Letting Go of Perfection

Letting Go of Perfection

Everybody who comes to culinary school wants to be the next great chef or baker. They want to post amazing culinary delights to their social media. They want all their friends and family to “ooohh” and “aaaahhh” over their dishes. Then they start culinary school and realize that they aren’t doing it exactly right and that it’s not perfect every time. Guess what? Even the professionals don’t make it perfect every time. It takes years of practice and skill to perfect things, and even then we still make mistakes. Don’t stress yourself out over making every single thing perfect. Take the time to learn the technique, then take the time to practice and practice and practice and practice. It will never come out how you first envision it because it needs to be worked and tweaked until it’s “perfect.”

So my advice to you, as a young culinarian, is to let go of perfection. Be ready to make mistakes, screw it up, and make ugly food. This time in your journey is for mistakes and learning. Take those lessons with you, learn from those ugly things, and slowly get better. Don’t get hung up on the minute details. Keep the end goal in mind and make sure you follow the steps. You’ll screw it up, make it again and again (and sometimes many more times) before you perfect it, then you can wow the world with your culinary masterpieces.