You might think being a great chef is all about memorizing a million recipes. But really, the key to being a great chef is knowing simple cooking techniques that you can use to improvise a million recipes!

Sure, most chefs and home cooks have some recipes filed away in their brains, and pastry chefs may rely on common ratios to make breads, cakes, and pastries. But cooking is all about innovating and the ability to cook with what is in front of you. This is how we take advantage of seasonal produce and utilize leftover ingredients.

Especially now, during Black History Month, when thinking of food innovation, one person comes straight to our mind: George Washington Carver! You may think of him as The Peanut Man, but do you know why?

Mr. Carver was born into slavery in 1864, just about a year before slavery was outlawed in the United States. He was raised on a farm, and he was always fascinated by the life around him, especially the natural techniques farmers used to keep their crops healthy and strong.

Throughout his life, he met many people who encouraged him to pursue an education, and he enrolled at Iowa State Agricultural School (now Iowa State University) where he became the first African-American to ever graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree. He wasn't afraid to be the first person to try something new.

With his expertise and education guiding him, Mr. Carver was a problem solver, and he helped farmers make the most of their land and their crops. He may be most well-known for helping to implement crop rotation for cotton farmers. The idea is that some crops, like cotton, are tough on the soil and remove lots of essential nutrients. By rotating crops – meaning, you plant cotton one year, then maybe peanuts, then soybeans, and back to cotton – you make the soil healthier and you are able to grow more cotton.

This is where the peanuts come in! Farmers were planting alternative crops to make their cotton stronger, which meant there were lots of peanut crops that needed to be utilized. Mr. Carver developed more than 300 peanut-based products! And while only some of them stuck (does your family buy peanut oil? But maybe not peanut paper...), it just goes to show the innovative spirit that drove his success.

In the spirit of Mr. Carver, think of how you can innovate in the kitchen! Choose your favorite ingredient and think of new ways to use it. Put a spin on your favorite recipe, or ask your parents what ingredients are leftover at the end of the week, and make a dish! It might be great, or, well, it might be terrible. But you won’t know if you don’t try.

For some inspiration, check out these videos where CIA Chef Mark Ainsworth shows you how he experiments with simple scrambled eggs to add different flavors, like Western and Greek-style!

Remember that there is no innovation without experimentation!