The fundamentals that transfer across all cuisines.
Everything in cooking reduces to understanding heat. Direct heat vs indirect heat, dry heat vs moist heat, rapid vs sustained temperature. Before learning any recipe, understand whether you're applying heat to create crust, to transfer heat gently to a centre, or to break down connective tissue over time.
The Maillard reaction — browning at high heat between amino acids and reducing sugars — creates hundreds of flavour compounds that don't exist in raw ingredients. It's why a seared steak tastes different from a poached one, why roasted vegetables taste different from steamed ones. Control your heat and you control this reaction.
Salt is not just flavour — it's chemistry. Salt in pasta water raises boiling point slightly but more importantly seasons the pasta internally. Salt on meat before cooking draws moisture out then back in with flavour compounds. Acid (vinegar, citrus) balances richness and makes other flavours more distinct.