Calming Tips for the Nervous Cook

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Let’s paint the scene, shall we? It’s 6:45 p.m. Your dinner guests are set to arrive at 7 p.m. You’re manically stirring a pot of lentil sausage soup with one hand and sautéing a filet of salmon with the other. There’s still a salad to dress, and a dessert to flambé. You are near tears and short a couple ounces of sanity. Somewhere, something is burning.

It doesn’t have to be this way. You can pull together an ambitious four-course dinner—without pulling all your hair out in the process. Here’s how:

1. Read a recipe from start to finish before you even preheat the oven. It’s common sense, but how many times have you been halfway through a recipe before discovering that there are three more steps than you’d realized?

2. Plan a menu with components that can be completed ahead of time. It’s a cliché for a reason. That way, you’re not rushing to finish everything at the last minute. (We love these Parmesan spirals, which can be totally finished a day in advance.)

3. Speaking of which, always keep pinch-hitters in the freezer. We’re talking jars of pre-made stock, carefully-wrapped ginger root, and pie dough. They can and will save you when the going gets rushed.

4. Clean as you go. Maybe your mother once gave you this advice. Well, your mom was right. When, at the end of the night, your kitchen doesn’t look like a battlefield, you’ll thank her.

5. Play soothing music in the background. Save the Metallica for another day. We dig upbeat but gentle fare a la Joni Mitchell, Cults, Stereolab and Rilo Kiley. Of course, when it doubt, go Motown.

6. Pour yourself a drink. Seriously. Just do it.