I used to do quite a bit of cooking, and I don't mind saying that I probably cook better than I can do most other things. I'm a classically trained accountant. . . not a classically trained chef. Having small dinner parties and feeding people was something that I enjoyed. My goal was simple: I wanted to create a meal that would rival those great restaurants near where I live. My goal was to surprise and delight my guests. I think that most times I succeeded. But it has been a long while since I've entertained that way. It was a lot of work and expense and no longer became joyful.
Thanksgiving meal domain still remains mine. And I do enjoy that meal...but fewer around the table with parents gone. No little ones have been spawned between my two kids...and likely that will not happen for various reasons. Nonetheless, the joy of learning new things, or kitchen experimentation was certainly sparked.
I have OCD proclivities towards most things that I tackle: what is the optimum process/technique to get the best outcomes. In my quilting adventures, this proclivity is alive and well. It's not a bad habit to have, but there is such a thing as the aphorism
Perfection is the enemy of the good.
One New Year's Eve dinner, I was to have a standing rib roast. I searched high and low to find the perfect way to fix it. I found the answer in a surprising place. I had a vintage (1957 ish) House and Garden cook book (James Beard was the food editor), and there I found the perfect technique.
Why the fuss? An $80 roast demands it. I settled on the high heat to sear and dialing back as called for in the cook book. It was magnificent.
My girlfriend invited us to her home for a pork roast dinner. I packed my Chef's Alarm. I apologized for being so OCD, but I knew that she would want her roast to be at the perfect temp: 145. She had not seen the lovely, snakey probe that allowed the door to stay open but the temp probe to be snugly nestled in the meat while the digital read out was easy to see. I indulged in some cooking education. The perfectly cooked roast was proof enough of the efficacy of such a device. She bought one for herself and her daughter. My work was done.
I do have a kitchen gadget fetish.
Chef Jean Pierre taught me how to make sumptuous gravy using the simplest technique of whisking flour in a fine mesh strainer lightly submerged in the liquid you are trying to thicken. My only gripe is that in the last 37 years, I had not thought of that myself. Gravy was so poorly executed by me, I made it just a handful of times.
I employed the tangzhong method for my cinnamon rolls. They were wonderful. Though the method is supposed to increase the shelf life of baked goods, cinnamon rolls by rights have a short shelf life--both in their texture profile (always best from the oven) and in the fact that they are so good, they don't last long. The tangzhong made for a finer tasting roll the next day over not using it. But, same day is the best day to consume cinnamon rolls.
Other fun (and effective) culinary adventures:
- modified a recipe for whiskey balls. These will be my go-to. I hope that you'll give them a try.
- made potato gnocchi from scratch. Surpisingly easy and good.
- made mascarpone cream cheese from scratch. Surpisingly easy and good.
- made "pumpkin" pie from butternut squash and carrots...which may be my go to fall pie at Thanksgiving (the carrots courtesy of falling short on the squash product volume). My Chocolate Maple Pecan tart will always get star billing. It is my signature dessert.
Though none of the above may seem like much, it represents my doing more in the kitchen (outside of the normal ordinary course of business) than I have done in a while.
. . . and it felt good.
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