenting, and getting more comfortable each time you step up to the stove. It's also about nailing a technique and then applying it in as many recipes as you can. Let's take roasting as an example. This core skill teaches timing, seasoning, and temperature control, and it's the path to enlightenment for a classic whole-roasted chicken with roasted veggies — a comforting meal with major mass appeal. Perfecting a roast chicken means learning when to harness high heat versus when to go low, and once you do, you'll be swinging that oven door open for many new culinary adventures. First things, first, though. Grab a few useful quarter sheet pans – the stealth powerhouses of every kitchen.

When it comes to kit, we swoon over good-value Nordic Ware Naturals because each stackable quarter pan comes with a roasting rack. You can place a chicken on the rack with a few hearty, aromatic vegetables underneath, like carrots and onions. They'll caramelize as they catch the savory drippings, because these veggies can withstand longer cook times. Use another pan for quicker cooking vegetables, like zucchini and squash. Crank up the oven — 450 degrees Fahrenheit — so they char a bit but remain tender – toss in a little olive oil and blast them for a solid 20 minutes. Hot and fast tips build cooking confidence quickly, chef Cora style.

For the chicken you have two key options. Low and slow delivers silky, fall-off-the-bone goodness, so roast at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for between 1 and 3 hours, depending on the bird's size, then finish with a quick broil to crisp the skin. For weeknight speed, go high and fast — roast at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes to an hour for an average-sized chook. This yields shatteringly crisp skin and juicy meat with a little chew. Pat the chicken dry before seasoning, and rotate it halfway through cooking. Season liberally — you can just use a store-bought dry rub and lots of olive oil or butter. Later you can move up to bold combinations like orange and nutmeg chicken or spicy Peruvian-style roasted chicken. Once you've got the hang of roasting, there are many more cooking techniques that every beginner should try. And never, ever forget to eat and repeat — practice really does make everything become second nature, and the better you get, the better it will taste.