cook pot stories

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