Gourmet cooking involves precise techniques. These techniques can be as varied as gourmet cooking styles and cuisines. Mastering gourmet cooking techniques will only come with practice. As in many things, first you need to learn basic techniques and methods in gourmet cooking.

Gourmet cooking can make use of any cooking style. When stir-frying meat, you need to cut the meat into uniform pieces. You do this by cutting the trimmed meat at right angles across the grain and then cut the meat crosswise into strips of about 5 mm thick each. If you are roasting a whole chicken, rinse and dry it first and then remove the fat pockets and giblets from the cavity. Once the chicken is prepared, place the chicken breast down on the grill. Doing this will keep the chicken's meat moist. Halfway through cooking be sure to turn the chicken.

Salmon and prawns are popular ingredients in gourmet cooking. You should learn how to handle them. Use large tweezers to pull out the pin bones to bone a salmon fillet. Needle-nose pliers will also do the trick. To shell and de-vein green prawns, hold the prawn with one hand and twist off the head with your other hand. You can now easily remove the shell of the body and the legs. You can take off the tail shell or leave it on depending on your preference. You can remove the back vein using your fingers or you can use a small paring to knife which will make the task easier.

There are certain ways to cut and peel vegetables when preparing them for your gourmet cooking. For example, if the recipe calls for carrots or any vegetable cut into julienne, you should first, cut the carrot into 5 centimeter long pieces and then cut these pieces lengthwise into 5 millimeter slices and then cut these slices into julienne strips again about 5 millimeters wide. If you need to peel tomatoes, you can drop them first into a pot of boiling water and blanch for about 30 seconds or until you see the tomato skin splitting. Take the tomatoes out of the boiling water and let stand for about a minute to cool. The skin should be loosened and it will be easy for you to peel off with your fingers.

Proper preparation of ingredients is crucial to gourmet cooking. This is why you need to learn how to properly prepare meats, vegetables, herbs and other ingredients. Freshness is one of the vital aspects of gourmet cooking. You should learn how to shop for the freshest ingredients. Gourmet cooking may be overwhelming at first but be patient in learning and you will soon find yourself preparing, cooking and serving fantastic gourmet meals!