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The Why of Cooking (2017)

theatlantic.com

81–90 of 104 posts

Re: The Why of Cooking (2017)

#81
post #48

“While cooking is for many a hobby, it is also a thing that nearly everyone has to do, usually when time is short.“ If only this wasn’t the case. This is always unpopular whenever I say it, but we no longer expect everyone to sew their own clothes or bake their own bread - why do we still demand that everyone cook for themselves (and, often, that they enjoy it too)? As this article demonstrates, the barrier for even…

Food delivery (not the fast food one) is changing the need for cooking, I haven't cooked in ages. In principle, the price of food preparation should be smaller when done on a large scale, but for some reason it's not the case, except for the Southeast Asia.

Are you talking things like buying minced garlic instead of a bulb?

Re: The Why of Cooking (2017)

#82

“While cooking is for many a hobby, it is also a thing that nearly everyone has to do, usually when time is short.“ If only this wasn’t the case. This is always unpopular whenever I say it, but we no longer expect everyone to sew their own clothes or bake their own bread - why do we still demand that everyone cook for themselves (and, often, that they enjoy it too)? As this article demonstrates, the barrier for even…

nobody demands that you cook your own food. but if you aren't willing to put in the (considerable) work yourself, you are expected to pay for the labor, ingredients, and kitchen space.

what exactly makes your idea of a communal kitchen different from a restaurant? is it free?

Re: The Why of Cooking (2017)

#83
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of my favourite aha moments: Back when I was much younger virtually every cookbook said you should add olive oil to pasta cooking water. I could never figure out why. Later people pretty much poo-pooed the practice saying that it was some old wives tale about stopping the pot from boiling over or some such thing. Fast forward many years and I was trying to work on a bolognese sauce. My wife likes meat/tomato sauc…

The solution I came up with (watching many many cooking videos) is different: cook the spaghetti in the sauce for the last minutes. You get the same effect, but less of the oily mouth feel which I did not like. It also helps thicken your tomato sauce. Also, +1 on `Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking`.

Just add some of the starchy water to your sauce and allow it to thicken to avoid over-cooking your pasta.

Re: The Why of Cooking (2017)

#84

“While cooking is for many a hobby, it is also a thing that nearly everyone has to do, usually when time is short.“ If only this wasn’t the case. This is always unpopular whenever I say it, but we no longer expect everyone to sew their own clothes or bake their own bread - why do we still demand that everyone cook for themselves (and, often, that they enjoy it too)? As this article demonstrates, the barrier for even…

nobody demands that you cook your own food. but if you aren't willing to put in the (considerable) work yourself, you are expected to pay for the labor, ingredients, and kitchen space. what exactly makes your idea of a communal kitchen different from a restaurant? is it free?

I’d say - you turn up, there’s a big pot of whatever is available that day, and a cheap/flat fee. No choice, inexpensive building, not a social event (fine to go alone), cheap and simple bulk cooking. Almost more like a soup kitchen than a restaurant. More expensive/complex food could be optional or once a week, and yeah, if you want nicer food, go to a restaurant.

Re: The Why of Cooking (2017)

#85
post #27

I spent too much of my life learning to do things by following rules, up to and including a PhD and an MBA. I've since learned to love learning by doing and diving in. Food is probably the best success in that area, combined with the observation that constraints breed creativity. My cooking gets high reviews (from friends, not critics http://joshuaspodek.com/food-world-reviews ) and has inspired my passion and podcas…

You make a lot of grand statements there without backing anything up. If it was so convenient and cheap to cook this way, then everyone would be doing it.

I have tried and tried and tried to cook like you suggest. I end up wasting food as it goes bad before I can use it. I have a small apartment and ended up going to the grocery store every 2 days to restock. Some ingredients aren't sold in quantities appropriate for 1-2 people, so things go stale or expire before they get fully used. I wasted way more food attempting to change my food practices than I did maintaining the way I was raised.

I'm skeptical about farm shares, I don't think it scales. If it became more popular, you'd had everyone hopping in their cars every weekend and driving out to a farm. Much more efficient to load everything on 1 transport truck than to have a thousand cars on the road just for picking up produce. And in winter climates, you aren't growing anything in the ground, so this produce is being shipped in to the farm anyways, just ship it to the grocery stores. Or it's being grown indoors, which requires increased energy usage (might be less energy intensive to ship veggies in on a truck than to grow them indoors?).

Our modern food system, for all of its faults, is the only thing that works for everybody. Poor people? Disabled people? Car-less people? Dietary restrictions? All covered. Your diet and way of living works for wealthy, healthy people with time on their hands. It's not realistic at all.

Re: The Why of Cooking (2017)

#86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your use of the word "fuss", together with that of a timer instead of being an active participant in the cooking experience, clearly explains what's the difference between the method i proposed and your way of dealing with what you ingest. Feel free to continue your way, if it' the same to you.

Don't understand at all. Why is it a problem that I'm preparing the sauce (which actually requires my attention) while the pasta is cooking? Anything other than arrogance? Don't even try to make me believe that you get 'better pasta' by fussing over it. Its not the star of the dish - its just a vehicle, and 'cooking' is just making it softer. Not adding anything magical.

What problem? I was suggesting you give it a try, honestly couldn't care less if you eat feces to save some digestion time while you're at it.

Feel free to continue your way, bon appetit!

Re: The Why of Cooking (2017)

#87
post #23

> It’s a shame that the standard way of learning how to cook is by following recipes. It isn't, not where I'm from. The standard way of learning how to cook in Poland is by watching your parents/grandparents do it.

Same here. I'm from England. But I'm also 62, I suspect that people closer to the average age of HN commenters and in the US probably have a different experience.

Re: The Why of Cooking (2017)

#88
post #33
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't read "Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat" as recommended in the article, but I swear by: Julia Child, "the way to cook" Jeff Potter, "Cooking for geeks" Kenji lopez-alt's "the food lab" The author does compare to most of these, so the recommendation seems solid.

I might pick up that last one. When looking up something I haven't cooked before, I always check seriouseats (or epicurious and a few others), and especially Kenji, as he's never steered me wrong before. Haven't read the book though.

I have actually lost count of the number of times I've made something new and my wife says "this is good, where did you find it?" and I'll say "Oh, I saw it on serious eats and thought that it looked fun".

In point of fact, this exact thing happened last night after I made chicken piccata for the first time.

Re: The Why of Cooking (2017)

#89
post #27

I spent too much of my life learning to do things by following rules, up to and including a PhD and an MBA. I've since learned to love learning by doing and diving in. Food is probably the best success in that area, combined with the observation that constraints breed creativity. My cooking gets high reviews (from friends, not critics http://joshuaspodek.com/food-world-reviews ) and has inspired my passion and podcas…

[deleted]

Re: The Why of Cooking (2017)

#90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I made Crème Brulee at a camporee with my Troop once. They still talk about it.

_Nice_. I tried a cheesecake once and the cooking time in the dutch oven was about 8 hours longer than expected (gave up waiting at 10p and left it in the coals overnight to finish). At least it was a nice breakfast. I have an idea on how I would do it but do you care to share your method?

I used a cardboard-box oven (box with 1 side removed; cover with foil; set over pan of coals with grating). Remember to bring the gas torch!
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