Cooking by Sound -- Anyone?
Years ago I asked a sweet lady in her eighties to show me how she cooked the best fried chicken you can imagine. In the process she gave me probably the best cooking advice I ever got -- LISTEN. She would say "Now, honey, you don't want that pan yellin' at you, and you don't want it whispering either. You get it so it just chatters at you."
I am wondering whether anyone ever was taught this by a good cook, in a class or just among friends or family. I have never heard it except once I think I heard someone on Iron Chef tell one of their assistants that something didn't SOUND right.
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16 Comments:
I do it but don't recall ever having been told. I have heard it on America's Test Kitchen and someone else has said ... perhaps Lidia Bastianich I think.
But cooking, particularly sautéing and frying, does have sounds and they change with conditions. As water evaporates from food the sound in the pan changes. Especially noticeable with mushrooms, which exude a lot of water and then start to sizzle when its gone.
kjgibson at 1:05PM on 06/08/08
Yes, very hard to explain, but very true. I think any cook with experience under their belt does this, though they may not even realize it. (Love the "chattering" chicken!)
Cary at 2:57PM on 06/08/08
Absolutely. My cooking teacher at Kump used to say, "When the butter stops singing, the clarifying is done." There are many times where sound comes into play with cooking but to put it in the simplest terms, look at microwave popcorn. If you don't stop that nuker very quickly after you hear the popping slow, you've got nasty burned charcoal.
chiff0nade at 3:27PM on 06/08/08
This is one of the basics for any chef--when the chicken stops squawking it's dead.
; )
beano at 4:49PM on 06/08/08
Yes, absolutely. But I can't verbalize what sound means what. I only know that when the exhaust fan is on, or the radio is loud, it's hard for me to tell if something is cooking correctly on the stovetop.
And I love one of Julia's directions about roasting chicken (I think it was chicken -- and I am paraphrasing): There should be quiet cooking sounds coming from the oven.
Dee at 5:47PM on 06/08/08
Oh yes... especially stir-fry
MeMeg at 8:22PM on 06/08/08
I believe the true artists in any entereprize utilize more than the obvious senses.
I can't think of a cooking illustration, but, in a similar vein, I remember an old-time machinist tell me how he was teaching his grandson, who had already graduated from a highly respected technical college, how to "listen to the metal tell you what it wants."
srhcb at 8:56PM on 06/08/08
Mario Batali gives this advice frequently on the Molto Mario show.
Amandarama at 7:16AM on 06/09/08
The more one cooks the more one is attuned to the sounds of cooking. Stir frying has a definite sound that indicates the frying temperature is just right. A roast in the oven burbles away at a rate that indicates the oven is too hot or too cool and that it's time to check the roast. Eggs hardboiling in a saucepan sound a certain way if they are simmering at the right temperature. I try to use all my senses when I cook and to hone in on each technique I'm using. It's the "Zen of cooking" and there are cookbooks that speak of this Zen approach. However, I know too that there are times when expediency is the name of the game and we want to prepare something tasty and quick. Zen moments aren't a consideration!!
Raki5 at 3:42PM on 06/09/08
Yes, I use sound for certain bread doughs that I make in the mixer, and for mixing cookie crusts in the food processor. Also for reductions. The sound of the bubbles changes as the water cookies out.
aharste at 3:47PM on 06/09/08
The sound of the smoke alarm definitely tells me if my food is slightly overdone.
Joseph Bayot at 5:55PM on 06/09/08
i've heard of people who can do that--in local circles, it's treated like a sixth sense only possessed by the oldest, most southern-fried ladies imaginable.
myself, i'm pretty sure it's basically just dumb luck.
rasellers0 at 6:10PM on 06/09/08
Risotto definitely has a sound at every stage.
WineUnleashed at 7:01PM on 06/09/08
BACON: It spits at you violently while it's frying. When the spitting slows down, the bacon has surrendered and it's time to eat!
Josdean at 3:34PM on 06/10/08
I realized the other day that I do a lot of stuff by sound. It's no surprise, since I'm a music teacher. Not only do I listen to the sound of stuff cooking (I just was listening tonight to see if the turkey tenderloin and potatoes were cooking right) but I listen to the sound of filling things up. I realized the other day that I know that my water bottle is about full from the way the pitch of the water changes.
cmtigger at 12:52AM on 06/21/08
I definitely use my ears just as much as my other senses in the kitchen. I have a music ed degree as well as a passion for the kitchen. So, cmtigger, I hear you on the water bottle thing. My roommates, also musicians, don't share my cooking prowess, but at least they don't think I'm crazy for knowing how different foods sound.
orangeobsession at 4:10PM on 06/23/08