In my younger days, I was like most young men and didn’t put much thought into my cooking-or anything else I did in the kitchen, for that matter. As I have matured, I’ve grown to have an appreciation for fine cuisine and chef’s who have an attention to proper seasoning. Often it is not the amount of ingredients that you can afford to throw into a dish, but rather focusing on a few quality products that garners the best results.

When I am in the kitchen, I like to use flavorful foods and spices that don’t need to be “dressed up” with superfluous ingredients. In order to achieve this however, it is vital to use top-grade, fresh ingredients. That may mean making a few extra trips to the grocery store to ensure that your meat and produce are in peak condition.

For cuisine from virtually any corner of the globe, salt and pepper are the staple spices. Like most people, I used to skimp and buy pre-ground pepper and ordinary table salt. Through my experience cooking, I’ve learned that cracking whole peppercorns in pepper mills gives a much deeper flavor profile to whatever I am cooking. For most dishes, I also opt for a kosher or sea salt for bolder taste, as opposed to generic table salt.