18th
Keeping the Flavor
I was talking with my wife this evening, and asked what I should write about. This was half in jest, as I expected her to say “proper diaper application” or “infant teething”, but she mentioned an interesting topic: cast iron skillet cooking. We just picked up one and have been making some tasty dishes with it.
So I paused a second, and searched my brain for a decent metaphor. Then there was one — keeping flavor. One of the interesting aspects to cast iron skillets is they never get fully cleaned, not in the power-wash in the dishwasher with harsh soaps that most pans get. You give these skillets a quick scrub, sans soap, and they’re good. They keep some of the resident flavors of the various meals you’ve cooked, called seasoning.
Seasoning, now that’s a topic.
As we progress from role to role, from opportunity to opportunity, there are aspects, or flavors, to each role that we should retain. Different agencies, boutiques, or other environments will offer much different challenges, approaches, and peers to soak up wisdom from. In each role we all put into play solutions that can be totally unique. And in each role we all see the results of such solutions, and are given the opportunity to look back at our approaches and subsequent solutions.
That behavior of ‘looking back’ is what really gives us the complete sense of “seasoning”, that is the ability to learn from success and failure. Those learnings are your ingredients — your basil, goat cheese, and whathaveyou.
Think about it like your first job was like scrambled eggs; simple, but great if done right. And if you think about the various times you’ve messed up scrambled eggs, and learned how to do them right. Then, your skillet gets the perfect flavor as you begin to make the eggs really well.
Then you move on, to something more challenging. To keep this in the egg realm, maybe its an omelette. You bring in other ingredients, and more flavors get into the mix. You have to learn how to flip the omelette, which takes some attempts. Then, you start to get it right. You move on to frittatas, and continue to develop your “seasoning”.
The key to all this is to not be afraid to make some bad eggs, because when you make bad eggs, you undeniably know what made them bad. Too much heat, not enough, or too much time in the pan. When you eliminate what makes bad eggs, you make good eggs consistently. But you have to retain the knowledge of your failures.
Because, just as important as all the perfect dishes you made, you have to keep the flavors of the dishes that weren’t so good. Then your “seasoning” will be great.
