HOME > Chowhound > Food Media & News >   Bittman's 4 Stages of
Learning to Cook    • 9  I saw a mention of this in another
thread, looked it up, and found no chowhound discussion on the
matter. Figured it might get some interesting responses.  The
four stages:  "- First, you slavishly follow recipes; this is
useful. - In Stage two, you synthesize some of the recipes
you've learned. You compare, for example, Marcella Hazan's pasta
all’amatriciana with someone else's, and you pick and choose a
bit. … You learn your preferences. You might, if you're
dedicated, consult two, three, four cookbooks before you tackle
anything. - The third stage incorporates what you've learned
with the preferences you've developed, what's become your
repertoire, your style, and leads you to search out new things.
What are the antecedents of pasta all’amatriciana? What's
similar? … This is the stage at which many people bring
cookbooks to bed, looking for links and inspiration; they don’t
follow recipes quite as much, but sometimes be