March 15, 2010

Readers,

Ok. I may have just made my first real sauce. Up until now I've been cooking using various techniques. I've tried soups, stews and other stuff. But, I've been eyeing the page that addresses sauce making for several weeks without truly committing to one. But, tonight, I tackled Basic Pan Sauce with Balsamic and Caper "add-in". I have very little idea how it was supposed to turn out, but I must admit, I ate it all up! I'm sure the texture and consistency wasn't quite right, but the flavor was quite nice. There seem to be a few universe rules about sauces, but by far the dominant theme appears to be this: there is no such thing as a sauce without butter.

I've been thinking about whether or not I've made progress. I know that I have, but I don't consider myself to be truly cooking yet. It's more like I'm taking two or more ingredients, combining them with heat to create a third component which I then eat. The main difference is that none of the original ingredients were cooked already when I started. In fact, they all start in their original form with no processing whatsoever.

The lack of processing in my food is really a large part of this experiment. I know I'm taking in very few preservatives and other processing agents and that feels quite good. It feels like I'm giving a whole new meaning to the term 'whole foods". I've progressed beyond learning how to buy and store ingredients and I've moved on to learning which things are good the next day (a surprising number of things!) and which things are terrible the next day (almost all pastas).

There are obstacles, of course. I'm afraid of the oven. At least, I think I may be. So far, nearly every meal I've made (which to date numbers around 100 meals) has been made on the stovetop. The few times I've introduced the oven into the equation, things haven't turn out well. Who knows what happens to food in there? There's just no telling. You put raw food in, and what comes out... well, there is no guarantee. You can't watch the change as it's happening and that apparent lack of control over the process is not for me.
I know this may be hard to believe, but it took me nearly two weeks at the beginning of this extravaganza to learn exactly how hot a pan should be for things. Is it different for onions as for proteins? At what point is it ok to turn the heat down? I've started to identify these things, but the heat of an oven is just too much. Yes, the cookbook does tell me, of course, how to address this issue. But, my oven is a classic. It is the original oven with the house meaning it is 35 years old. Boy, did they know how to make appliances back then! The thing is an absolute champ. The problem is that I am under the impression that it runs hot. This means I cannot follow instructions exactly, I need to make adjustments. I'll have to work up to that.

The only other thing to report this week is that this experiment has started to result in additions to the kitchen. One of the signs in the grocery store the other day read "kitchen gadgets". Now, tell me, how could I resist! The word "gadget" alone is enough to entice anyone! I now have a meat pounder thingy and an honest to good-ness mandoline (for when it is time to stop ignoring the scalloped potatoes recipe). Oh, and I almost forgot, an immersion blender for when I get over my fear of soups.

That's all for now. The kitchen is clean so it's time to give LuLu an evening treat.

Good night readers everywhere.

Jo