This weeks topic was offered by Ramana. Back in the early days of our relationship, Lynn cooked me dinner for the first time She did a spectacular job. However, the next time she cooked things did not go so well. When I asked what happened she admitted she could only cook that first dish and in fact did not enjoy cooking. I then proposed that from that day forward, I'd do the cooking and she would do the cleanup - aka the dishes. That deal stuck for the entire 45 years we were together.
I am a good cook, though I no longer enjoy it much. I live in an environment wherein we all keep different hours and gathering for a meal is unheard of. I refuse tone a short-order cook in my own home.
I never developed a specialty and I don't bake. Baking is way too scientific and requires much stricter adherence to recipes. My favorite flavor profiles are Cajun/Creole and Indian but I don't cook much India n - only an occasional curry dish. I cook a lot of Cajun spiced stuff.
The kids here have an aversion to onions which makes things difficult. I sneak a few in but not enough to suit me. I use Vidalia sweet onions whenever available. And of course, garlic is a mainstay in my spice cabinet.
I cook a lot of Italian food. It is relatively easy and who doesn't like a nice plate of pasta? I do make a mean lasagna but am more likely to wash it down with a cold beer than a glass of wine. The trick with Italian especially is good ingredients, bit of course that is true with most cuisines.
Th. e foodie population has greatly expanded in recent decades, thanks to the popularity of TV chefs and a best selling book about the restaurant industry by chef Anthony Bourdain. Bourdain himself has become a famous TV chef personality, which is ironic as his disdain for several of them is obvious when he speaks of them. That hasn't stopped fans of chefs !like Bobby Flay, Emeril Lagasse, the late Paul Prudhomme and others from causing a rise in the foodie population. I confess - Iam a fan of several cooking shows and watch them regularly. I draw inspiration from chefs Prudhomme, Lagasse and others. I particularly enjoy the trave!l/food related shows of Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern on CNN and The Travel Channel.
This weeks topic has been fun to discuss. Be sure to check on Ramana and the others to see what they have to say. I know Ramana is an accomplished cook.
Ramana
What a sweet story about Lynn. Reminds me of a friend of mine (we were in our late teens) whose repertoire, and unashamedly so, didn't stretch further than his one and only masterpiece, Toast Hawaii. He killed himself when in his early twenties. Can you imagine being remembered, several decades after your demise, for your Toast Hawaii?
ReplyDeleteAs to your family being funny about onions, well, for a cook, that's tragic. Other than dessert most dishes of the world will start with an onion. It's the base on which culinary empires are built.
You are right about Italian food. Because it is so very simple you have nowhere to hide; unlike cuisines relying on heavy spicing where a judiciously applied chilli and/or generous amounts of coriander cover a multitude of sins. If parts of South America weren't in the hands of drug cartels who think nothing of slitting anyone's throat, I'd love to travel that continent not least because of their food. I can see the headline now: "Lost in the Andes. The vultures declared her the best amuse bouche they ever had." And, with a nod to Ramana, if India weren't so far and so BIG, and a bit bewildering in parts, I'd go on a culinary tour there too.
Bourdain? His "Kitchen Confidential" is pure rock and roll with knives. In a similar vein, you may, if you haven't already, like to read Orwell's "Down and out in London and Paris". Separates the cockroaches from what the diner receives on the plate.
From one enthusiast to another,
U
The odd thing about Bourdain is that he was a rather pedestrian chef from what I have seen. But that book was a great, fun read. Equally entertaining are his CNN shows when his buddy Eric Ripert (sp??) is with him.
ReplyDeleteRamana is a good cook but has not been cooking for quite some time now. Our kitchen comes up with many different cuisines due to different cooks involved. Mangal our help is best with dishes from her native land Sholapur, but can come up with Hyderabadi dishes thanks to having learnt from Urmeela. She has learnt South Indian and Punjabi dishes from me and Maharashtrian food is now cooked by Manjiree who can also come up with Bengali food thanks to her mother being a Bengali. A grand hotchpotch kitchen but good food every day. On the days that the children decide not to cook we send for food from one of many options available and that too adds spice to our foodie life. All of us show it.
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