10 things I learned from food media (and not from momma)
10. Pronunciation. I've been wrong, so, so many times.
9. Sirachia (sp?) hot sauce
8. Gyros meat can be made at home. Thanks, Alton Brown.
7. Potato ricer.
6. Mexican cuisine. Thanks, Rick Bayless.
5. The saute pan flipping of foods.
4. So many interesting gadgets.
3. Cakes can be baked without Duncan Hines.
2. I am not alone. There are other people like me, even if they only exist on the Internet.
1. The number one thing (thanks Iron Chef) is presentation points. Mom was apt to serve in the same pots she cooked the food in, unless company was coming. I learned that presenting a dish attractively is important to the enjoyment of the food.
So, what do you know that momma didn't teach you?
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23 Comments:
My favorite media lesson is from way back on a Jacques Pepin show. He chopped garlic finely, sprinkled salt on it and mashed it to a paste. He scraped it off the board and added it to something that was not to be cooked (e.g. hummus). I have done it this way ever since. Whenever I want a burst of garlic flavor, this is the method I use.
I used to do summer pudding by lining a charlotte mold with bread, adding the fruit mixture and topping the charlotte mold with bread, weight and fridge. I saw an Ina show where she makes sort of a layer-cake out of it. This is a much more stable configuration! Loving that one.
My Alton Brown tidbits are too long to list.
therealchiffonade at 5:09AM on 07/07/08
-That garlic peeling technique were you slam the side of the knife in the clove. It works like a charm.
- General use of avocado, lentils, chickpeas (hummus included), and kosher salt.
smile at 5:16AM on 07/07/08
I could rename this post "1,000 things and counting I've learned from the food media". Literally could not boil water when I left home but over the years, thanks to Julia, Jacques, Graham, Jeff on PBS and the whole brood over at TVFN, especially in the early days, I've become somewhat of a competent AND confident cook with a real thirst for knowledge.
bessfour at 8:14AM on 07/07/08
baking. my momma has never baked a single thing in her entire life, though she is an amazing cook.
stumbler02 at 8:50AM on 07/07/08
@bessfour +1
izatryt at 9:32AM on 07/07/08
Just remember that "media" is NOT just television. We need to be including printed material as well, and radio for that matter - "Splendid Table", anyone?
lemons at 9:52AM on 07/07/08
Most of what I know about food has come from sources other than mom. She's a decent cook, but has always approached cooking as a chore rather than a pleasure.
pasta should not be "rinsed"
spices/ seasonings are good things
tomatoes don't like to live in the fridge
cheese comes in flavors besides american and cheddar
good knives make a huge difference
Kerosena at 10:28AM on 07/07/08
Could be endless... From Bobby Flay, Rick Bayless, and every other grilling show: hot, clean grills and do not touch the food once its on the grill, let it form a crust. Also, letting meat rest...
BirdDoggie at 10:52AM on 07/07/08
@Kerosena, thanks for reminding me about the pasta rinsing. My mother used to do that, and then we'd have cold noodles with warm sauce, and then the whole thing would be lukewarm.
I used to just drain the pasta, and that seemed fine. But when I saw someone on TV who used some of the pasta water, that was a new concept for sure. And then Mario Batali talking about saucing the pasta the way you would dress a salad. Wow. Mom's pasta would be swimming in sauce, so that was a new idea, too.
dbcurrie at 1:40PM on 07/07/08
What about people who put oil in pasta cooking water? That's a big no-no. Forgot all about that one!
therealchiffonade at 2:25PM on 07/07/08
the list is long... my mom cooks well, but it's not her thing. I really have to thank Martha Stewart, Cooking Light magazine and the Food Network for waking me up from the "sleep" I was in and for teaching me most of the tricks I use almost everyday now... among them:
- fresh herbs are better than the ones in a pot
- macaroni and cheese doesn't have to be orange in color
- pasta sauce is easy to make and does not need to come from a jar
- salad dressings are better when made fresh
- there's more vinegars out there than the clear distilled kind
- great olive oil is green and can be eaten with just plain bread and salt
Madelyn
KarmaFreeCooking
MadelynRodriguez at 5:25PM on 07/07/08
1. Roll a lemon to get the juices flowing.
2. Use herbs to flavor, not just salt or sugar.
3. Sometimes it's better to not measure things out exactly. Ad lib a bit (my mom did this too though...in fact, when she cooked this is all she did. But she knew her recipes so well, they always turned out.)
4. Color does wonders. Fresh veggies, herbs, etc. make a dish so much more appealing.
5. To reiterate dbcurrie, good presentation also makes a dish so much more appealing.
6.It can be okay to use prepackaged foods, but spice them up a bit to make them your own.
7. That being said, semi-homemade meals may be great, but an entire show devoted to it, host included, do not appeal...'nough said.
luswim06 at 7:11PM on 07/07/08
there are herbs/spices other than salt, pepper, paprika & garlic. lot's of 'em!
redhead at 9:40PM on 07/07/08
1. Vegetables should be fresh, not from a frozen bag or a can.
2. The world of wine does not consist of just Manachevitz.
jonfoxx at 10:15PM on 07/07/08
Spaghetti should not look like a pile or grub worms. Garlic is not exotic. Beets are good, and versatile, too (this one courtesy of the great beet farmer, Dwight Schrute).
beth1 at 11:21PM on 07/07/08
I think I was just lucky - My mum was a wonderful, adventurous cook with an extensive vegetable garden, our own chickens and ducks, and all the stuff we shot for the pot during rationing after the war in the UK, not to mention fresh fish from the local river.
She taught me everything from gutting a pheasant and skinning a rabbit to what to do with salsify and artichokes. She grew mushrooms and herbs and was certainly the first person in our village to use spices. She made cheese and cider from our apples and all those wonderful preserves and green tomato chutneys needed before everyone had fridges. We ate fresh foods, home-made bread, our own eggs and a chicken at Easter. We stewed apples and plums, gooseberries and rhubarb from the garden and sat on the verandah topping and tailing strawberries during Wimbledon each year. My childhood was an idyll, which ended with her early death - but all my cooking comes from her: knowing that leaving a spoon in the milk will stop it boiling over; that a fresh egg is best for frying while a slightly older one is better for boiling; that a banana in the fruit bowl will bring the other fruit to ripeness more quickly; that meat left to settle after it has been roasted will yield up its juices and become succulent. She imparted all this simply by her great joy in the provision of everything in the kitchen - and we had great boisterous meals around a long table full of laughter and conversation.
We were an ordinary English family with nothing exotic in our history, but I think we had amazing luck to live this life. The privations of post-war England actually made the dependence on our own produce more profound. And I am so grateful now to have this background and understanding of the provenance of what we eat.
I think I have learned better knife skills from watching television programmes and there was something recently, what was it? – oh yes. If brown sugar goes hard, but it in a mixing bowl and cover it with a damp cloth overnight. That works!
Foodlexi at 5:01AM on 07/08/08
Wow Foodlexi - thank you for sharing that. Your mum sounds like she was an extraordinary person!
I don't watch a ton of food TV, but one thing I learned early on from watching Julia Child is to always have a sense of adventure and a sense of humor in the kitchen. I once saw her get lost while deboning a chicken on air -- she just laughed about it and got herself right back on track. I always remember that and try to see the fun in what I'm doing, even if it isn't going as I'd planned.
CookiePie at 9:47AM on 07/08/08
I agree with you completely CookiePie. I was talking to a chef the other day who said "There is no such thing as a disaster in the kitchen!" and I have spent many an hilarious hour watching the wonderful Julia Child tossing a saucepan onto the floor when she suddenly can't find a space for it, or laughingly grabbing a towel to strain a liquid through if she can't find a proper culinary instrument! What a woman.
Foodlexi at 12:01PM on 07/08/08
Everything said in previous posts, plus 2...
1. Fresh Cracked Pepper (none of that crap in a tin)!
2. Kosher Salt
Oh, and frozen artichoke hearts (if you can find them). They pair perfectly with pasta! And they are less expensive, not to mention tastier, than their canned brothers.
I was raised solely by a single father. So, if I didn't learn how to cook it was goulash every night.
BoogieLove at 1:05PM on 07/08/08
Kosher salt.
Also, slicing meat thinly and against the grain to improve tenderness. I had thought that cooking tough meats low and slow would be enough, but I hadn't known that the way I sliced it made such a difference.
minstrel at 2:59AM on 07/09/08
You cannot have a decent soup or stew without a proper soffritto. Without a good base, there just won't be any flavor. So many people I know say they can't make soup at home that tastes like anything. I must always reply that it's what you start with that really counts in terms of flavor. Making a pot of soup then trying to impart flavor to the nearly finished product by dumping in salt, spices and herbs to an already bland product just does not work.
robincat at 1:54PM on 07/09/08
My dad was really big on presentation. He always told me people eat with their eyes first, something I've kept with me to this day. I plate food for myself and I still won't just slop stuff down... bf makes fun of me but I find the food that touch bit more enjoyable when it looks pretty :)
Anything that my mom doesn't like eating though... that, I had to learn from the media, since I was never exposed to it growing up.
feistyfoodie at 11:13AM on 07/12/08
Vegetables are yummy--if they don't come from a can and/or are overcooked.
barbok at 9:54PM on 07/12/08