Advice | You asked: How do I get my cooking mojo back? - The Washington Post

Q: Do you all ever lose your cooking mojo? I don’t mean times when you’re not inspired or not motivated, but times when you’re just not very good at cooking. I live alone, have a good foundation of cooking knowledge and experience, so I often wing it and accept — and expect — that I’m going to have some fails. But lately, I just seem to be off my game. Any suggestions on how to get my mojo back?

A: This was a question that came up during our weekly live chat, where we help you level-up your skills in the kitchen. Here’s how to get back to the top of your cooking game.

First of all: You are not alone in hitting a rut in the kitchen. I’ve made my fair share of boring meals that were only saved by heaps of chili crisp.

It seems to me that you might be having a focus issue, where things that you are normally able to accomplish with ease aren’t working out how they used to. It’s happened to me on occasion when my mind has been elsewhere or I get distracted by other things going on around me. (This is The Washington Post, after all, so I’m sure we’re all well aware of the news.) Perhaps this is the case for you?

If so, what tactics do you use to regain focus in other aspects of your life? Some of those tricks might also work in the kitchen. A bit of background music is my go-to for concentrating on the task at hand. My “lofi beats” Spotify playlist is what I turn to when I’m writing. In the kitchen, it’s whatever I’m into at the moment, which is currently the “Hot Fuss” album by the Killers.

Another reader offered a different way forward: “I was able to make a credible pie crust that my husband appreciated. After he died, I can’t make pastry for pies at all even though I haven’t changed recipes. Now I buy ready-made. I just acknowledge that some mojo cannot be regained.” There are all sorts of kitchen shortcuts and timesavers that my colleagues and I wholeheartedly embrace and recommend.

My chat co-host Becky Krystal chimed in with more advice: “If you’re off your game winging it, I would try to get back in the groove with some reliable, riffable recipes! Say, our recipes! Especially Daniela Galarza’s Eat Voraciously newsletter, which gives you plenty of room to customize. Or go to the library and grab a few cookbooks. Sometimes you just need a little guiding hand. Even as a professional who makes stuff up on the fly, I still follow a lot of recipes! Let someone else do the work for you and take the pressure off.”