The first thing you need to do when tackling any recipe is to determine what techniques you must accomplish. Do you need to grill, sauté, boil, or steam? Should you dice, julienne, chop, or mince? Must you pulse or puree? You have the recipe for what you want to make, but if you don't know the techniques required for that dish, you'll end up with something entirely different. Imagine for example that you are making a peach salsa for a summertime gathering with friends. You have all of the finest quality ingredients, but your technique is critical to your recipe. If you didn't know better, you might end up pureeing the delicate tomatoes, purple onions, spicy jalapenos, and tender peaches instead of simply chopping them. The end result would be a watery mess absent of taste rather than a beautiful presentation of red, purple, and orange hues with the sweet scent of summer fruit and gentle spice of peppers with flavors carefully melded together.

You know how important it is to have the best ingredients on hand to create a masterpiece, a culinary work of art so to speak. But your technique for recipe preparation is just as critical. Think of your ingredients as your paints and your techniques as your brush strokes, both of which will be used on your culinary canvas. Your finished work will be a blend of mouthwatering ingredients and careful techniques, and your end result will be something for your guests to not only enjoy while eating but also to remember for ages.

Techniques are the staple for how you will create your dishes. After all, cooking is not just about foods. It is a combination of complementary ingredients and the right methods for joining them together. Once you have joined the right foods with the correct techniques, you bring together a dish of perfection.