Mix by hand

It’s hard to move on from the lovely pinkness of the previous post.  Especially since in real life the roses are overgrown and denuded looking. 

But move on we shall.  Since it’s cold out let’s move into the kitchen.  Ah, that’s better.  It’s cozy warm in here with the cat rubbing up against my ankles and the dog sitting patiently on his little rug, waiting for little tidbits to drop out of the sky.

I think cooking is one of those things that is universally available to everyone.  I know there are intuitive cooks – savants that just instinctively know what spices or ratios will make a dish really soar.  But I also believe that anyone can pull together an edible meal if they can read.  I mean there are a million books on the subject ~ feel like coulibiac but don’t know where to start?  No problem just pull out your Joy of Cooking (of which I’m sure 98% of the kitchens have a copy) and start reading. 

Granted there are certain techniques that require a bit of practice (oh like pie crust making) but generally it’s fairly straightforward to follow a recipe.  Or so one would think.

Lest anyone think that I’m sexist, since the next two anecdotes concern men, I do know that there are fabulous male cooks.  I’m not talking culinary trained chefs ~ just ordinary guys that know how to cook and actually really enjoy it.  Then there are the men in my life.

My husband is on his own for a couple of days each week and honestly his efforts to feed himself are pretty banal.  He’ll buy a roasted chicken from the grocer and live off of that for a few days.  Or he’ll scramble himself a couple of eggs.  This week he got the notion to make stew and called me to find out if he could do it in the crockpot.

Rick:  "So can I just cut up everything and dump it into the crockpot and that’s it?"

Andrea:  "Um, you are going to want to brown the meat first."

Rick:  "Doesn’t that defeat the whole purpose of the crockpot?"

We further discussed the importance of flouring the bits of meat and browning it for flavor and I finally told him to pull out my copy of The New Best Recipe (which is fast replacing my Joy of Cooking as my go to book) and look at the section on stews.

The next night I asked him how his stew was. 

R:  "Oh not so good."

A:  "Did you brown the meat first?" 

R:  "Yes." 

A:  "Did you flour and season it first?" 

R:  "Oh, was I supposed to do that?" 

A:  "Dude.  We talked about it at some length.  And the recipe in the cookbook probably told you to do it too." 

I don’t really call him dude but I was thinking it.  Come to find out he just dumped all the ingredients into the pot.  He said it was kind of watery and greasy.  Turns out he added the oil he was supposed to brown the meat to the pot.  And he thought the two cups of broth was kind of skimpy looking so he added EIGHT cups.   He didn’t read the directions part of the recipe at all.  Just the ingredient list.

Of course reading the directions doesn’t necessary ensure results either.  Just ask my brother in law.  Or if you want the really hilarious version of the story ask my nieces and nephew. 

Greg decided to surprise his wife by making a batch of chocolate chip cookies.  He already knew that the recipe was on the back of the chocolate chip bag so he bundled up Scott (6), Emily (4) and Camille (3) and headed to the store to buy the necessary ingredients. 

My sister gets home to a house filled with the aroma of freshly baked cookies and a very proud husband.  He did admit that it was much messier than he realized and that whole mixing by hand business seemed like a bother – "I mean why not use a mixer or at the very least a spoon?"  She looked at him blankly for a second and then started laughing.  "You didn’t actually use your hands to mix the dough did you?"  He did say the kids kept telling him "that’s not how mommy does it…"  Well at least he read the directions.

I should have him come over and show Rick how to make stew.