11/16/2022: Playing with Your Food

I just want to talk about food I like making today. I'm very happy that I can cook again, since I can walk on my mostly-healed leg again. Living on pizza rolls and canned soup is about as much fun as it sounds, so it's nice to get back to cooking again. If you're anything like me, cooking can seem daunting, especially if you're hungry right now, but if you keep a few simple recipes on-hand, it's easy to cook something delicious!

Step Zero: Ingredients

If cooking is a struggle for you, one suggestion I have that has helped me a lot is to buy ingredients that are pre-made or that don't require a lot of prep time. You don't have to buy a whole onion; you can buy diced onions. This doesn't work for every ingredient (I still have to buy mushrooms whole instead of diced), but if the only step is to cut them before you cook, it can save a lot of time and effort. This may seem like an obvious trick to some people, but it's something that didn't occur to me right away, so I wanted to share it here in case someone else needs to hear it.

Here's another tip that really worked for me: Buy seasonings and spices in containers that allow you to easily use them. When I was growing up, we didn't have a spice rack, but we had baggies of spices held to the fridge via magnets. We also had vanilla sugar, but it was in a big mason jar that you had to get off the top shelf of the pantry. The extra steps of getting the spices out of these small, fiddly baggies or walking to the next room to get the vanilla sugar really slowed me down. The time commitment was small, sure, but it was more of a mental roadblock. As a result, I always wondered how people were able to add so many spices to their food when it was a hassle for me. Having easily-accessible containers really made a difference!

Step One: Tools and Utensils

I've never watched a movie about horse girls, but you know the general trope of "they understand each other so well," and "they have a special bond?" Yeah, you need to be like that with your kitchen utensils. Kitchen knives are not weapons; they're tools to make good food. The stove isn't out to burn you; it's there to cook you a hearty meal. I don't know if this is a problem that a lot of people have, but my partner is notably a little nervous about kitchens because he tends to burn, cut, or otherwise injure himself or accidentally use a tool wrong. You know what they say: Once bitten, twice shy. It can be difficult to view a tool as something harmless if you, you know, get harmed by it.

If you've never cooked before or your experience is limited, I would suggest starting by learning what tools you have at your disposal. Learn what the different types of knives are and why they are shaped the way that they are. Learn how to properly hold them and what cutting techniques there are. These disciplines are there to keep you safe. If you cut incorrectly, there's a higher chance of cutting yourself. There's a reason the proper way to hold down the thing that you're cutting is with a closed hand; it keeps your fingertips out of the way. The reason knives are shaped differently is because the food their meant to cut has different structural properties.

Knives and Knife Safety

I've never been in The Boy Scouts, but I've been told about The Blood Circle. I've gotta say, it's a pretty metal name for a knife-and-blade safety technique. I'm a nerd (who could have guessed?), so I think of it as combat reach in Dungeons and Dragons: Most melee weapons allow the wielder to attack targets at or within 5 feet of them. The Blood Circle is similar; with your arm outstreched, hold the blade of the knife with the cutting edge pointing away from your hand. Use your arm and the extra distance from the handle to measure out a circle from where you're standing. That is your Blood Circle, which needs to be clear of all debris, clutter, and people while you're using the knife. This keeps you and the people around you safe because you won't have something unexpectedly bump you while working with a sharp tool.

I won't be going into cutting techniques here, simply because I'm still at atmateur and you should get your advice from more experienced sources. I also feel like visuals would be more useful for this skill, and I don't have those readily available. I will, however, share one thing that I found useful that my Da has told me since I was small: Have you ever wondered the proper way to hand someone a knife? Keeping everyone safe in this scenario can seem a little tricky if you aren't prepared. It's fairly clear that you shouldn't hand it to them pointy-end first, but how do you keep yourself safe?

Because I'm right-handed, this guide assumes that you're holding the knife blade-down in your right hand. You want to transfer the knife to your left hand such that the cutting edge is pointed away from your arm and that the handle is now facing out. This keeps the cutting edge away from you and the person you're handing the knife to, keeping both of you as safe as possible!

Stoves and Temperature Control

Most of my cooking takes place on the stove. With the exception of a rice cooker and waffle iron, all of my food comes from the stove. I don't have an Insta-pot, slow cooker, or air fryer (which, shouldn't that be spelled "frier?"). I will admit that I'm a hypocrite; I am scared of ovens. I do not have the Horse Girl Bond^TM with ovens. In my defense, this is probably because I crawled onto the oven door when I was a kid, and my parents freaked out because it was hot. They snagged me away from the oven door, and I've been terrified ever since. However, most cooking takes place on stoves, anyway, so I don't think I'm missing much.

Anyway:

If you're learning to cook, you may be wondering why we don't just set the stove to the max temperature every time. Well, this is because different cooking techniques require different temperatures. If you're caramelizing onions, garlic, or mushrooms, you need a medium-low temperature so you don't burn them. If you're frying chicken or potatoes, you need that oil to boil, so you set it to a high temperature. If you're making any kind of meat, you need that meat to reach an internal temperature of 145°F (63°C) for finned fish and whole non-poultry meat, 160°F (71°C) for ground meat, and 165°F (74°C) for poultry meat according to the FDA.

I'm going to highly recommend that new chefs buy a meat thermometer and use it often to ensure that you're safe. To use a meat thermometer, you need to stab the tip of it into the center of the thickest / biggest slab of meat you're cooking. If that one is safe, then the rest likely are, too. It's also a good idea to test several slabs of meat to ensure that they're all cooking evenly.

Oh, and while we're here on the stove: NEVER TOUCH A STOVE! Yes, even when it's off. Yes, even if you think it's safe. Accidents don't happen because you did something on purpose; they happen because something that could go wrong did go wrong. My mom once leaned on a stovetop that she thought was off, and we had to take her to the hospital to handle the burns. There were no pots or pans on the stove, there wasn't any indication that it was on, save for one small red light on the back. I probably shouldn't have said "Maybe you just shouldn't touch stoves" on the drive, but it was the lesson I took away.

Misc. Kitchen Tools

If stoves can be analogized to workhorses that pull heavy equipment and get you from Point A to Point B, then these tools can be analogized to sheep that you keep around to mow your lawn. They're maybe not as useful and you likely could do their job with the right setup, but they do their job well, and you're thankful to have them. In decreasing order of versatility, I'm talking about rice cookers, electric kettles, toasters, and waffle irons. Rice cookers can be used to cook rice and steam vegetables, both of which are great side dish options or could be added to soup. Electric kettles are great for tea, but they can also be used whenever you need small amounts of hot water. Toasters can be used for heating up any bread or pastery. Waffle irons... are pretty much only used for making waffles, but we love waffles, so we love them! The only advice I'm going to give here is that keeping the manual for these is a good idea, and you should clean them regularly, even when you're not using them.

Step Two: Recipes

This section is more of a list of recommendations than a step-by-step guide. If you have trouble cooking for yourself often, maybe try some of these!

Eggs

Starting off strong, eggs are an egg-scellent way to learn how to cook! My first meals that I would make for myself as a kid were fried eggs. I'd mess it up a lot, but it didn't need to be pretty; they just had to taste good. Learning how to properly fry eggs at medium heat can teach you the basics on how to handle the tools you're using and how it looks when an egg "sets." If you get these basics under your belt, then have a go at making omlettes. The only big difference is whisking the eggs together with a splash of milk or water and adding bits of meat and / or vegetables while the egg is setting.

Ground Beef

Ground beef is a good way to learn how to cook meat without spending too much money. I used to be hesitant to cook since ingredients always seemed expensive. If that's a concern for you as well, I recommend starting with something smaller / less expensive to practice first. Ground beef is great for hamburger patties or as loose ground beef as a part of another meal. This is also a good food to make an excess of since you can use it in other recipes. If you make a lot of it when you have the time to cook, you can add it to pasta, omlettes, rice, and more! As stated above, make sure you cook ground beef to an internal temperature of 160°F (71°C).

Rice

I'll be honest: get a rice cooker. I'm terrible at cooking rice on the stove. However, it's a really good grain that's a perfect side dish or it can be part of a bigger meal! I personally like Basmati rice the best, and you can buy short-grain sushi rice if you want to take a crack at making your own at home! I'd steer clear of making your own raw fish sushi at home until you hone your skills, though. Take a trip to your local Asian grocery store and you'll find rice cookers, all kinds of different rice, sushi-grade raw fish, and more! If that's not your thing or you need a quick and easy meal, meat and gravy over rice is a great way to use leftovers. It's also a contemporary Hawaiian dish called Loco moco! I was really surprised when I found that out, especially since it's something I'd eat at home all the time. This is another good thing to make a lot of when you have the chance, since it reheats easily and can be a meal on its own or with other leftovers.

Potatoes

As Samwise Gamgee once said, you can boil 'em, mash 'em, or stick 'em in a stew. You can also fry them, bake them, roast them, scallop them, or make them into potato salad. Very versitile root vegetable. My personal favorite is papas fritas, also known as papas a la Mexicana. You dice your potatoes and then fry them in vegetable oil as if you're making French fries. It goes great with scrambled eggs, or as a taco ingredient! I'm also a big fan of mashed potatoes, and I've got a secret technique to making them less hard to mash when the time comes: You want to dice your potatoes and then "sweat" them in a pan over medium-low heat with butter. You don't want them to brown; you want them to give up their moisture and soften. This will add a lot of flavor, and it'll make them easier to mash after you boil them!

Pasta and Noodles

This is a common dish for new chefs to learn, and it's easy to see why. All you have to do is boil water, cook the noodles, and add whatever ingredients you want, even if it's just buttered noodles. This category is so far down the list simply because I don't cook pasta that often. It's a really good thing to know how to cook, but it doesn't teach you much, and it's just not one of my favorites. I will, however, include a dish that's not well-known where I live: Ants Climbing a Tree. It's a Sichuan dish that's made with glass noodles cooked in beef broth with ground beef. It's extremely tasty and easy to make. It also gives you another reason to go visit that local Asian mart!

Sauteed Onions and Mushrooms / Gravy

I'm cheating by putting these two very different foods in the same bin, but it's also my list, so it's fine. The reason these two are here together is because they're both made in medium-low heat and can't be used as a meal on their own, but they are used to enhance an existing meal. I've been beating the drum about meat over rice a bit in the previous categories, but that's because it's a solid recommendation. I also highly recommend using the juices left from cooking meat to sautee onions and / or mushrooms, or you can use the juices to make gravy. These are both relatively easy-to-learn processes that also give you a way to use by-products from other ingredients efficiently. These can be added to omlettes, meat, rice, potatoes, or pasta. A lot of the ingredients / recipes I'm recommending have "synergy" with each other, so you can make a lot of them at one time and mix-and-match depending on your mood. This is a technique known as Modular Cooking, and it's very useful!

Seasonings

Not really a recipe, but I do have some thoughts about seasonings. As stated before, you're going to want to get them in easily accessible containers, but what kinds should you get? Well, it depends a lot on your taste, and that's going to be different based on where you grew up and what you like. For me, I get onion powder, garlic powder, soy sauce, lemon juice, chili powder, ground ginger, and sea salt. If you've never tried different kinds of salt, I would recommend getting a small sample of pink Himalayan salt. There are people who claim it has health benefits, but I make no such claim; I just like how it looks and tastes. You probably won't notice a huge difference at first, but if it's on its own, I do think there's a difference between iodized salt, sea salt, and pink Himalayan salt. At the very least, it makes me happy, and that's worth it on its own.

Conclusion?

Thanks for listening to me ramble about food! It's something that I really enjoy, and I feel like it makes my life better knowing how to cook. It's a great way to express myself creatively and I get something tasty at the end! I wanted to share what I knew with people, and I hope that you learned something new or cool!