Terra cotta cooking vessels. Cooking in terra cotta connects you to a culinary tradition thousands of years old and disseminated by the world’s grandmothers. Be it a wood-fired fish stew simmering in a Mediterranean tagine or a casuela bubbling with Nonna’s ribollita, I love the aesthetic and comfort of this one-pot style of cooking.

Immersion circulators. These are overused and played out. There’s something to be said about cooking a piece of fish or meat to the correct temperature on the grill or by pan-roasting. It provides a sense of gratification that you can’t quite get from the immersion-circulator technique.

Pretentious or disinterested service. We bend over backwards to accommodate our guests and try to leave our ego out of it. It’s tiring to dine and feel like you have to impress your server or order a certain way to prevent pissing off the kitchen.