Pro Home Cooks

Pro Home Cooks began as a passion project that evolved into a YouTube sensation with over two million subscribers. Mike Greenfield started his channel in 2013 with a powerful yet simple belief – home cooking deserved more importance in our daily lives. His approach is different from traditional cooking shows and recipe blogs.

Mike champions a more flexible cooking philosophy instead of demanding exact measurements and rigid instructions. “We have to really nail down the art of meal prep because we’re all busy, and we can’t just spend all day in the kitchen cooking food,” he explains. This philosophy shapes Pro Home Cooks’ unique content. Mike’s channel shows that cooking builds skills rather than following strict recipes. The channel covers everything from sourdough mastery to creating delicious teriyaki and banana pancakes. This freedom from rigid recipes might be the key difference between amateur cooks and confident kitchen creators.

Why Pro Home Cooks Break the Rules

Breaking free from recipe constraints isn’t about rebellion—it’s about growth. Most skilled home cooks share a secret: they rarely follow recipes exactly. They see recipes as creative starting points rather than strict rules.

The myth of recipe perfection

The belief that recipes need military-style precision creates needless stress. Food publications feed this myth with headlines promising “perfect” results that make anything else feel like failure. This obsession with perfection scares away new cooks and misses the true spirit of cooking.

“We often think ‘perfect’ means ‘best,’ but that’s not always true in the kitchen,” explains cooking instructor Dianne Jacob. “Sometimes, a little char on your veggies adds way more delicious flavor than a perfectly roasted batch.”

Social media might suggest otherwise, but cooking was never about flawless execution. Traditional cooking in every culture grew through adaptation and creativity, not by following strict written rules. Each family and region creates its own versions of dishes based on what’s available, what they like, and what they can cook with.

Professional chefs know this truth. They look up recipes for specific things like dressings or marinades they want to make the same way each time, but they trust their judgment and creativity. Experienced cooks know recipes are guidelines—not contracts set in stone.

This obsession with perfection hurts more than it helps. Chasing flawless results turns cooking into a chore instead of a joy. People might never try cooking at home because they’re scared of not matching that perfect picture.

Here’s what happens when you let go of recipe perfectionism:

• You get creative and play with ingredients
• You adapt better when you’re missing something
• You learn cooking techniques deeply
• You feel proud making something that’s truly yours
• You stress less and enjoy cooking more

How Mike Greenfield learned to trust his instincts

Mike Greenfield, who created Pro Home Cooks, discovered this through years of kitchen experiments. His cooking philosophy centers on the idea that “cooking is an intrinsic part of life” that has “lost a lot of its value in our current culture.”

Mike stands out from other instructors who focus on copying recipes. He teaches cooking skills that spark creativity. He doesn’t ignore recipes—he uses them to teach methods you’ll use again and again.

“By creating a stronger cooking foundation in your life, you will be able to provide for the people you love, live a healthier lifestyle and connect more deeply to yourself,” Mike explains on his website. This shifts cooking from following instructions to building real skills.

Mike’s path to cooking by feel matches many professional chefs’ stories. He started by measuring everything and following each step carefully. Soon he spotted patterns, understood flavors, and felt confident making changes.

His Pro Home Cooks course shows this growth. Students say Mike’s videos teach more than directions—they give you the “knowledge and confidence to try new dishes.” One student shared, “I’ve done a bunch of reading, bought books, and followed recipes, all to mixed results. The difference has been night and day.”

You can break free from recipes once you understand basic ratios and techniques. Cookbook author Mike Bakes puts it well: “When you understand how a culinary ratio works, it’s not like knowing one recipe—it’s like instantly knowing all of them.” This knowledge helps cooks adjust when something looks wrong or needs a substitute.

Cooking by feel also creates a deeper connection with food. Using all your senses—sight, smell, touch, taste—helps develop what Pro Home Cooks calls “your own personal expression of cooking.” This approach makes cooking more natural and true to who you are.

The Real Secret: Cooking Is a Skill, Not a Script

Amateur cooks often feel frustrated when their dishes look nothing like cookbook photos. This frustration comes from a key misunderstanding. Cooking isn’t about following written instructions perfectly – it’s a skill you develop through practice and hands-on experience.

Why recipes are just starting points

Recipes guide us but shouldn’t dictate every move. “One of the biggest mistakes made by fledgling home cooks is worrying too much about following recipes instead of learning techniques,” says cooking instructor Jennifer Clair, who teaches back-to-basics cooking since 2002. She sees students standing far from the stove, nervously poking at their pans because they’re scared to stray from the recipe.

Learning cooking principles matters more than memorizing steps. Food writer Sam Sifton puts it well: recipes are like sheet music that lets “home cooks to recreate the work of others, just as a printed chord chart allows Mike from Sheboygan to play a Beatles song passingly well in his den.” Sheet music can’t teach songwriting, and recipes alone can’t teach cooking.

Pro Home Cooks shows this in their videos where techniques take the spotlight over strict formulas. Their sourdough tutorials focus on understanding fermentation rather than exact measurements. This knowledge-based approach gives you flexibility:

• You adapt dishes based on what’s in your kitchen
• You understand how flavors work together
• You trust your senses more than timers
• You know how to fix mistakes as you cook

How improvisation builds confidence

Cooking without a script builds amazing kitchen confidence. Chef David Chang believes “it can be scary, but also I think it teaches you how to think.” You become an active participant and discover exciting flavor combinations.

Understanding simple patterns helps you improvise. Pro Home Cooks’ air fryer videos show how one technique opens many possibilities – from crispy wings to banana pancakes. Pattern recognition helps cooks break free from recipes.

“Once you learn very small things, you can up your game very quickly,” Clair notes. Simple skills create the foundation for confidence. Learning to brown onions properly or cook meat perfectly transforms cooking from a chore into creative expression.

Chef Marc Matsumoto strongly supports freestyle cooking: “Cooking without recipes shows you have mastered culinary skills.” He wants cooks to truly know their ingredients. Don’t just see fennel as green with white bulbs – understand its licorice flavor and how it pairs with citrus and beef.

The role of failure in becoming a better cook

The road to cooking mastery runs through failure. Burned onions, undercooked pasta, and collapsed soufflés teach lessons that perfect recipes never could.

“Failure is memorable,” a professional cook explains. “That was the day I learned to read the recipe carefully and more than once.” These mistakes stick with us and prevent future errors.

Embracing kitchen mishaps encourages experimentation. Many cooks stay with simple recipes because they fear failing. A cooking instructor notes: “Improvisation in the kitchen will help you get a better handle on why certain recipes work so well and play around with flavor pairings you would never have encountered had you stuck strictly to the recipe.”

Pro Home Cooks starts ambitious projects – like deep dish pizza or complex teriyaki glazes – with simple techniques and builds through trial and error. This approach makes the kitchen a creative space where mistakes become valuable lessons.

Your senses matter most in developing cooking skills. Recipes might suggest otherwise, but nothing replaces engaging all senses while cooking. Watch ingredients transform, smell when bread is done, feel when pasta reaches the right texture. These sensory skills, not memorized steps, create accomplished home cooks.

How Pro Home Cooks Learn by Doing

Culinary magic happens in the kitchen laboratory. Home cooks know that active experimentation creates mastery better than following recipes. This hands-on approach turns cooking from a simple task into an exciting experience that builds skills and knowledge.

Experimenting with ingredients and techniques

Doing is the best way to learn cooking. A cooking instructor puts it well: “Being open to learn from failures is key for developing a creative and innovative mind-set.” This idea works in the workplace too. Managers develop their style by trying new approaches rather than reading manuals, just as cooks build their skills through kitchen experiments instead of cookbooks.

Kitchen experiments make cooking science clearer. Professor Charbonneau showed this when he made two versions of the same toffee recipe. He whisked one while cooling and left the other alone. People liked the crumbly version better even with similar ingredients. It dissolved faster on their taste buds and tasted sweeter. You can only find such things through hands-on exploration.

Using the air fryer beyond expectations

Air fryers prove how experimenting expands what’s possible in cooking. People buy them to make healthier fried foods, but creative cooks find they can do much more:

• They make soft grocery store croissants flaky and crispy
• Soggy leftover fries become crisp again
• You can make your own tortilla chips and pita chips
• Garlic roasts in under 30 minutes compared to the usual oven method

Air fryers work great with unexpected foods like hard-boiled eggs, so you don’t need to boil water. They also work well to bake small batches of cookies and make mini lasagnas in loaf pans.

From banana pancakes to deep dish pizza

Some recipes really show how learning by doing works, especially when you have two-ingredient banana pancakes. These simple pancakes with just bananas and eggs first became popular on fitness and parenting websites. They teach an important lesson about experimenting: “It seems like you’d just end up with scrambled banana-eggs (yuck), but the final product truly resembles a pancake.”

Home cooks adapt this recipe to make it their own. Some add pumpkin spice mix or nutmeg, while others mix in finely chopped strawberries or peaches. Each experiment helps the recipe evolve to match personal taste preferences.

Sourdough creates another perfect learning environment. To cite an instance, see sourdough banana pancakes that mix overripe bananas with sourdough discard. The result sits somewhere between classic pancakes and banana bread. Experienced bakers share important tips: “Mash bananas thoroughly so they incorporate evenly” and “Don’t overmix the batter.”

The Tools That Make Freestyle Cooking Easier

The right tools and supplies pave the way to kitchen freedom. Expert home cooks know that good equipment and ingredients are the foundations of culinary creativity that let them cook without being tied to recipes.

Keeping a stocked pantry and fridge

Your pantry can be a culinary safety net when you cook freestyle. You can make almost any meal without planning trips around specific recipes. Life throws surprises your way – unexpected guests, sudden cravings, or impromptu dinner parties. A stocked pantry helps you handle it all.

“A well stocked whole-food pantry is filled with high-quality foods that nourish your body,” notes one cooking expert. “You grow what grows well in your climate, and buy what is in season and looks good”.

Smart cooks think about versatile foods instead of specific recipes. They choose what’s fresh and available to create a relaxed cooking style. This approach cuts food waste and grocery costs while helping you understand ingredients better.

Using flexible tools like the air fryer

Versatile kitchen equipment opens up new possibilities to cook freestyle. The air fryer shows this perfectly. It’s more than just a tool for healthier fried foods – it’s become a multi-purpose cooking companion.

Air fryers can cook foods “with up to 97% less oil versus traditional deep frying” and offer amazing versatility. They’re great at reheating food, cooking frozen ingredients, and making proteins like salmon and chicken that “come out juicy and flavorful with minimal effort”.

Modern models work as “mini ovens” with features for air frying, baking, grilling, reheating, roasting and more—all in one appliance. This flexibility lets you experiment without recipe constraints.

Why sourdough is the ultimate teacher

Sourdough making teaches you the most valuable freestyle cooking lesson: adapting through observation. The process starts simply—mix flour with liquid to activate friendly bacteria and wild yeast that “generate byproducts that cause bread to rise and give it complex, rich flavor”.

Mastering sourdough needs what bakers call “intuition” rather than strict formulas. Temperature, hydration levels, and flour types affect your results. You learn to adjust based on what you see instead of following rigid recipes.

“Bakers’ intuition is as essential to sourdough success as pure science,” notes one expert. “There are as many ways to create, nurture, and bake with a starter as there are bakers in the world”.

Sourdough becomes your perfect teacher for freestyle cooking. It trains you to trust your senses, make changes based on what you observe, and build confidence in your abilities.

What You Gain When You Stop Following Recipes

A whole new world of culinary possibilities emerges as we leave rigid recipes behind. People who adopt freestyle cooking find benefits that go way beyond the reach and influence of just better-tasting food.

More creativity and less stress

Creative expression flourishes without strict recipe constraints. “Freestyle cooking helps us to develop a skill of making exactly what we like, becoming experts in our kitchen for our own taste,” notes one cooking instructor. Meal preparation becomes more relaxed with this freedom.

Research shows that flexible cooking approaches can be therapeutic. Repetitive actions like chopping vegetables or kneading dough become meditative and help your attention move away from daily concerns. As one chef explains, “Leaning in to the simplicity of a physical action allows you to escape the day’s incessant thoughts about unsuccessful work calls, bubbling deadlines and what is left on the to-do list.”

Cooking becomes faster and more accessible

Cooking efficiency improves dramatically without recipes. Time spent measuring ingredients or searching for exotic items reduces significantly. “Freestyle cooking really does save a lot of time in the kitchen. Not only can you prepare a meal faster, since less measuring is needed, you also will not have to take time to search for the perfect recipe,” one expert points out.

Shopping trips become less frustrating without recipe constraints. Your pantry’s existing ingredients become the foundation for meals instead of making special trips for specific items. Pro Home Cooks followers report simpler and more economical weekly grocery shopping after becoming skilled at freestyle cooking techniques.

You start developing your own signature dishes

Creating personal signature dishes that reflect your unique taste becomes rewarding. Chef Ollie explains that “fifty percent of the taste of a meal is actually what you do right at the end.” Your culinary signature emerges through those finishing touches—a drizzle of olive oil, fresh herbs, or a sprinkle of sea salt.

Unique combinations that might never appear in cookbooks surface through experimentation. One chef suggests starting simple: “If you still want to use recipes, and just adjust them that’s a great start. Keep experimenting and evolving so that a recipe becomes a tool for you, but you are not overdependent on it.”

Kitchen confidence ended up transferring to other areas of life. The kitchen transforms into a space for creative problem-solving and self-expression.

The Freedom That Comes From Cooking Without Boundaries

Breaking free from recipe constraints might be the biggest step in a home cook’s experience. Pro Home Cooks’ philosophy makes one thing clear – recipes are guides, not commandments. Mike Greenfield and many skilled cooks have showed that real growth happens when you put away those measuring cups and trust your gut.

Of course, new cooks need to follow instructions at first. But true mastery comes through trying new things, adapting, and sometimes failing. Your kitchen becomes a lab where you find new things naturally. This happens whether you’re mastering sourdough’s complex fermentation or finding new ways to use your air fryer.

Freestyle cooking creates a deeper connection with food. Cooks who trust their senses know how ingredients work together. This leads to tastier meals with less waste. The sensory approach makes cooking feel natural instead of mechanical – more like art than following instructions.

This style of cooking takes away unnecessary stress. Many home cooks get discouraged trying to make picture-perfect dishes. Instead, being flexible encourages a relaxed kitchen where mistakes help you learn rather than fail.

Moving away from recipes brings real benefits beyond better food. Shopping gets easier and cooking becomes quicker. You develop your own special dishes that match your taste, not someone else’s ideas. Best of all, each successful change builds more confidence.

Think over Pro Home Cooks’ main message: cooking means building skills, not memorizing steps. Recipes make great starting points. The best cooking happens when you trust your instincts, try new things, and cook to match your own priorities. Here’s a secret most chefs keep quiet – cooking freely ended up bringing more joy in the kitchen and better tasting meals.

Here are some FAQs about Pro Home Cooks:

Who is the pro home cooks guy?

The Pro Home Cooks channel is run by Mike G., a passionate home cook who shares professional techniques for everyday cooking. He gained popularity through his approachable tutorials on dishes like Pro Home Cooks sourdough bread and Pro Home Cooks teriyaki sauce. While he keeps his personal life private, fans appreciate his wife’s occasional appearances in Pro Home Cooks wife segments.

How to cook like a pro at home?

To cook like Pro Home Cooks, focus on mastering fundamental techniques and quality ingredients as demonstrated in their Pro Home Cooks banana pancakes tutorial. Invest in good tools and practice mise en place organization, just as Mike shows in his Pro Home Cooks teriyaki video series. Their channel proves professional results come from repetition and understanding cooking science.

What is the difference between a chef and a home cook?

While Pro Home Cooks bridges the gap, chefs typically work in high-pressure restaurant environments with strict consistency requirements. Home cooks like those following Pro Home Cooks sourdough tutorials have more freedom to experiment and adapt recipes. The channel shows how home cooks can incorporate professional techniques without commercial kitchen demands.

How to make teriyaki sauce pro home cooks?

The Pro Home Cooks teriyaki sauce recipe balances soy sauce, mirin, sake, and sugar for authentic flavor. Their version, demonstrated in detail on YouTube, emphasizes proper reduction techniques to achieve the perfect glossy consistency. This approach mirrors how Pro Home Cooks elevates simple dishes through professional methods.

What happened to Josh from Brothers Green?

After Brothers Green Eats ended, Josh continued creating food content while Mike launched Pro Home Cooks as his solo project. Fans of their collaborative work appreciate how Mike’s Pro Home Cooks sourdough and other tutorials maintain their original educational spirit. Both brothers remain active in food media through different channels.

Who is the famous cooking guy?

While there are many popular cooking personalities, Pro Home Cooks’ Mike G. has become particularly influential for home chefs. His tutorials like Pro Home Cooks banana pancakes and Pro Home Cooks teriyaki have earned him a dedicated following. Other notable “cooking guys” include Babish, Gordon Ramsay, and Kenji López-Alt.

Is it worth it to cook at home?

Absolutely, as Pro Home Cooks demonstrates how home cooking saves money while improving food quality. Their Pro Home Cooks banana pancakes recipe shows how simple, affordable ingredients can outperform expensive restaurant versions. Learning through channels like Pro Home Cooks makes home cooking more accessible and rewarding.

Is cooking a good side hustle?

As Pro Home Cooks proves, cooking skills can generate income through catering, meal prep, or content creation. Their Pro Home Cooks sourdough tutorials inspire many to start cottage food businesses. However, it requires the same dedication Mike shows in his Pro Home Cooks teriyaki videos to maintain quality and consistency.

How long does it take to get good at cooking?

Pro Home Cooks demonstrates that basic competency comes in months, but mastery takes years of practice. Their Pro Home Cooks banana pancakes tutorial shows how proper technique transforms simple recipes quickly. Like Mike’s journey from Brothers Green to Pro Home Cooks, cooking skills develop progressively through consistent effort and learning.

0

0