No one taught me to cook. I never found a dusty wooden box, faded paper scraps scrawled with generational recipes for pecan pie or great-grandmother’s chicken stew. I never stood tiptoe by my mother’s elbow as she deftly stirred yolk into flour. No grandmother graced table with latkes, and I never asked the recipe for Grandma Frieda’s wooblies. I have no culinary past. Not a real one, anyway. This is probably why lately I’ve felt like such an impostor, like I have no business in the kitchen.
Perhaps it’s something I’ll never get over. Perhaps I’ll suffer forever outside the glass, fingertips flat against the pane, envious of those whose homes were filled with the clatter of pans, the music of mixers. Perhaps someday I’ll let it go.
In the mean time, I’m going to learn how to cook, to understand how to create a recipe rather than follow one. With this blog I hope to write my way through methods, techniques, ingredients and flavors. Along the way I will tackle how food works, how a person can go from chipped beef on toast to a spring-time gratin. I hope to discover cooking from the inside out, and I hope that you will join me.
3 Comments
Greg – the fact that you enjoy eating good food is a giant stride to learning how to cook. You have every business to be an active participant in the kitchen. I learned mostly by eating simple but delicious meals, watching and making mistakes, and there’s nothing more enjoyable than preparing meals with friends. My kitchen is simple and functional, and people love the nutritious and satisfying meals that come from it. I’m starting to put up a bunch of “Recipes of Lazies” (I don’t believe in sweating for hours in the kitchen) on our blog: http://www.plangardengal.com but encourage people to experiment with their own creations!
My mom hated cooking so I grew up with Hamburger Helper and Safeway deli trays for dinner. I had to teach myself too, with the help of several cookbooks, Googling recipes based on the ingredients I happened to have in my fridge, and a little time for experimentation. You don’t have to have fancy equipment, just a few basics. For me, that includes a meat thermometer, cast-iron skillet, cast-iron dutch oven, and some good knives and cutting boards.
Your blog is beautiful, by the way, and I am happy to see my blog listed on your site. Thank you!
Rebecca – what’s funny is that despite all my cookbooks, I find myself Googling recipes when I need something quick. And agree w/ you on the basics. Finally got an awesome, do-it-all knife. Oh, a little food processor doesn’t hurn either
Visited your blog and like what you’ve got!