Poem: "Bifocal Cooking"

[ysabetwordsmith]

This poem came out of the May 3, 2016 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired and sponsored by Shirley Barrette.


"Bifocal Cooking"


There are two ways to cook --
from a recipe, or from intuition --
and I learned how to do both.

Grandma would bake hot rolls
or make biscuits, roll out dough
for noodles or drop it into a pot
by the spoonful for dumplings.

I learned how to measure things
by the pinch or the palmful, and
I learned how much a cup looked like
when poured into a mixing bowl.

We would read recipes
and make them together.

Some of them were printed,
others handwritten. Some
had notes written on them.

I learned how to cook
by taste, by smell, to see
how things looked when done.

I learned how they sounded
in the pot when the texture changed
and they were ready to take out.

There were timers to set,
clocks to read, and I learned
how to use those too.

It was only later that I realized
there were two ways of cooking,
not just one all run together --
and that most people could do
only one or the other, not both.

I discovered that they could not
simply switch from one to the other,
translate a recipe into handfuls

or record a successful experiment
to be reproduced on a future occasion.

But to me it's not different
than two sides of one kitchen,
all sunshine yellow and
warm with memory.

* * *

Notes:

Family cooking brings people together. There are instructions for teaching children to cook and cooking for kids. I was surprised to see how many of the things my grandparents and parents set up for me -- like pouring rice or water with measuring cups -- have appeared in classroom exercises.

Intuitive cooking involves the freestyle production of tasty things. You can learn to cook without measuring cups or recipes. Here are some tips on intuitive cooking. People high in wisdom or emotions often do better with intuitive cooking.

Structured cooking requires an understanding of basic cooking techniques and recipe concepts. You need to know how to read and follow a recipe in order to cook this way. People high in intelligence or logic often do better with structured cooking.

Once you can do these things, you can invent original dishes and write recipes. When writing recipes, DO pay attention to structure. Your style can be formal or casual, but certain aspects are crucial to success. List ALL ingredients required, and also mention all equipment needed. List ingredients in order of use. Include ALL steps of the recipe. Put them in a logical order -- this make take a few tries to see what works best. If you're writing for experienced cooks, you can name a process ("scald the tomatoes") instead of itemizing the steps ("First wash and core the tomatoes ..."). When in doubt, explain.

Comments

[mdlbear]

Fun!

I'm not sure when I started to do intuitive cooking instead of following recipes; I think it was probably back when I was making salads for after-school snacks, and eggs for breakfast.

Yes...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Some things in cooking are much more flexible than others. For this reason, our household recognizes cooking algorithms as well as recipes. A recipe is specific; an algorithm is a set of choices. So if you're making biscuits, there's a pretty specific proportion of ingredients that will cause them to bake properly; but when you're making scrambled eggs, you mostly need the eggs and beyond that is a wealth of other options like butter, milk, cheese, spices, chopped vegetables, meat, etc. And beyond that is freestyle cooking.

Re: Yes...

[mdlbear]

Yup -- I think we still have your stir-fry algorithm taped to our fridge. I have my own algorithms for soup, stir-fry, fried rice (which is my usual breakfast when there's leftover rice in the house), and Ma-Po tofu.

My favorite bread recipes are also algorithms -- the loop termination conditions are pretty strict, but the amount of flour and liquid required to get there varies wildly.

Re: Yes...

[ysabetwordsmith]

I am impressed that you have achieved algorithms for baking. That type of cooking has some of the lowest fault tolerance.

Re: Yes...

[mdlbear]

It only works with bread, but it's not so much that it's forgiving as that the ratio of flour to liquid varies with things like the fineness of the flour, the weather, and the phase of the moon. So you make your sponge, add flour until it comes away from the sides of the bowl when you mix it, knead, and *knead in flour* until it's the right consistency. Try it with strict proportions and some days it will work, and some days it won't.

Re: Yes...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Oh, that. Most of the bread recipes I use have some flex built in where it says "Add X amount of Y ingredient. Then add more Y if needed until Z happens."

Re: Yes...

[dialecticdreamer]

Now I miss baking bread.

*G*

My kids hate it when we're out of something they think is specific, like eggs for baking bread. "Just add a tablespoon of oil and a tablespoon of water to the sponge."

"When were you going to say this?"

"I thought I'd taught you that back when we compared French bread to "regular" white bread?"

"I was ten! You expect me to remember that?"

"I did, and ten was many decades ago."

Snerk.

Seriously, my kids can't seem to remember the substitutions, let alone how the substitutions /affect/ the dish. I'm hoping it'll just take more practice.

Re: Yes...

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> My kids hate it when we're out of something they think is specific, like eggs for baking bread. "Just add a tablespoon of oil and a tablespoon of water to the sponge." <<

Well, it is frustrating. I don't deal well with it either, although I do know how to compensate. Usually I check a planned recipe to make sure I have all the ingredients, or if not, figure out substitutions before I start cooking. Halfway through is a bad time to find something missing. 0_o

>>"I thought I'd taught you that back when we compared French bread to "regular" white bread?"

"I was ten! You expect me to remember that?"

"I did, and ten was many decades ago."<<

Most people remember what they use and/or see often. I have a lot of things memorized, but not everything. Despite having an extensive spice database in my brain, I still have a poster of correspondences on my fridge. I also have a magnet that lists measurement conversions. I know how to look things up, but things which are obviously useful in the kitchen benefit from being displayed there. If I ever see a good one for substitutions, I'll add that. I have those references in cookbooks, but it is usually faster to search "substitution for 1 egg" or whatever online.

Re: Yes...

[dialecticdreamer]

I don't know why I've got so many of the substitutions and measurements memorized--it annoyed me for weeks, earlier this year, when I could not remember the conversions for GILLS, fercryinoutloud. WHO uses gills anymore? But I'd known it instantly for decades, and rather than treating it as superfluous data and LETTING it fade, I grumped about it, and worried about my age and recall.

Re: Yes...

[ysabetwordsmith]

It depends on how your mind works. Some people are good with numbers, or equivalents, or grids, etc. I happen to be good at combining tastes in my head, and even synaesthetic elements (to me, white peaches taste fuzzy in a way that yellow ones do not). I am still trying to figure out if I can make the database work in reverse so that instead of matching things which have elements and tastes in common (like most cuisines) it could combine ones that are as different as possible but still taste good together (like Indian cuisine).

Re: Yes...

[dialecticdreamer]

The only way I can think to do it would be to pick one example of the four primary tastes -not spicing categories- (sweet, salty, sour, and bitter) and start from there. Mint + mineral water would include sweet, salty, and bitter, and add a twist of lime for sour and you'd have the basis of a nonalcoholic mint julep, for example. Tweak the flavors by adding a bit more sugar, change the temperature (serve hot or VERY cold) to change the interactions. It's a start.

Re: Yes...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Based on what I know about how my mind works, I would need to load these databases into my head:

http://phys.org/news/2015-03-network-science-tools-spices-indian.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2075237/Why-Western-Asian-foods-taste-different-Study-reveals-pair-flavours-totally-different-ways.html

I am already fluent with some Indian spices. One limitation is that I can't eat much in the way of hot spices, except for ginger. I do know how to make a masala. I have, in the past, gravitated toward clusters of related spices; almost any combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and allspice will taste good. I may try branching out.

*ponder* It might also help to have a chemistry map or two printed to hang in the kitchen.

[johnpalmer]

In my experience that's true - and it's even trickier because I finally have a relatively good pan-sourdough bread recipe but I suspect it would be terrible in a free form - my dough is very wet - I have a hard time pulling it free from the mixing bowl (I use a mixer to knead). I know that if I wanted a formed loaf, I'd probably need more flour for body so it would rise, not spread.

Re: Yes...

[johnpalmer]

Yes! There are a lot of articles I've seen recently telling me how I'm doing scrambled eggs wrong - I'm to use a medium heat, slowly cooking and stirring the eggs to get that perfect, delicate custard-like consistency.

I'll grant that this is a skill, one that a person might want to have - being able to cook an egg carefully and tenderly is quite a test. But it's *not* how I like to eat my eggs! To me, that soft mass makes me think that the eggs are underdone. Sometimes I like harder folds mixed in so there's lots of layers of egg, sometimes more, sometimes fewer, with softer egg in between. Sometimes I like them cooked nice and toughened, to hold fillings in an omelet. Sometimes I like them on a medium heat, unstirred until the eggs are hardening on the bottom, and then whisking until you have this mix of tiny, firm curds mixed in a softer egg mixture.

I mean - if a chef can't make those custard-scrambled eggs, it's a gap in training. And a person should know that you can cook eggs to a delicate, soft texture in case they want to try it. But there's no *right* way.

Re: Yes...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Agreed. The "right" way to cook something is how you meant for it to turn out. Like you, I prefer my scrambled eggs in curds. I am also prone to add cheese both in the beginning (so it blends completely) and at the end (leaving chunks) because I like both effects, which are different. This is particularly the case if I have chosen a melty shredded cheese and a chopped sharp cheese.

Re: Yes...

[johnpalmer]

Nod. The "vanishing cheese" is a really neat trick - and it gives the eggs an interesting texture as well - for someone who likes eggs with cheese, it's a lovely surprise if they've never had it, and were disappointedly thinking "oh, he forgot the cheese...".

I'll have to try a bit of both shredded and chunked for a scramble - sausage and ham or bacon (or both, but too much smoked meat overwhelms the sausage IMHO) and blobs of cheese would be a neat thing to nibble through.

Re: Yes...

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>I'll have to try a bit of both shredded and chunked for a scramble - sausage and ham or bacon (or both, but too much smoked meat overwhelms the sausage IMHO) and blobs of cheese would be a neat thing to nibble through.<<

Yes, that works. By the way, to solve the smoke problem, you can:

* Use less assertive smoked meat such as applewood smoked bacon.

* Use more assertive sausage such as hot Italian or chorizo.

* Use mostly sausage with a smaller amount of bacon/ham.

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

Copying this to print out, frame, and put up in the kitchen. Because that could just as easily be about me...

Aww ...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Hello there, fellow bifocal cook! *huggles* There are not so many of us. It is always good to meet another.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

I used to be a recipe cook... nowadays I will maybe glance through several recipes, get the critical bits like oven temperature and a rough measure of servings per making (critical when you're feeding eight!)... and then get in the kitchen and go for it.

I still use the recipe for the family favourite, as I don't make it that often and timing is critical... but ...

Also, I had to go write down the quiche recipe after The Duchess demanded I keep that ratio of cheese to spinach to mushrooms.

Oh, and I still don't grok Asian spicing, so to the book (or phone!) I go...

But, yeah. Trifocal? :)

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

>> I used to be a recipe cook... nowadays I will maybe glance through several recipes, get the critical bits like oven temperature and a rough measure of servings per making (critical when you're feeding eight!)... and then get in the kitchen and go for it. <<

I often use recipes for inspiration rather than guidelines, like getting the general proportion or amount of ingredients, but I want to use different ingredients.

>> Also, I had to go write down the quiche recipe after The Duchess demanded I keep that ratio of cheese to spinach to mushrooms. <<

Yeah, I often take notes for our algorithms so I can replicate a favorite version, like the Indian savory bread pudding.

Re: Thoughts

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Ooooh. Share, please?

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Posted here:
http://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/3610719.html

Basically, you get an order of tandoori chicken, remove the bones, and make bread pudding with it.

Re: Thoughts

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Well allrightie then! What I will likely do is get the simmer sauce, *make* Tandoori chicken (boneless), and then make bread pudding... hmmm, would naan work or would you need something fluffier like brioche?

Hmmmm. Probably also work with tikka masala or butter chicken, with enough bread to absorb the curry....

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

I like a fluffy, chewy bread such as French bread or sourdough for savory bread puddings. But it's worth trying with naan.

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

To make bread pudding using curry, I would use a coarse strainer to remove the meat/vegetable chunks, then add the curry sauce to the batter. For a curry that is more homogenous and not easily strained, I would lay down a layer of bread, pour the curry over it, top with more bread, and then pour the batter over the top of everything.