Yesterday's Oprah had 3 "celebrity" chefs go to different people's homes and teach them how to cook. For some reason the people on the show really irked me (I know I have to work on that emotion - stop being irked so easily).
One woman had 2 kids and a husband and she bought nothing but frozen dinners for them and spent about $150 for 3 days worth of frozen food. Pathetic.
It got me thinking that people are too hung up on recipes. One of the guests mentioned that the chef had taught them 7 dishes for 7 days and on the 8th day they had the need to call the chef for more ideas. I think techniques are more useful than recipes. If people learned how to sear, saute, braise and broil for instance - then the sky is the limit as far as what they can make for dinner.
One can easily decide what they like to eat - figure out which technique it requires, and then maybe refer to a recipe for instructions and specifics. Like how long does a chicken breast take to cook, or a steak get to medium rare? Technique and basic information comes in handy here too - if one learns at what temperature something is cooked then it becomes simple. Chicken is done at 160 degrees and pork at 140 degrees. So no matter what you are making and you need to figure out if it is done - stick in a food thermometer and you will know.
Techniques are empowering while recipes can some times be intimidating. Cooking is like any other skill. When you learned to read - you first practiced alphabets and 3-letterl words, then simple books before moving on to things more complicated. No parent put a tome in front of their kid and expected them to start reading it.
It might be helpful to think of cooking in the same way. Do not look at chefs and try to do what they do - this is what they do for a living. Start small and do it every day - I guarantee you that is the way to learn anything.
As I write this, I have decided that each class I teach at Indian Culinary Center and elsewhere will mention what techniques are being used for each recipe. This way students learn techniques as they are learning how to make one particular dish.
Back to the Oprah show - it was sad to see families not having the concept of cooking at home. I love eating out and ordering in as much as the next person - but one should have the ability to create meals at home. Also, the word gourmet tends to put too much pressure on a novice and build unreasonable expectations. How about leaving the "gourmet" to restaurants and just cook simple, basic and delicious meals at home.
I was lucky enough to eat home made meals almost every day of my life as I was growing up. I wouldn't call that food gourmet but I will call is fresh, wholesome, delicious and most importantly, cooked with love and care.
We need to go back to basics - cook for ourselves and our families every day (or almost). Cook what is seasonal and cook what we like to eat - not what some celebrity chef thinks we should.
I could go on and on here - I think all the "convenience" foods are not doing us any service except maybe filling the coffers of huge food companies.
I am going to start a series of cooking techniques here on this blog.
This is not ground breaking or revolutionary - it has been done many times over. There are many cook books that do that. If you can't wait for me to go through all the techniques - feel free to pick up one of many excellent cookbooks out there.
But first:
Tell me, do you know how to cook? What do you eat everyday? Take out? Gourmet meals at restaurants? Or frozen Hungry Man dinners?
Until I eat again!
