Chef Wolfgang Puck's Tip For Becoming A Better Cook Is So Simple

For those looking to improve their culinary skills, one way to do so is to study the masters, like Wolfgang Puck. Born in Austria, the James Beard Award-winner started cooking to escape his abusive stepfather, eventually moving to California and promptly flourishing. He has been showered with accolades, opened restaurants like Ma Maison and Spago, catered to the stars at celebrity events, earned several Michelin stars, and even earned his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. As part of his Masterclass, Puck dropped some pearls of wisdom with chef tips to help anyone hoping to up their cooking game, whether professional or amateur. One piece of advice that stood out: Train your palate.

"Musicians have to train their ears to listen to music; painters have to train their eyes to learn about perspective and how to mix colors. We, in the kitchen, have to learn how to train our palate and how to season things properly, because without that, you can buy the most expensive ingredients, and the food will taste flat," he says. Meanwhile, he had encouraging words to share in a video, telling viewers, "If you have passion for what you do, you're going to be successful at the end."

While Gordon Ramsay's cooking advice is to get out of your comfort zone, Wolfgang Puck's chef tips on how to train your palate are a little more straightforward and get right to the basics. For one thing, home cooks should taste and season sparingly to start, being judicious so as not to overwhelm the dish. He also recommends blooming spices by toasting them first, which expresses more of their flavors and aromas.

Puck is famously credited with being at the forefront of California Cuisine, considered a fusion of culturally diverse flavors with California's bounty of fresh ingredients. Among his most famous concoctions is the unexpectedly delicious smoked salmon pizza with dill crème fraîche, caramelized shallots, and caviar.  Who would have thought those flavors would meld so beautifully together? It took years of training his palate for Puck to be able to put that dish together. Now, it's so popular that year after year, he's asked to serve this dish at the Governors Ball, the Oscars afterparty, and you can try it for yourself at Spago.