Cookin'

I love to cook. I suppose I am pretty good at, since my family (and even my Mom) says everything I prepare is tasty. I occasionally make some bad stuff, but for the most part it is good. I am fat, so 'nuff said. I do virtually all of the cooking at my house, I like to, and I am better at it than my wife. There is no shame in that. We have an equal opportunity household.

I have often opined that any idiot that can read, can prepare a meal. It is not hard to follow a recipe. My wife and daughter disagree. I maintain there is a big difference in preparing food and cooking. I can go to a restaurant, come home and come close to preparing an identical dish. Not always on the first try, but through trial and error. I have to admit that I rarely measure ingredients, I go by smell and taste -- except when baking

I am able to prepare some pretty sophisticated meals, given time and money. That is not my preference. I would rather make simple foods good, rather than extravagant presentations. We do not garnish at my house, though I can and do on occasion. I used to spend a lot of time watching the food network. With the exception of the lady from Savannah, Paula something, most of the cooks prepared food I nor my family would ever eat.

There is a trend in fancy restaurants to "peasant cooking", simple rustic meals. That is what I like, beef and noodles, pot roast, hamburgers, grilled chicken. The food of real Americans. Foods like salmon patties and fried chicken. I would put my fried chicken against the Colonel anytime. I would win.

I have to agree with this guy, purple mashed potatoes are great for shock value, but they really do not taste different. Corn salsa, is that necessary?

That's just stupid. Art shouldn't be all brains and no feeling. And food that tastes good is more important than food that's merely creative. And improving conventional foods IS creative. If we were really ready to give up working on conventional food, it would be because the conventional food we make was so good, there was no point in continuing to fool with it. But it isn't. After hundreds of years of trying, people still make bad biscuits. That tells you we have no compelling reason to grind up sea urchins and spread them on liver ravioli.

Tonight we will have ham steak cooked in brown sugar and the syrup from the can of pineapple. I will make some homemade mac and cheese, slice a couple of fresh tomatoes and add boil a bit of sweet corn. I will make some biscuits. Supper will be good.