I’ve been cooking a lot lately and I think I owe all my culinary instincts to my parents (isn’t that where you’re supposed to get them from?). My mom taught me about how to cook simply and my dad how to make every pot and pan in the kitchen dirty. The combination of these qualities has made me try to distill really complicated dishes into their simplest form and run with that. My friend told me about Mark Bittman’s Blog in the New York Times that showcases simple food recipes. I think me and this guy are on the same page.
I cooked coq au vin over the weekend from a recipe on Epicurious which was the most complicated dish I have ever made. It turned out deliciuos, but do you really have to go through all the trouble when the basics are just soak chicken in wine, sear those puppies in bacon fat and then simmer in the wine marinade? A half-day could be dropped to a couple hours or less.
Lastly, I think it’s important to have a buddy when you cook to bounce ideas and have fun together. Lately my dad and I have been cooking the same dish around the same time, he in Boston and me in the Bay Area. We talk on the phone to pick the recipe, before preparation and sometimes while eating it. It has enriched our relationship as well as our food. If you like to cook and are far away from someone else like you, try that out and get the double benefits of cooking with a partner.
