walton_eats | Not a recipe this time

Not a recipe this time

Tim wandered into the kitchen while I was doing some prep for tonight's dinner. I'm making Chicken Cacciatore, and I was breaking down a whole chicken. I rarely buy chicken parts. I learned to break down a whole chicken when the elder women of the family deemed it safe for me to handle the knife, and I'm very fast and very good at it. So I wait for whole chickens to go on sale ($.69/lb this week), then buy six or seven and keep them in the freezer. *Much* cheaper than buying chicken parts, with the added bonus that the necks, backs and wings go in the freezer bag for stock, the giblets get cooked and fed to my very happy cats, and the fat and some of the skin goes in the freezer bag for schmaltz.

I've gotten into the habit of buying meat, fish and poultry in its cheapest form, usually on sale, then cutting or chopping or grinding for whatever I need, freezing in portions.

Anyway, Tim watched for a minute and we started chatting about what kinds of kitchen skills people can learn in order to save money.

In a household supported mainly by self-employment while raising four kids, we've lived through some *very* lean times. My mother and my grandmothers taught me how to cook from scratch, how to shop, how to eat seasonally. They also taught me how to gut, clean and filet a fish; break down a chicken; make a stock; bake bread; can fruit and vegetables and make jam and jelly; make a roux. They taught me a-thousand-and-one ways to use beans, lentils and grains. They taught me me to be fearless in the kitchen, to dare to succeed, and to cook with love.

So I'm curious. What skills do you consider essential to *your* cooking?

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Reading the label before purchase to be sure it's microwavable. :)

Hey, you can boil water. I've *seen* you do it! ;-)

Water is microwavable. :)

Orange juice is not! I have a friend who burned orange juice in the microwave.

And did the package have microwave instructions, hmmm? I thought not! :)

It did not. She's a rebel that way though. :-D

Now *that* totally killed me! I had to scrape meself up off of the floor to write this. Ha-ha.

I think I'm getting your sense of humor. You wicked wicked thing you!

:-)

That's not a joke. :)

I use the Radarange *more* than I use the Viking. I think that is why I was laughing so hard. I only "cook" about three times a week. The frozen dinner market is flooded with some pretty amazing offerings. You probably know. I'd be glad to hear any suggestions you might offer--I've been doin' the Corner Bistro stuff and Contessa and Bertolli and Morningstar Farms. I added you to my list.

:-)

Really, it's not a joke :).

lightning_rose Is Not A Cook :). But I love her :):):). (And, yes, she does have a wicked sense of humor :).)

One of the reasons I love our butcher is that they'll do the cutting for us at no extra cost, but yes, it's good to know how to do it oneself.

Some of the skills my mom taught me that I'm glad I know about: how to make soup from bones; how to clean shrimp quickly and easily; how to make a roux, a white sauce, a cheese sauce, a creamed vegetable, a creamed soup; how to tell when chicken is done cooking; how to make a perfect steak or lamb chop or london broil; how to set the dinner table; how to make schmaltz; how to clean and cook almost any vegetable with minimal loss; how to make really good mashed potatoes; how to stuff and truss a bird; how to make matzoh balls and spaghetti sauce and lasagna; how to stretch dinner on a moment's notice even if you're serving individual game hens; and the most useful of all, how to eyeball food to see what needs to be done when

Some skills I've learned since, that I value: how to make jellies and jams; how to make kim chee; how to cut onions quickly and uniformly; how to bake bread; how to make really good chicken stock; how to incorporate whole grains into food in a yummy way

I would *so* love to learn to make matzoh balls. They intimidate me; I've had too many that were dense and leaden, so I haven't yet tried. Recipe? Tips?

I will find the recipe that I've been developing as she teaches me, and post it here when I do -- I think I posted it to a Usenet group, but I have to go look. The key, says my mom, is threefold: Don't use too many eggs; use schmaltz and chicken stock, not that oil and water garbage; and sit a wet batter in the fridge for at LEAST three hours, preferably all day.

(My mom's knaedlachs were different every time, but they were never dense -- in fact, from time to time they were so loose they fell apart, but I didn't mind. :-)

For those who are not purists: I have a Japanese-American colleague who's a wonderful cook. She makes her matzoh balls with green onions and water chestnuts, and they are outstanding!

I'm just happy I have some basic cooking skills. Thank you, Julia Child, Sara Moulton, various other TV chefs, and the little old lady who used to babysit me when I was a kid. (My mom couldn't cook anything that didn't use a can of Campbell's soup as a base...)

Beyond that, I think I rely a lot on using the fresh herbs I grow, soup making, and baking basics.

I would love to see how to handle a chicken properly. If you feel ambitious someday, you should record a segment and post it on youtube. Actually, you could probably have a hugely successful internet cooking show if you wanted to.

*blush* Thank you!

Really, a sharp knife and a good pair of kitchen shears and a little practice is all it takes.

This (http://www.cookingforengineers.com/article/97/Cutting-Up-Chicken) is a great explanation and illustration of the method (I cut from the inside through the keel bone to separate the breast).

Clean up as you go. (My father taught me that. He used garbage bowls waaaaay before Rachael Ray. And was less annoying.)
The concept of 'spice families' in cooking: what spices generally tend to go together well. (My ex-boyfriend's mother once substituted cinnamon for sage in thanksgiving stuffing because the words sounded the same (really) (honest to god), and it was /so amazingly horrible./ We will not even discuss the horror that was her french toast. I still have nightmares.)
If all else fails you can always give it to the dog. :-)

A big ten four on cleaning as you go!

Oh, gods. Cinnamon? Oh, gods...

And there's a reason I've rarely been without a dog. :) Okay, I love dogs. But they *are* handy for those kitchen disasters, and, truly, they really will eat just about anything :):).

I'm pondering eventually getting a dog to clean up after the child, who is /always/ dropping food - there's a reason all of our friends' dogs just ADORE him to BITS. :-D
The stuffing also had a POUND of BUTTER in it. So it was greasy /and/ tasted of cinnamon and had too many onions and it was just /horrible./ An abomination against stuffing.

When I find cheap ingredients, I cook/prepare large batches and freeze smaller servings: stews, curries, lentil or bean dishes. Cottage pie or lasagna in pyrex dishes or foil tins, ready to bake.

I also tend to use meat sparingly. With a few "lardons" or a ham bone in a lentil dish, who needs to add sausages and tons of salt pork? I add carrots and onions and herbs instead.

I'm so jealous. I had to figure out for myself how to cook.

Growing up I was never really allowed into the kitchen. It was a bit of a mystery to me. Later I'd learn most of the "essentials" on my own either through instructional television or people like you. Dad *did* show me how to hack up a chicken--he insults my knives. Mom is a great cook but shoos everybody out of her kitchen while she creates her magic.

I'm still learning Kathy, thank you for your help. I totally appreciate it.

:-)

Oh, and understanding the manipulation of heat was a big deal for me.

I never really learned specific techniques, just how to make specific things, like an amazing tomato sauce, chicken parmigiana, sausage and peppers, frittata, lasagna, cheesecake, pastries, various other Italian foods and desserts, etc. From knowing how to make specific things, I was able to parse out technique, but I'd love to get some real training some day, as I'm sure I'm such a hack.

- donna

* Time management -- spend about 2 minutes thinking about how long it's going to take to cook each thing, and put the longest-cooking thing on first while I prep the next thing, and so on.

* If I'm not sure if an herb will suit the dish, open the herb jar and sniff it while also sniffing the dish to see how they blend.

* Willingness to get my hands gross.

I'm with you on breaking down a chicken, etc.
I also think that understanding the basic medium white sauce and how it goes together to be one of the fundamentals of cooking. If you know "2-2-1" (Tablespoons, tablespoons, cups), then you can use that information for all kinds of other sauce-type things.

Pie crust. Making a good pie crust is essential.

Your very lucky. My parents only taught me to be afraid of them. Thats the only lesson I got.

But as for kitchen skills... I guess a good one would be being able to judge the correct temp to use on differently gauged apliances. Like gas cookers, electric etc. I keep getting the right lvl of heat wrong.

And for those of us who havent cooked anything other than premade pasta in a packet and jarred sauce... maybe a lesson plan for cooking with more than two ingredients would be helpful ^_^

OH I almost forgot... absolutely essential for me to learn would be how to make traditional japanese home dishes like Pickled Daikon, Teriyaki Tofu, Sumonono salad etc without using pricey imported ingredients.
Living in the uk food is VERY expensive. Most of it is imported from teh rest of europe these days. Tis sad. We're slowly becoming a nation of consumers rather than producers.

Heh, I don't cut up my chickens -- I know more or less how, but I usually just cook mine whole, shred the meat and wreck the carcass, and then toss the bones and meat in the freezer in appropriate bags. (I don't do schmaltz, though -- it's not something I've ever used.)

I can make a roux and most associated sauces, cook most any type of meat, my knifework's not bad but I don't have the patience (yay food processor), and I know how to season the hell out of a dish. I make particularly excellent soups. My next upcoming project is to make a marinara sauce from fresh tomatoes. (Roma tomatoes go on sale super-cheap here on a regular basis, I figured it was time.) I've also got two eggplants, and one I'm going to make into tasty pasta food, but I might try making baba ghanoush with the other if I can lay hold of some tahini.

I think the most useful thing I've taken from home is the ability to throw together a casserole, soup, or stew with whatever I have on hand. The pressure cooker, crockpot, and oven were used regularly in our house. I have a very good grasp of wholesome and hearty.

As I've explored on my own, I've branched out into fresh herbs, real garlic, and spices that aren't 30 years old. I really enjoy just pulling something out of the fridge, say chicken thighs, apples, and summer squash, then going out into the garden and choosing fresh herbs to flavor whatever dish will follow.

I'm still coming into my own. I can happily feed my friends and loved ones.

I want to start sectioning chickens. Thanks for the link. It's hella cheaper. I make stock from roast carcasses and necks/backs, but I think we could save somewhat if we started buying whole birds and just breaking them down and packaging the limbs ourselves. After my decade-plus of vegetarianism, I'm still very squeamish. I'll cook critters, but I hate breaking them apart. I find this horribly hypocritical (I always said I wouldn't eat something I couldn't harvest myself).

My number one rule, though, is Always Triple the Cayenne. And then take screenshots of one's local LJ filter the next day. *evil grin* (Those were some very dangerous wings.)

My family didn't cook all that much and I didn't really learn much at all about cooking from my parents (except, perhaps, what not to do). I learned some things from my maternal grandmother, but looking back she used a lot of pre-made stuff (sauces, scary canned hams, etc). At least I learned how to make Dump Cake (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Dump-Cake-I/Detail.aspx) from her :) My uncle is a trained chef, but he wasn't around much so I didn't learn much from him--though I do have some great old cookbooks from him. My relationship to cooking and food versus most of my family's can be summed up by something my sister said once. She was visiting me and

catzen and I told her we had plenty of food in the pantry and fridge should she want anything. She took a peek and responded: "You don't have food, you have ingredients!"> So, there you go.

That said, I have always been incredibly interested in cooking and enjoy few things more than reading cookbooks. I still have my old children's cookbooks from when I was first interested in cooking. Anyhow, I am basically self-taught. When I moved out of my parents house and became a vegetarian (happened at the same time) I started to really teach myself how to cook many basics from scratch. Learning to make good soup was very exciting to me. Over the past eleven years I have branched out quite a bit from those first soups and over the past year, when I had to ditch dairy, I had to get more creative.

In terms of what skills I consider essential to my cooking: making a wide variety of soups from scratch, cooking dried beans, growing and using fresh herbs, the ability to make a great dinner out of not much, making my own vinaigrettes, making my own pasta and enchilada sauces, the ability to read through a recipe and understand how it will or won't work for me, the ability to successfully pair dishes and make complete meals, the skill to make a really great green salad incorporating seasonal fruits, the understanding of when some things should be just left as is (e.g., fresh tomatoes), an intrinsic sense of "how much and how long", and probably most important of all is the drive to always find new things to cook and the willingness to try cooking them.

I can also cut up a whole chicken. I can make rice without measuring the rice or the water, except by using my hand. I can separate eggs. I can peel shrimp, and clean squid. I can make a tolerable pie crust (

alanbostick's is better.

Most of these I learned as an adult. What my mother, who was a "good plain cook" taught me was to appreciate the ingredients, and not to be afraid of the kitchen, the appliances, or the food. My college room-mates taught me to be impulsive with cooking projects, and some things about presentation.

alanbostick's mother, another fine cook, taught me about "harmony of cut" (the Chinese concept of making salads and the like with materials of about the same size and shape), which I use all the time.

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Not a recipe this time

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Oh, one more thing

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a ramble...

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