This is not a list of basic cooking techniques - like how to sear, sauté, sweat, roast or braise - but little things which I think can make a real difference in the results you get - whatever you are cooking. They are not actually difficult, just a matter of taking the time - maybe a few extra seconds - and being into what you are doing. If you do these things properly and consistently, your food will be at a different level. Cooking thoughtfully and with attention to detail is as much an approach to cooking, as it is a matter of precise technique.

Season evenly and generously - Every bite of an ingredient, notwithstanding textural differences, should taste the same - you don't want to bite into a salty bite and then a peppery bite and then a bland one. It is worth it to take an extra few seconds when seasoning your ingredients to get this consistency. If you season by raising your hand a slight distance above the food as you season it, you will get more even distribution and therefore, more even taste.

If you season your food generously in advance of cooking, the salt will be able to penetrate deeper and become more integrated with the ingredient as it cooks, bringing out the maximum flavor of the ingredient itself as opposed to seasoning after an ingredient has been cooked which will leave a one dimensional salty layer over the shell that has been created during the cooking process.

We make and cook with a lot of spice mixtures at the restaurant, but we always season first with salt, then with pepper and last with the spice mixture so the spice mixture won't create a barrier to the salt penetrating the ingredient and allowing the salt to bring out the most and best flavor of the ingredient as it cooks. At the restaurant, we consistently use kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. We never use iodized salt as it has a harsh, aggressive taste and is made up of tiny, rock-hard granules, neither of which you really want to contribute to your food. Kosher salt generally comes in the form of a flatter flake which dissolves easily into food and also has a more delicate and natural taste. Sea salt is also a softer salt both in form and flavor - it melts easily into food and has a beautiful and gentle range of flavors, but is somewhat distinctive, and when you are not trying to add an additional flavor, but bring out the true flavor of your ingredients, kosher salt is, I think, the best (we use Diamond brand).

There is a different world between buying ground pepper or simply grinding pepper as needed from a peppermill. You can branch out and experiment with all of the varieties of peppercorns - Telicherry, Malabar, Sarawak, green, white - learn about how they are harvested and notice all of the differences in taste, but any basic fresh, black peppercorn freshly ground will blow away a commercially packaged ground jar of pepper and is definitely worth the small effort or expense.

When sautéing or searing, place your ingredient presentation side down in a hot pan - move it once to allow oil to slip under it so it won't stick and then leave it alone until it is ready to be turned - The first side that you place in a pan will generally come out in the most pristine condition, as the pan is the cleanest during this portion of the cooking process - and so should be your presentaton side. Following this process will consistently bring you the most beautiful results.

Taste thoughtfully - Use your senses and don't rush - be open-minded and see where it leads you.

Pay attention to texture and contrast - Something complex, spicy or earthy will always benefit from something cool, clean or bright as a complement. This refreshes your palate and brings out the best of both tastes.

Don't give up easily - You can fix a lot of things if you remain calm and don't give up right away.

Don't take shortcuts that compromise the quality - It is better to simplify a recipe or take out some components than to do technique hastily.

For large batches, make a test before cooking the entire batch - For example, if you are making a big batch of Conch Fritters, Vietnamese Sausage or Turkey Burgers - take a small amount and cook it individually to taste how the whole batch will come out - adjust the batch and repeat the process. This only takes a couple of minutes, but prevents the whole batch from coming out less than ideally.

Choose the right sized pan - So that the food you are cooking will have enough room to sear and caramelize properly, instead of being crowded and essentially steam in its own juices. As ingredients caramelize they develop flavor and texture and along with controlling the heat, choosing the right size pan is the best way to ideally caramelize and thus, flavor your food.

Adjust your heat - It is difficult to prescribe in writing what the ideal heat is for cooking a particular item. If you pay attention to how your food is reacting to the heat as you cook, you can quickly learn to adjust to the subtleties of cooking and master the art of controlling your heat.

Don't follow a recipe blindly - When you are really paying attention to the look, feel and taste of the food, you have the best chance of getting the most delicious results. There are a lot of intangible factors like the season or quality or condition of the ingredients you are working with that can have a great effect on any given recipe and may not have been taken into account in writing the recipe. The combination of the idea for a dish in a recipe combined with being really into what you are doing, is the best chance for creating something special.

Choose the right oil - When cooking over high heat for an extended period of time, a pure, light cooking oil such as peanut, safflower or canola is ideal. Many people will advise you never to cook with extra virgin olive oil because it burns at a lower temperature than a pure, light cooking oil. However, for searing quick-cooking ingredients I think it actually helps to develop a deeper, richer color and unctuous quality in the food. While you do lose some of the subtle flavor of the oil, it really helps to develop a beautiful crispiness along with a depth of flavor you wouldn't get from cooking with lighter oil. Reserve the most special, complex extra virgin olive oil to be savored raw and simply. Other full-flavored oils and fat can make a great contribution to your food, like walnut oil, which contributes a nutty, earthy and pleasantly bitter flavor, or duck fat which contributes a smokey, earthy flavor and unsurpassable richness to a dish.

Be organized - For me, getting organized allows me the freedom to be free-spirited in my cooking. If I start with a clean workspace and have all of my things in place (Mise en Place) when I begin, I can really concentrate on the ingredients I am working with. Using proper technique when cooking is the next extension of this - when something is cooked properly, it gives you the ability to adjust to any unpredictable glitches that might arise - there is less room for error and a better chance for good results. Using proper technique is a basic structure that gives you a cushion to adjust to anything that comes up - it puts your best foot forward as well as providing you skills you can apply to anything you cook in the future.