Sometimes when you cook with a friend, you’re there to learn, to follow someone else’s lead. Maybe you’re interested in making something you’ve never tried before — say pie dough or dumplings — so you take a back seat and allow a friend to show you the way. Other times, you’ll be the one in charge in the kitchen, demonstrating a method, showing off a new appliance or testing a recipe. You don’t have to be a trained chef or culinary school graduate to offer expertise to a friend. Often times it’s an old family recipe or learned technique that gives you the expertise to be in charge.
Cooking with friends is all about give and take: it’s about the back and forth sharing of knowledge and experience in each other’s kitchens.