Festival Food + UCLA heat = Cooking on the brain
Somehow, in between the panels and the lines and the signings and the crowds and the random booths on anything book related (and several that weren't) and of course the craziness of trying to catch a glimpse of Eric Carle, I managed to sneak in one of the cooking demonstrations. I wasn't trying for anyone in particular, I just realized that I had no more panels to go to that day and several hours before Mr. Hungry Caterpillar took to the stage. So I checked the schedule, and quickly plopped myself down in the nearest free seat when I realized that a demo was about to start right in front of me.
I have no idea if Curtis Stone is a good chef or if his TLC show does a good job of teaching cooking, but I can tell you that if Take Home Chef is not an entertaining show, it's probably not Curtis's fault. Cuz he was hi-larious. (btw, does everyone make fun of Emeril?)
For some reason he had decided that one of the things that he was going to try to cook were mussels. I don't know if he was simply ignorant about how hot LA can get or if someone had forgotten to tell him that the prep area for the cooking demos consisted of nothing more than a portable room (with fridge and freezer, I'm sure) attached to the outdoor stage. In any case, the mussels were no good. So instead he pilfered stuff from other chefs - and from the goodies they had put out for the chefs and sou chefs and so on to snack on - and he just sort of threw stuff together. (anyone know if Giada was pissed or not? or if she even noticed?)
Which ended up not only being really funny, it also fit the theme of his new book better. Which is apparently about being less stressed out while cooking and learning to sometimes cook real meals with just whatever you happen to have on hand. (and while I think that's a good idea and all, I do have to say I tend to roll my eyes when people say this, because their kitchen is obviously better stocked than mine. as I'm sure Curtis's is.)
I didn't actually learn much from the demonstration. (like I'd remember any of that. and no, i wasn't taking notes) It did get me thinking though.
That very morning I had finally managed to make pancakes properly. The batter was perfect. I didn't burn them. They tasted fantastic. Better than fantastic actually, because I topped them with real butter and fresh strawberries and whipped cream. (what? I was going to spend the day walking around carrying pounds of books on my back, i needed those calories!)
Yummy yummy yummy!
Not only that, I made them quickly. (well, as quickly as I do anything at 7 in the morning) I didn't burn the butter. I didn't have to run to the store to pick up some ingredient I'd forgotten. And the only thing I had to check the recipe for was some of the measurements. It all went super smooth.
And as I sat there watching Curtis burn his nuts and let the honey from the sticky chicken things run underneath the tin foil and get the pan all messy anyway - and of course have to toss out the mussels - I realized a few things. (both of which should have been painfully obvious long before I heard Curtis's wannabe risque jokes)
The first is that cooking shows get multiple takes. Which means that even the always serene Giada messes up sometimes too. (i'll bet she even has bad hair days once in a while)
The second is that cooking is a skill. That means that it takes practice to get it right. I think all too often we approach cooking as if we were putting together a piece of furniture from ikea. If the dish doesn't turn out right, we figure the instructions are crap. Or that we are simply too inept to follow even the most basic directions.
But the only difference between the pancakes I made this past Saturday morning and the ones I've made before is that I've gotten more used to making them. I used the same recipe each time. And of course I'm still me; I didn't go to cooking school in the meantime, either. For the most part, I even used the same ingredients. (new milk and eggs, obviously, but still the same bag of flour, the same can of baking powder, etc.)
But this time, I was able to remember my mistakes and not repeat them. I also felt more confident doing most of it and didn't keep second guessing everything I did.
I'm sure one of these days I will once again burn my poor, perfect pancake batter. Or maybe even mess up and mix the batter for too long (which I have yet to do).
But that's ok, because things go wrong sometimes. And the more I make pancakes, the less likely it is that I will mess up when I make them.
***
I know, I just should have ended it there, right? Such a nice, "life's lessons" sort of ending. But really, my other big epiphany was that if cooking is a skill then maybe part of my problem is that I keep trying lots of new things all the time, when what I really need to do is try one thing at a time - and keep working at it until I get it right. At least until my general cooking skills are better, anyway.
At the very least that would help with my main problem with learning to cook, which is that my ADD messes with the way I estimate time. My bad habit of thinking that things will take less time than they really will is especially problematic when it comes to stuff I haven't done before. So at the moment, I kind of have to restrict trying new dishes - even really simple ones - to my days off. Since I know how to make practicallly nothing, this also means restricting any and all cooking until the weekends. (unless it comes from a box, of course)
But! If I keep doing the same dish again and again (or, rather, rotating through a handful of them) then I'll soon learn how to make those dishes easily. At which point I can hopefully manage to make them on workdays, and then I can try other dishes on my days off.
That's the plan, anyway. I'll let you all know how it works out.
I have no idea if Curtis Stone is a good chef or if his TLC show does a good job of teaching cooking, but I can tell you that if Take Home Chef is not an entertaining show, it's probably not Curtis's fault. Cuz he was hi-larious. (btw, does everyone make fun of Emeril?)
For some reason he had decided that one of the things that he was going to try to cook were mussels. I don't know if he was simply ignorant about how hot LA can get or if someone had forgotten to tell him that the prep area for the cooking demos consisted of nothing more than a portable room (with fridge and freezer, I'm sure) attached to the outdoor stage. In any case, the mussels were no good. So instead he pilfered stuff from other chefs - and from the goodies they had put out for the chefs and sou chefs and so on to snack on - and he just sort of threw stuff together. (anyone know if Giada was pissed or not? or if she even noticed?)
Which ended up not only being really funny, it also fit the theme of his new book better. Which is apparently about being less stressed out while cooking and learning to sometimes cook real meals with just whatever you happen to have on hand. (and while I think that's a good idea and all, I do have to say I tend to roll my eyes when people say this, because their kitchen is obviously better stocked than mine. as I'm sure Curtis's is.)
I didn't actually learn much from the demonstration. (like I'd remember any of that. and no, i wasn't taking notes) It did get me thinking though.
That very morning I had finally managed to make pancakes properly. The batter was perfect. I didn't burn them. They tasted fantastic. Better than fantastic actually, because I topped them with real butter and fresh strawberries and whipped cream. (what? I was going to spend the day walking around carrying pounds of books on my back, i needed those calories!)
Yummy yummy yummy!
Not only that, I made them quickly. (well, as quickly as I do anything at 7 in the morning) I didn't burn the butter. I didn't have to run to the store to pick up some ingredient I'd forgotten. And the only thing I had to check the recipe for was some of the measurements. It all went super smooth.
And as I sat there watching Curtis burn his nuts and let the honey from the sticky chicken things run underneath the tin foil and get the pan all messy anyway - and of course have to toss out the mussels - I realized a few things. (both of which should have been painfully obvious long before I heard Curtis's wannabe risque jokes)
The first is that cooking shows get multiple takes. Which means that even the always serene Giada messes up sometimes too. (i'll bet she even has bad hair days once in a while)
The second is that cooking is a skill. That means that it takes practice to get it right. I think all too often we approach cooking as if we were putting together a piece of furniture from ikea. If the dish doesn't turn out right, we figure the instructions are crap. Or that we are simply too inept to follow even the most basic directions.
But the only difference between the pancakes I made this past Saturday morning and the ones I've made before is that I've gotten more used to making them. I used the same recipe each time. And of course I'm still me; I didn't go to cooking school in the meantime, either. For the most part, I even used the same ingredients. (new milk and eggs, obviously, but still the same bag of flour, the same can of baking powder, etc.)
But this time, I was able to remember my mistakes and not repeat them. I also felt more confident doing most of it and didn't keep second guessing everything I did.
I'm sure one of these days I will once again burn my poor, perfect pancake batter. Or maybe even mess up and mix the batter for too long (which I have yet to do).
But that's ok, because things go wrong sometimes. And the more I make pancakes, the less likely it is that I will mess up when I make them.
***
I know, I just should have ended it there, right? Such a nice, "life's lessons" sort of ending. But really, my other big epiphany was that if cooking is a skill then maybe part of my problem is that I keep trying lots of new things all the time, when what I really need to do is try one thing at a time - and keep working at it until I get it right. At least until my general cooking skills are better, anyway.
At the very least that would help with my main problem with learning to cook, which is that my ADD messes with the way I estimate time. My bad habit of thinking that things will take less time than they really will is especially problematic when it comes to stuff I haven't done before. So at the moment, I kind of have to restrict trying new dishes - even really simple ones - to my days off. Since I know how to make practicallly nothing, this also means restricting any and all cooking until the weekends. (unless it comes from a box, of course)
But! If I keep doing the same dish again and again (or, rather, rotating through a handful of them) then I'll soon learn how to make those dishes easily. At which point I can hopefully manage to make them on workdays, and then I can try other dishes on my days off.
That's the plan, anyway. I'll let you all know how it works out.