The Fine Art of Cooking

4/4/04

The Fine Art of Cooking

‘Tis the time when a serious grandmother begins to share her worldly wisdom with granddaughters who might benefit from lessons learned the hard way.

I’ve never been much of a cook, Kaitlyn. This is not to say I’ve been a bad cook or that I never cooked. I’ve cooked all my life and for many husbands, stepchildren and other family of various tastes and hungers.

There was never a lot of creativity in the meals and very little planning as well. Most of what I’ve learned about cooking has been in the past five years before the date of this entry. And this at a time when I am cooking for mostly two people which would be my husband and myself.

Three points about the art of cooking, Kaitlyn, and we shall move on to a list of hints and time-savers I compiled on the fly for this entry. There shall more in the future I am sure.

First point, Kaitlyn, consider cooking all at once. The “all at once” can be defined in many manners, to include doubling a recipe for freezing one while eating the other, to preparing all of the meals to be consumed during any week in one cooking session.

Which is something I like to do on Sundays, Kaitlyn, but that’s just me. The notion is that cooking is a much more efficient activity when pots are dirtied all at once, when all chopping and cutting is done all at once, when the oven is ran just once a week.

For many this isn’t practical and this is understandable. For just as many I’d argue it’s more possible than their creativity might allow.

Point two, consider your and whoever else you might be cooking for taste preferences. When I was a younger woman, Kaitlyn, I always assumed that in order for any food product to be good it has to involve a lot of work for the cook. So I perused recipes with an eye to time and complication, sure that the result would be delicious due to the effort of preparation.

Is that stupid or what?

Peruse recipes for the ingredients, cooking methods and textures that you like, Kaitlyn. In my mature years I have ascertained what I like and as a result I spend less time in the waste of cooking a recipe doomed to not please.

I like foods that involve sweet and sour types of taste combinations. I like foods with a crisp texture. I intensely dislike the spice curry.

That’s just a synopsis, of course. But I know it now and had I did this simple mental inventory ages ago I would have save a lot of calories and wasted time.

Below Kaitlyn, is a list of things I’ve learned about cooking, in no particular order and compiled in no special manner:

…Fried foods do not store well. If planning a menu that can be prepared ahead of time, stick with meats with sauces. Or plan on frying up foods the same day.

…if cakes or cookies get somewhat dry or a bit stale, try covering them in a tight container for a day or so and see if they don’t get a tad moister.

…a dusting of corn starch makes fried foods brown real nice. I don’t know why.

…cooked noodles, Kaitlyn, will “drink” up sauce like thirsty plants. As much as possible, serve any sauce to go on noodles to the side.

…ramen noodles mixed with dog food or cheap hot dogs will stretch dog food to twice the life.

…of all the foods in the world that return the least eating value for the effort in the preparation, pie crust wins my vote. Butter that must be cold, ice cubes, proper kneading. Pshaw. Flaky pie crust might be nice but the prepared stuff works just as well given an outstanding filling.

….if you could only have one appliance, Kaitlyn, make it a good and sturdy mixer.

…electric stoves are easier to cook on than gas ones. Pay no attention to what anyone else should tell you, Kaitlyn. Your grandmother speaks only truth.

…I don’t know why iced tea gets cloudy and I don’t care how many well-meaning kitchen gurus say it doesn’t affect the taste, I don’t like the looks of it and wished I knew how to avoid it.