cook pot stories

Edible, adj.:  Good to eat, and wholesome to digest, as a worm to a toad, a toad to a snake, a snake to a pig, a pig to a man, and a man to a worm.   - Ambrose Bierce

“Tita knew through her own flesh how fire transforms the elements, how a lump of corn flour is changed into a tortilla, how a soul that hasn't been warmed by the fire of love is lifeless, like a useless ball of corn flour.” ― Laura Esquivel, Like Water for Chocolate

“Find something you're passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.” ― Julia Child

“The repetitive phases of cooking leave plenty of mental space for reflection, and as I chopped and minced and sliced I thought about the rhythms of cooking, one of which involves destroying the order of the things we bring from nature into our kitchens, only to then create from them a new order. We butcher, grind, chop, grate, mince, and liquefy raw ingredients, breaking down formerly living things so that we might recombine them in new, more cultivated forms. When you think about it, this is the same rhythm, once removed, that governs all eating in nature, which invariably entails the destruction of certain living things, by chewing and then digestion, in order to sustain other living things. In The Hungry Soul Leon Kass calls this the great paradox of eating: 'that to preserve their life and form living things necessarily destroy life and form.' If there is any shame in that destruction, only we humans seem to feel it, and then only on occasion. But cooking doesn't only...

"Let's cook," Frannie said energetically. "We will smell so good that they'll all come running." She picked up a bowl, filled it with apples from the barrel, and immediately began to cut them up. I put water to boil, got out cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, lard, flour, sugar, salt, saleratus, vinegar, and all the other things for apple pies. We both laughed happily. How easy it is, we thought, to make a decision, to implement a remedy, to act.” ― Sena Jeter Naslund, Ahab's Wife, or The Star-Gazer

“...no one is born a great cook, one learns by doing.” ― Julia Child, My Life in France

“There is communion of more than our bodies when bread is broken and wine drunk.” ― M.F.K. Fisher

This week was the conclusion of a 6-week cooking class I took at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts.   I wanted to approach this with a beginner's mind so I discovered a great deal, not only about cooking but about learning and myself. What did I learn, in my adventure into cooking and beginner's mind? A few things, all of which can be taken literally or metaphorically. Sharp knives matter. Cutting with a dull knife takes longer, requires more effort and you're much more likely to hurt yourself. Make sure your knife is honed as well as sharpened even if you have to expend a little bit of energy to make it so. Use the knife that fits your hand. No matter how big, flashy or expensive, if you can't use it comfortably you won't use it well. When in doubt, add a little more butter. Okay, this may not apply to everything, but almost everything. A little bit of richness in the mouth or in our lives isn't necessarily a bad thing. Even if you have cholest...

I am more modest now, but I still think that one of the pleasantest of all emotions is to know that I, I with my brain and my hands, have nourished my beloved few, that I have concocted a stew or a story, a rarity or a plain dish, to sustain them truly against the hungers of the world. ― M.F.K. Fisher

As some of you know, I'm taking a class at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts . I'm enjoying it tremendously; the instructor is skilled and welcoming, the other students are fun to learn with. In all honesty we've not done much that I'm not familiar with, however the class is helping me learn better general technique and reminding me of the joy of cooking to recipes. All of this is useful and working in a professional kitchen is a kick. Last week we focused on wet cooking - stews and braises. Each class we're given a recipe packet and teams of students work on each recipe. I made a pork and squash stew, which was wonderful and redolent with cumin, but by far, my favorite dish was the braised beef short rib with dried cherries. It was so delicious that I cooked it this past weekend for friends. The best word I can think of for this dish is unctuous . The sweetness of the cherries, the mouth-feel of the soft meat, the depth of the wine... all of it together ...

'If you are careful,' Garp wrote, 'if you use good ingredients, and you don't take any shortcuts, then you can usually cook something very good. Sometimes it is the only worthwhile product you can salvage from a day; what you make to eat. With writing, I find, you can have all the right ingredients, give plenty of time and care, and still get nothing. Also true of love. Cooking, therefore, can keep a person who tries hard sane.' ― John Irving, The World According to Garp

No one who cooks, cooks alone. Even at her most solitary, a cook in the kitchen is surrounded by generations of cooks past, the advice and menus of cooks present, the wisdom of cookbook writers. ― Laurie Colwin

This week was the first installment of a gift from my sweetheart , a six-week Technique of Cooking class from the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts . When I first heard about this class I had some initial resistance. "Do I really need to spend that much time on basic skills? Am I not already a decent cook?" What I was really experiencing was resistance , that insidious force that keeps us from doing the things we most love. What I was really thinking was, "Am I good enough? Will I be the worst one in the class? What if I screw it all up and make a fool of myself?" Kevin cut through all of my questions and just gave me the course as a gift. "You love cooking," he said. "You're already a good cook. Go learn some more." The first class was this past Monday. We focused on knife skills. The instructor, Dave Ramsey, was relaxed and informative, clearly enjoying the class and the opportunity to share his knowledge. Fourteen students with vary...

Tomorrow I start a six week class at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts. It's an in-depth look at cooking techniques - we start out with knife skills. Assuming I have any fingers left, I'll blog about each class. Wish me luck!

I was in the market today and came across a little container of peeled garlic for 78 cents. Now, I use a lot of garlic in my kitchen. I keep a garlic jar, purchased in Italy and made for this purpose, full of the papery bulbs. I enjoy breaking them apart and peeling each clove, seeing its imperfections and individual shape. I even enjoy the stickiness the comes to my fingers when I've peeled enough cloves that I know the scent won't go away with a quick wash at the sink. I like keeping the whole bulbs handy because they last longer. They don't lose their sting. Because I can touch each clove as I prepare a meal. But this little container was alluring, the ivory cloves looking up at me. What would I do with 35 or so peeled cloves of garlic all at once? I didn't want to roast a 40 clove chicken tonight... Ah. Roasted garlic, so simple and with such benefit. I scooped up the container and spent my 78 cents. I had a plan. Once home I pre-heated the oven to 350, poure...

By Donald Hall Twelve people, most of us strangers, stand in a room   in Ann Arbor, drinking Cribari from jars. Then two young men, who cooked him, carry him to the table on a large square of plywood: his body striped, like a tiger cat’s, from the basting, his legs long, much longer than a cat’s,   and the striped hide as shiny as vinyl. Now I see his head, as he takes his place at the center of the table, his wide pig’s head; and he looks like the javelina that ran in front of the car, in the desert outside Tucson,   and I am drawn to him, my brother the pig,   with his large ears cocked forward, with his tight snout, with his small ferocious teeth   in a jaw propped open by an apple. How bizarre, this raw apple clenched   in a cooked face! Then I see his eyes, his eyes cramped shut, his no-eyes, his eyes like X’s in a comic strip, when the character gets knocked out. This afternoon they read directions from a book: The eyeba...

We are indeed much more than what we eat, but what we eat can nevertheless help us to be much more than what we are. - Adelle Davis