If You're not sure, add lemon!

When it comes to good cooking there's no real trick, just know your ingredients. When I visit a restaurant for the first time I'm not necessarily looking for something to dazzle my taste buds. For the most part, what I'm hoping for is that the dish that I order will taste good! I like the ingredients on the plate to work together to help bring out the flavor of each individual item that I'm eating and not overwhelm the other items on the plate.

I'm big on protein. When I say that, I mean that I don't believe that any meal can rightly be called a "meal" if it doesn't contain at least 8 oz of meat. I am a meat connoisseur of sorts and as such I am very picky about how the protein portion of my meal is prepared. When it comes to protein, it's quite simple really: "If it ain't broke, DON'T fix it!" God designed beef to taste like beef. Likewise, chicken should taste like chicken and fish should taste like fish. One of my biggest peeves, when it comes to eating out, is when my steak is drowned with some kind of sauce so much so that I can no longer taste the steak. The other night, my wife and I were out at a local restaurant and I decided to order the Prime Rib Special. I ordered it rare as I usually do, and it came out served over a side of caramelized carrots.

Now before you say, "That sounds yummy," let me explain to you the nature of a carrot and the caramelization process. Caramelization is the process in which vegetables, carbohydrates and proteins are heated to 300 degrees fahrenheit and browned. The side effect of caramelization in vegetables higher in carbohydrates is that the proteins break down leaving the now more refined carbohydrates behind. High carbohydrate vegetables, like onions, beats and carrots, get sweeter and sweeter the longer you heat them. Now don't get me wrong, in the right context caramelized carrots can be a wonderful edition to a meal. However, in this case my beautiful piece of prime was literally resting on two cups of caramelized carrots. It might not have been so bad, except for the fact that the carrots were sweetened with sugar. SUGAR!! They would have tasted great served over a couple of scoops of vanilla ice cream but, honestly, they ruined my meat. I even tried to separate them out with the hope that I might be able to salvage some of my now violated prime rib steak. But alas, it was a lost cause. All I could do at that point was to try and overcome the sickeningly sweet flavor of the carrots with massive quantities of horse radish. This was not a good night for me...

This is why I say that you need to know your ingredients. Just because certain foods taste good by themselves doesn't mean that they were meant to be served together.

In conclusion, great meals are made up of three basic parts; a protein, a vegetable and a starch. Always start by picking your protein and then build the meal around that. I usually like to go low carb so I might substitute something like mashed potatoes with mashed cauliflower, but to each his own.

"Sweet" is sometimes O.K. in a dinner, but just be careful how you use it; your palate can be easily overwhelmed.

Let your protein stand on its own flavor. Don't mask the flavor of meat with sides and seasonings, accent it.

So go have some fun with food! Don't be afraid to try unfamiliar cuisine. Learn from your culinary mistakes. And if you're not sure, add lemon!