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The Why of Cooking (2017)

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Re: The Why of Cooking (2017)

#91
post #57
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried that recently after reading it on here, and the result was a thin layer of cooked white stuck to the inside of the shell, while the remainder of the white was no firmer. This tallies with my expectations based on thermal gradients. Am I doing it wrong?

Are the eggs room temperature to begin with? That seems important to me... Otherwise perhaps vary the duration. I've had great success with this method but YMMV.

Yes, I always keep my eggs room temp.

I don't see how any modulation of the timing can produce anything other than a thicker or thinner layer of white stuck to the inside of the shell. What exactly happens when you do it - does all the white come out? Do you use older eggs perhaps? The older the egg, the less the shell sticks - but the more it disintegrates in water, so I always try and use fresh ones or poaching...

Re: The Why of Cooking (2017)

#92
post #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…

Actually, our modern food system isn't working for the hundreds of millions of us who are dying from obesity, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, etc. Nor is it working for those of us (all of us) who are presently going bankrupt trying to pay for each other's healthcare.

Re: The Why of Cooking (2017)

#93

I so want to learn to cook good food, but it is so hard to start alone. Meanwhile an evening of sushi workshop in london costs 80£ and it is fully booked till August.

The disadvantage of starting alone: picking up the intangibles (seasoning, knowing the basic food prep techniques that are commonly stated without explanation, recognizing what tools/ingredients you need that recipes often omit, etc.), and scaling the ingredients/cooking down. (Better: just cook for 2-4 and have leftovers.)

The advantage of starting alone: you don't have to cater to anybody else's tastes! Pick the most ridiculously delicious thing you can think of that fits your time/skill/price budgets, and cook that.

HN is not precisely known for its culinary excellence, but if you're looking to get started with some particular dish or kind of dish, geeks who cook would probably be happy to give you some more specific pointers!

I might also recommend something like Blue Apron if you want to just have a bunch of food pushed your way with recipes and start just trying stuff out! Not sure what they have in the UK along those lines though.

Re: The Why of Cooking (2017)

#94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

Fair enough. I stand corrected.

Re: The Why of Cooking (2017)

#95
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Delivery from restaurants.

Re: The Why of Cooking (2017)

#96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You can cook a meal of almost any kind in 30 minutes or less. So the recipe magically chooses itself? So the food magically appears in your fridge? So the dishes magically wash themselves afterwards? So the left-over ingredients magically use themselves up? I really hate when people downplay the time cost involved in food preparation by focussing on only one step of the procedure.

When you cook at home, you decide what you want to cook and find a recipe. From there on out, you have the recipe. Just like restaurants don't magically appear when you decide you want a hamburger. You must choose one. In the time it takes you to go to a restaurant, or order online, I can cook a meal for four at half the price you paid. I hate when people downplay the time and cost involved in eating out as if there…

The time-saving alternative to cooking is not eating out (that's insanely expensive if it becomes the norm). The alternative is foods that scale well. I can buy a pack of bread, a pack of cheese and a pack of sausage in 3-4 minutes, and then use that for a week or so to make sandwiches. Preparation time will be 2 minutes per sandwich.

Eating sandwiches may be boring, but it is very time-efficient.

Re: The Why of Cooking (2017)

#97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You can cook a meal of almost any kind in 30 minutes or less. So the recipe magically chooses itself? So the food magically appears in your fridge? So the dishes magically wash themselves afterwards? So the left-over ingredients magically use themselves up? I really hate when people downplay the time cost involved in food preparation by focussing on only one step of the procedure.

You seem do think in a waterfall model of cooking: a big plan first and starting from and ending in an empty kitchen. Speaking for my experience: I go to the supermarket once a week, replenishing staples and looking for interesting (and cheap..) stuff. Then later in the week I know what's fresh in my fridge and what's stored the pantry and when I get hungry late afternoon my subconsciousness is thinking about possibl…

But it is daily life for me. The only meal I ever cook myself is dinner (lunch is at work), but I'm not at home many days of the week. If at all, I would be cooking twice a week. Given this situation, it doesn't make sense to buy large quantities of ingredients in advance. Most would just perish.

> And I ignore the dishes for every other day or two, because I'm lazy.

That's cute. I do the dishes every Sunday. That's how away-from-home I am.

Re: The Why of Cooking (2017)

#98
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An even better technique (I tried lots) is to put the eggs in boiling water for 20-30s before breaking and poaching them. It will start the coagulation process of the egg whites, making it much more viscous when you actually do break them. This causes the egg whites to keep together and not spread in the water too quickly. Result is a nicer, rounder poached egg.

There is another technique I have seen of breaking the egg on to a cling film pouch, and then securing it, and poaching the pouch in water.

You can buy egg poaching pouches, they work but it seems terribly wasteful though, given most of the other methods seem to work well enough

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Poachies-Non-Stick-Poaching-Bags-Wh...

Re: The Why of Cooking (2017)

#99
post #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…

I have to say that your first statement seems totally ridiculous...do you really think that homo sapiens is homo economicus?? People are not rational optimizers, they're mammals. I'm sure I'm being a bit uncharitable to your claim here but your comment makes you sound like you actually are the 'older, wiser' economist in that old joke: "Two economists, one young and one old, are walking to lunch. The young economist looks down and sees a $20 bill on the street and says, 'Hey, look a twenty-dollar bill!' Without even looking, his older and wiser colleague replies, 'Nonsense. If there had been a twenty-dollar lying on the street, someone would have already picked it up by now.'"

As to your second paragraph...have you considered the possibility that you, specifically, didn't do a good job of cooking for yourself and that the fact that you failed to cook this way could be, well, your failure (to plan or execute or whatever), rather than a global failure of the idea "cook for yourself and use fresh produce"?

As for farm shares, many/most CSAs deliver, either to the home or to a central location in town (often a local co-op). So it is, in fact just one delivery truck driving down the highway.

And to your final paragraph, I simply say that that is an utter failure of imagination. At the moment, it's absolutely true that participating in this kind of eating & cooking demands some flexibility of schedule. Mostly, wealthier people are the ones who eat this way. Now, why is that the case? Well, our entire food production and distribution system is built around a different model. Deviating from that model, given the current state of the system, is expensive. That doesn't mean that people with the power and resources to do so shouldn't actively work towards changing the system into somethign more sustainable and accessible for all. In fact, in NYC there is an incredible farmer's market (called "greenmarket"), which runs in several poor neighborhoods and accepts food stamps, and it's life-changing for many people. I think that if you spoke to a few of the people who shop there, you'd never be as offhandedly dismissive of "eat fresh produce & cook for yourself" as you are here.

Re: The Why of Cooking (2017)

#100
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I have to say that your first statement seems totally ridiculous...do you really think that homo sapiens is homo economicus?? People are not rational optimizers, they're mammals. I'm sure I'm being a bit uncharitable to your claim here but your comment makes you sound like you actually are the 'older, wiser' economist in that old joke: "Two economists, one young and one old, are walking to lunch. The young economist…

> People are not rational optimizers, they're mammals

True, but people DO spend a lot of time optimizing their food; dieting is a huge trend.

> have you considered the possibility that you, specifically, didn't do a good job of cooking for yourself

Yes, I admitted as much. My point was that it's really hard to "cook for yourself and use fresh produce". There's nothing wrong with the idea, it's simple and noble, but the practical application of it is very challenging.

> As for farm shares, many/most CSAs deliver, either to the home or to a central location in town (often a local co-op). So it is, in fact just one delivery truck driving down the highway.

So how is that any different than what grocery stores do?

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