TLDR: What you need to know

• The only way to learn how to cook, is to actually cook.
• You can read 100 articles, and watch 100 videos, but that won't help you learn how to cook.
• The difference between the Ray Wu MD program approach to cooking and regular cooking approaches, is that we want to teach you the fundamentals of cooking so you can cook without needing to follow recipes or instructions.
• Let's start now

Ray's Take

I hate following recipes....so I don't follow recipes.

Then how do I know how much of _____ to add to each dish and how to cook it?
It's actually simple. You just need to have good fundamentals for knowing which ingredients to use and when/how to use different cooking methods.

From there, it's keeping it as simple as possible.

Start with good quality ingredients.

Don't add any ingredients that aren't necessary.

Cook the ingredients the right way (not overcooked, not undercooked).

Taste your food, and learn how to season it appropriately.

Serve complimentary items together (IE protein + veggie + sauce).

Why do you cook this way?
Because following recipes is annoying and takes way too long. Also, most of the steps and many of the ingredients aren't actually necessary -> following recipes creates an "illusion of complexity" that just isnt' necessary.

Also, cooking this way, you don't have to plan nearly as much.
- you have all the spices you need [link for full details]. Really the only essential is salt.
- you can assess what you have at home, and cook something good 99% of the time.
- if you are missing an ingredient, it doesn't matter.

What else?
You can experiment and improve over time. This is bc you are building a foundation of knowledge you can easily add to. You are always iterating. You are always improving. You can taste things restaurants or other people make, know how to make a better tasting, healthier version. If you like it, you have a new go to dish.

You are unstoppable in the kitchen and guests are wowed. It's fun.

Get started

Here is a (always growing) library of dishes that are great starting points for beginners or intermediate cooks. Will be cool for advanced chefs to view too.

Main dishes
Baked chicken with cauliflower

Sides/Saunces
Guacamole

Dessert
Protein ice cream aka protein fluff

Equipment I recommend

Full details for all the hardware (pans, blenders, etc), food, and spices I use [here].