Circular Cruises/Thats Not Cooking

That's Not Cooking

29 October 1997

I wrote a column on Pillsbury a few days ago [it's somewhere in Stay Tuned] in which I omitted some of my usual disclaimers, leading the untrained observer to possibly conclude that I am something of a kitchen snob.

Even dear Aussie may have been misled by my long-ago posting of my jambalaya and gumbo recipes into thinking that I actually perform cooking-like activities on a regular basis.

Fact is, I am not the one in the relationship who cooks. We both stay constantly busy, and as a result eat out more than we should, but the nagging sensation that one really needs to get into the kitchen and make something seems to hit me much less often.

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There may also be a problem here with one's definition of "cooking." I don't cook. I follow recipes. In terms of improvisational cooking, I can mess with vegetables to some degree, sear a nice piece of meat, and do a quick stir-fry ... and that is the limit of what I will attempt without the recipe book in front of me.

Even baked goods - the only things in the kitchen which I actually like to cook - intimidate me out of improvisation. Too many chances for disaster. Growing up poor meant being scared to ruin food.

Similarly, opening several cans, combining the contents in interesting ways, and seasoning the result does not count as "cooking" to me. If that makes me a kitchen snob then so be it.

I have not prepared canned soup in heaven knows how long without mixing one or two cans of vegetables in and adding spices. Is this cooking? Is making macaroni and cheese and adding sliced hot dogs and chili powder "cooking"? It is not. It is food preparation, perhaps, but not cooking.

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So I don't really cook at all, aside from the occasional wokful of what MIT students call "stir-fried random." And I'm sorry to say that having a partner who can cook, who can stand in a kitchen with no recipe and magically make food out of nothing, has made me even less inclined to experiment.

On the other hand, given the quality of some of my past experiments this may be a blessing in disguise.

Copyright © October 1997. All rights reserved.