How much are you willing to pay?

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Well, it is official, we are in a recession. Oh no, don’t call me a pessimist, I heard it on CNN. No really...you know everything you hear on CNN is try? :-) Well, let's just say I'm a realist and have lived long enough to know that if you do not take responsibility for your actions, you are doomed to pay a costly price. Lesson learned…all good things come to an end. Now with that said let me Blog on.

Cooks and bakers, this is where the rubber meets the road and for many of us we are being forced to answer the question how much are we willing to pay? As I stroll down the grocery store isles and look at the price of food creeping higher and higher I have to wonder how much folks are willing to pay for the convenience of fast food; you know the stuff we make, quick, fast and in a hurry. You know those foods in the refrigerator and freezer section of the grocery that can be popped in the microwave to provide instant gratification.

I have been telling the students in my cooking and baking classes for years that they must learn to cook and bake, well; instant food is expensive and a dinosaur that will one day become extinct. Why you ask? Because it addresses the needs of millions, who have no time, no time, no time? In fact, for the first time in the lifetime of many Americans “time” will no longer be an issue, money will. The painful, honest truth is that when you cannot afford to buy convenience you buy the basics; rice that must be cooked, beans that must be cooked, meat that must be cooked and vegetables that must be steamed.

For those who are married to convenience foods, what would it take for you to begin to look at preparing food the good old fashioned way? Before I go on I should probably ask for your definition of convenience food. Some folks will say its fast food (restaurants only); others will say it is anything that makes life easy, like canned biscuits, frozen breakfasts boxes in the freezer selections and cold cuts. The dilemma is this, it takes a lot more effort and money to make thousands of frozen breakfast boxes than for you to scramble an egg, fry a couple slices of bacon and toast a slice of bread. Okay, I hear ya! It all takes too much time, but think about it this way, you probably won’t have a job in the next six to eight months so why not learn to eat real food? No, seriously, on the real, this whole economic disaster is going to cause millions of people to reexamine how they live, what they eat, where they work and what their future will look like.

It’s not all about “you”, it about how we all fit into the world and learn to survive with what the world has to offer. Now, with that said…how much are you willing to pay? Still not willing to give up those microwave sausages?

Liquid Food

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

All of my life I have known about the wonders of liquid food. It is cheap, relatively easy to prepare, filling and almost always taste better the next day. Most folks will tell you that liquid food is alright, but just does not satisfy that urge to chew; I beg to differ however. Oh yeah, what is liquid food, you know, yeah you do…soup!

I can remember my mother making homemade soup as a child and it was always absolutely delicious. I like to think I make the best split pea soup on the planet and the best gumbo in the universe, but you’ll have to ask superman when he comes next year (2009) to save the world.

Have you every just wanted something to eat but just couldn’t put your finger on what you really wanted? I do it more often than not now that I am a baby boomer. I don’t like the taste of restaurant food, too salty; and I don’t care for the heaviness of Chinese, Indian or Italian. There are times when I just want something savory and smooth. Soup almost always satisfies my taste buds. My favorites are Buttermilk Bay Clam Chowder, Thick and Hearty Fish Soup, Silky Cream of Corn Soup, and Mama’s Smoked Turkey Split Pea with Diced Carrots. I have about 10 others that I won’t bore you with, but I can say, when times are tough and money is short, knowing how to pull together delicious savory soups is truly worth its weight in gold.

Do you have a favorite soup from you childhood?

I know the most inexpensive soup my mom ever prepared was split pea and my grandmother made a heavenly navy bean soup that was great with a side salad and hearty whole wheat loaf. Look this is the kind of food that feeds the body and soul and will last all day. In lean times, liquid food can and will see you and your family through the day, particularly if it’s hearty. Remember any soup can be enhanced with vegetables and bits of meat. For example if you don’t want to use ham in your split pea, purchase inexpensive packages of smoked turkey wings or legs. Remove the skin, cut off as much meat as possible and boil until tender. This liquid makes a wonderful stock and the meat will satisfy those carnivores who must at least see something that once lived in their soup!

All recipes are not the same

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Recently, I started organizing my cookbooks and setting them up like a library. I love cookbooks and I, like many foodies and cooking fanatics can read them like a novel. I had a little time on my hands before Thanksgiving this year and decided to look at the cookbooks I have from a number of different countries. I won’t go through all of them but I share some info about three. There is a Japanese cookbook( my ex purchased for me while we were living in Japan), an Ethiopian Cookbook(I purchased from the Blue Nile Restaurant in Ferndale, Michigan) and a Jamaican cookbook given to me by my niece.

There’s one thing that I noticed each of these cookbooks have in common. Each cookbook assumes that the cook has a rather intense background in cooking; speaking specifically to the seasoned cook. None of these books are for a novice. These are not your ordinary Betty Crocker Cookbooks and you must already know who to braise, chop fine and handle Scotch Bonnet peppers.

I think the lack of experience in the kitchen is one reason why people do not cook more creatively and stick to making the same foods day after day. I am forcing myself to use my creative juices these days because I find myself becoming bored with food. I never thought I would say that and I’m sure no one reading this Blog shares my view? Right?

What can be done to keep food from becoming a bore? Should we turn to a new cultural experience? Should we put some pep in our step and add curry and hot sweet paprika? I’d like to know what folks are doing to spice up their culinary love life.

The stinky antibiotic aka "The Stickin Rose"

Friday, September 12, 2008

I have been a huge fan of the “stickin rose” for more than thirty years. I would eat it in everything if it did not have such an abusive aroma and pungent taste causing an offensive breath that could and have waken the dead. I have learned from experience that the more you chop or crush garlic the more potent it is; and when left in its raw form the flavor is quite subtle. If you are looking for a more gentle flavor try the elephant ear garlic, those jumbo cloves that often remind me of shallots in a strange kind of way.

What would garlic bread be without garlic or roasted garlic leg of lamb? My most famous memory was a wonderful garlic soup I had when my ex and I was in Orlando, Florida. It was a light cream soup garnished with little garlic croûtons. The flavor was delicate, but definitely garlicky. I am not into making garlic ice cream or using it in truffles but I do think it is one of those wonderful jewels that would be missed if left out of a dish. Do you have a favor garlicky dish? What is it? How much garlic can you stand at one sitting? Let me hear from you!

Salad Dressing

Friday, September 5, 2008

I have been looking for a tasty, healthy salad dressing recipe for years. I don’t want that traditional lemon juice and olive oil dressing and I don’t want anything white, like the ranch and bleu cheese dressings. I am looking for something different. This search has taken me back to the early cookbooks where the photos were all black and white or none existent. I do not eat salads every day, but I may eat them every other day and I want something delicious, but different drizzled over the top. I don’t know if I am the only person who is tired of all those traditional salad dressings, but there are times when I don’t want to eat salad because I can’t find a dressing that is simple, healthy and tasty.

No, I don’t want a bottled brand dressing so please don’t email me with your favorite brand. I just want something different, simple. I created an avocado salad dress, avocado, orange juice, lemon juice, salt and white pepper. I am going to have to make it again so I can decipher the correct amount of each ingredient, but it turned out to be a heavenly dressing. Has anyone every happened upon a dressing recipe and discovered it was a real hit?

Cookbooks with No Photos

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

I just returned from a visit to a used bookstore and sat on this hard floor for more than an hour looking through cookbooks dated pre-1950s. I was specifically looking for books that do not have photographs. I know we have moved into a time when we now eat with our eyes and not our mind, okay so some of you don’t know what I mean, but believe it or not there was a time when I could just write about the food and it would get you drooling. Does anybody out there remember those times? Oh, okay.

Well after teaching cooking classes off and on for more than twenty years, I now know that folks in the U.S. have come to a point where they no longer have an imagination. Where did it go? I think when these colorful, frilly cookbooks and cooking magazines came into being; we started to eat with our eyes. I guest you could say we did what you folks are doing today with video games and television. Instead of going out to play, using your imagination, popsicles sticks and good old fashioned dirt, they twiddle their thumbs, text and play.

What would happen if we went the way of yesterday and removed many photos from our texts? Could you live in a world without food photographs in newspapers, magazines and books? What words could describe this Sweet Potato Pie?

Food TV Network

Thursday, August 28, 2008

It's Sunday morning and I am sitting in the big comfy chair at my daughter’s listening to her chop vegetables as I write this Blog. I am watching the marathon of cooking shows that come on every Sunday morning instead of attending my favorite place of worship. Today I needed to write, and relieve my mind of the stresses that filled my head with a fog of disdain.

Food TV Network has been on for 15 years and the transitions have been truly amazing. It started with just a few celebrity chefs and grew to include a colossal number of cooks who could entertain. If you pay attention to the new cooks on Food Television Network you will see that they do not have the cooking experience, knowledge and finesse of people who actually cook everyday. Chefs cook for a living, but real, down-home cooks cook for their family everyday; it’s not about money, pride or prestige, it’s about love and life.

A down home cook, a cook dedicated to cooking from the heart fills each dish, each pot or pie with their own secret touch. Cooking for a good old fashioned cook is about preparing the tastiest most flavorful food for the folks around the table. If I can just offer Food TV Network a word of wisdom after over thirty years in the kitchen; educate your new celebrity cooks first, and don’t toss them out in front of the wolves, saying god knows what. For example, one young cook said "you can use parchment and wax paper interchangeably;" not true. If a cook were to follow that piece of advice they might burn their kitchen down.

Today, there are very few programs on Food TV Network or any other network that I enjoy. I still check out the new stuff, just to see if there is anyone really doing down home authentic cooking; and there are a few. Ina Garten, Nigella, Oliver, and Tyler. I thought the new guy Aaron McCargo, Jr. of Big Daddy's House would offer something a bit different, until he attempted to make a sweet potato pie. The pie was lumpy and just not what I expected. Oh, let me stop, I sound so critical, and I don't mean to be. I guess I just would like to see simple food and regular folks, not necessarily trying to make to laugh, just showing me the ropes and some new techniques. Onward and upward, until that date comes I will continue to watch the "foodie" shows and skip through the channels to view the new folks. And maybe at some point Food TV Network will come up with some new ideas like those created by SFA (Southern Foodways Alliance.)