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By becoming a cook, you can leave processed foods behind

nytimes.com

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Re: By becoming a cook, you can leave processed foods behind

#61

Post by kd0amg »

tptacek wrote: post #32
chrisaycock wrote: post #31

"Why I Don't Cook at Home" from The Oatmeal : http://theoatmeal.com/comics/cook_home (I myself do cook, but I also go out when I need a break from my own cooking.)

"I don't cook because I don't decide what to eat until I am so hungry that a Chinese take-out leaflet is appealing, and when I tried to make bison casserole with an empty fridge instead of ordering Chinese, it didn't work out for me". Got it, Oatmeal. Sorry, did I kill the frog?

That summary looks about right to me. Though there is probably some value in pointing out that a lot of people who try to get into cooking really don't know where to start and end up looking in exactly the wrong place, e.g. a recipe dependent on a large number of specialty items (I'm certainly not going to start my brother on something like that).

Re: By becoming a cook, you can leave processed foods behind

#62

Post by spacemanaki »

nazgulnarsil wrote: post #37

I began eating red beans and rice (plus peppers, onions, and garlic, never ever gets old) a year ago as a staple and the improvement in my health has been noticeable. I have put on 25 pounds of 90% muscle and have stabilized near my ideal "fighting weight" again.

It made me smile to see this note at the bottom of pg's essay on ramen-profitability:

http://www.paulgraham.com/ramenprofitable.html#f1n

Re: By becoming a cook, you can leave processed foods behind

#63

Post by elptacek »

tptacek wrote: post #60
elptacek wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not too far from what I originally intended to reply to the article itself, too, until I read the other comments. My three would probably be soup, pizza and sweet potato fries. This would give you a kick start on sauces (soup base), breads (pizza dough) and deep frying. I should also point out that we lived in a small organic farm, giving me the advantage of an abundant source of vegetables, fruits, eggs and…

Sweet potato fries? When do I get sweet potato fries?

I made them for the kids earlier in December. I think you may have been out boozing it up with your Hacker Nerd buddies or something.

Re: By becoming a cook, you can leave processed foods behind

#64

Post by jules »

mitko wrote: post #13

An year ago I could hardly cook anything except omelet - badly. During the last year I've learned a bunch of recipes - enough to feel confident in the kitchen. Looking back, I think the factors that made it easiest to me to develop the habit of cooking were: - A decent kitchen. I've tried cooking before but the lack of kitchen appliances was just demotivating. - A need to save some money. Bringing food with me to cla…

Which kitchen appliances did you miss? The one thing I miss when cooking at other people's places is a sharp knife. It is really irritating (and dangerous) to cook with a blunt knife.

Did you win the bet? ;)

Re: By becoming a cook, you can leave processed foods behind

#65

Post by marquis »

marze wrote: post #23

The author leaves out one advantage of not eating out so much, cost. It is difficult to spend more on ingredients for a home cooked meal than a nice restaurant meal would cost, and not hard to spend a lot less. The downside is time, but the upside of is a fun cooking hobby.

I often spend far more on a home-cooked dinner than eating out, due to finding amazing ingredients I want to try, such as an expensive imported cheese that goes well with an artisan chutney and then you need a good wine with that.. I wouldn't try these foods outside of an expensive restaurant, which I only go to rarely in anycase. The best cuts of fish or red meat will put you back a little also, though it's worth it certainly when you have guests, for the flavour quality. But certainly, I would say it's less expensive to eat well at home.

Re: By becoming a cook, you can leave processed foods behind

#66

Post by marcinw »

elptacek wrote: post #27

We don't cook because our parents didn't. Prepackaged convenience foods have always been something of a status item. This whole "return to cooking" is something of an amusing rebellion to me, since it was something of a stigma in my childhood. If your parents had money, your lunch was filled with tasty items sealed in plastic from a factory. I used to bake bread in my dorm kitchen. My floormates thought it astounding…

"Perhaps it's worth noting that my kids generally prefer prepackaged foods over our cooking. So maybe it's a cyclical thing, in some subset of each generation. But I'm hoping that teaching them to cook will change that."

Trust me, as they each grow older, they will appreciate your cooking more and more. I myself was a hamburgers, hotdogs, chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese kid growing up, but going home to my parents to eat Mom's cooking is priceless now.

Re: By becoming a cook, you can leave processed foods behind

#67

Post by elptacek »

bobf wrote: post #51
wdewind wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The last thing you said is what I came in here to write. Everything in the NYTimes article is correct (about how easy it is to cook those 3 basic meals etc), but it misses one thing: there is no way that someone goes from eating burgers and prepackaged foods to salads and lentils instantly, and it's not because it's difficult or time consuming to cook (it's not really for most things). Restaurant food has a major con…

In the same vein.. if you want a delicious salad, try making this: an over-easy egg served on top of chunks of crispy bacon over baby spinach greens, with a dressing of a mixture of a decent balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

When ramps come into season, I would suggest replacing your baby spinach greens with a lightly sauteed chiffonade of ramp greens, undressed.

Re: By becoming a cook, you can leave processed foods behind

#68

Post by mitko »

jules wrote: post #64
mitko wrote: post #13

An year ago I could hardly cook anything except omelet - badly. During the last year I've learned a bunch of recipes - enough to feel confident in the kitchen. Looking back, I think the factors that made it easiest to me to develop the habit of cooking were: - A decent kitchen. I've tried cooking before but the lack of kitchen appliances was just demotivating. - A need to save some money. Bringing food with me to cla…

Which kitchen appliances did you miss? The one thing I miss when cooking at other people's places is a sharp knife. It is really irritating (and dangerous) to cook with a blunt knife. Did you win the bet? ;)

I guess I just wasn't comfortable cooking in a dorm kitchen and there were multiple appliances that I was missing.

But, yes, Jules, a big sharp knife is definitely necessary.

We didn't compare, nor we set a wager, but I got my 6packs and learned to control my weight, which I count as a win.

Re: By becoming a cook, you can leave processed foods behind

#69

Post by patrickgzill »

tptacek wrote: post #49
Evgeny wrote: post #46

a stir-fry, a chopped salad, and the basic combination of rice and lentils, all of which are easy enough to learn in one lesson Well, fried eggs with bacon or whatever else you want them with are quite easy to learn and quick to cook. Also, I've learned to cook steaks recently, it's actually super easy - just heat the pan, cook 1 side for two minutes, turn over and cook the other side for two minutes!

Or get a cheap-o RC880 rice cooker and a $120 Auber PID controller and some ziploc bags, and you can make absolutely foolproof steaks, pork chops, chicken breasts, duck legs, rabbit, beaver tail, and what-have-you just by pushing a couple buttons. It blows my mind that more hackers don't cook sous-vide.

I saw a sous-vide being advertised for about $300 from Costco; so surely more people are becoming aware of it!

Re: By becoming a cook, you can leave processed foods behind

#70

Post by oiuytyuioiuy »

bobf wrote: post #51
wdewind wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The last thing you said is what I came in here to write. Everything in the NYTimes article is correct (about how easy it is to cook those 3 basic meals etc), but it misses one thing: there is no way that someone goes from eating burgers and prepackaged foods to salads and lentils instantly, and it's not because it's difficult or time consuming to cook (it's not really for most things). Restaurant food has a major con…

In the same vein.. if you want a delicious salad, try making this: an over-easy egg served on top of chunks of crispy bacon over baby spinach greens, with a dressing of a mixture of a decent balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

Quick 'sort of ceaser salad'

Half a teaspoon of dijon mustard (the dark stuff, not the yellow squeezy hotdog stuff)

Half teaspoon of mayonaise

Teaspoon of olive oil

Teaspoon of lemon juice

Shake and pour on lettuce

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