On cooking

Cooking is unique in that it’s an activity that humanity has been doing for thousands of years, nearly everyone is exposed to it, in some form, and has evolved to extremes; from the simplest broth to ultra technical professional dishes at Michelin Star restaurants.

I’m a big believer in everyone, everyone, should have a small collection of recipes that they can produce well. I’m not saying that everyone needs to be able to make some self-inflated molecular gastronomy, which is taking the art of cooking to an extreme. What I mean is that everyone should be able to make a dish, or two, of whatever makes them happy. They should be able to make them well. My personal repertoire consists of over-easy eggs on toast, Moroccan chicken with apricots, boeuf bourguignon, chicken tikka with curry and, steak with a mushroom and Worcestershire sauce, based on Marco Pierre White's recipe.

None of these dishes require special equipment or complex techniques. Yes, some require spices that aren’t always available in the corner store or supermarket. But with a little effort, and some practice, I have these dishes down to what I consider, near perfection. If your idea of a good meal is something simple like an omelette or beans on toast, there is nothing wrong with that. So long as you do it well. Everyone has the ability to cook something, and even with modern commitments and the constant frantic rush of life, people have the time to cook too.

This is an important point. There is a misconception that good food takes a long time to prepare and cook. It’s true that a good marinade should be left for at least 12 hours, but you don’t have to constantly watch it for those 12 hours. Once you have all the items prepared, chopped, peeled and your mise en place is set up, the actual active time of cooking can be as short as 10 minutes. I can produce over-easy eggs on toast, with perfect seasoning spiced with a sprinkle of paprika, and garnished with cilantro, in just 6 minutes from start to finish. Cooking doesn’t have to take time, and doesn’t need to, even to produce something that you find personally satisfying.

By now, you will have noticed a bias. Am I a professional chef? No. Have I had any culinary training or teaching, no - nothing official. But, I find a lot of peace in the procedure of cooking. Cooking, as an activity, covers all the senses. There’s the heat from the stove, the visuals of watching butter brown, and the glorious smells caused by adding bay leaves, or rosemary to a dish. It’s an activity that is as consuming as you make it. It can be a purely mechanical activity to make dinner, or it can be an escapism. An avenue to escape the plethora of life’s issues, a release of stress, or a hiding place for your needs. I find cooking to be a truly magical experience. It’s as close to alchemy as you can get. Taking a number of raw ingredients, combing them in a careful way and applying heat, results in something greater than its parts.

Throw some nice music on, share the cooking experience with someone and it will become more magical. The late, great, Anthony Bourdain has a quote, “When someone cooks for you, they are saying something. They are telling you about themselves: where they come from, who they are, what makes them happy.” I couldn’t agree more with this sentiment. If you’re fortunate enough to be able to share a cooking experience with someone meaningful, it can, likely does, exponentially increase the majesty of the activity. Some could even regard it as foreplay.

With that in mind, let me close with another quote from Mr. Bourdain:

“Learn to cook a fucking omelette. I mean, what nicer thing can you do for somebody than make them breakfast? You look good doing it, and it’s a nice thing to do for somebody you just had sex with.”