2. “Prep everything before the pan gets hot. Aromatics minced, spices weighed, sauces mixed — it turned dinner from frantic guesswork into the calmest hour of my day.”
3. “Learning to taste for salt and acid at the same time. Almost every dish that reads as flat is either under-salted or missing something sour, and the fix is rarely more pepper. I season in three passes — once when the aromatics hit the fat, once off the heat, once at the table — and I keep preserved lemon and sherry vinegar within arm’s reach of the stove. A spoonful of the brine does more for a braise than