Cooking 101

I'm going to diverge from the study that I've been working through for today.  I mentioned in my introduction post that we might have some handy tips along the way.  This is my tip for the day: 

I’m going to be brutally honest with you today.  There are some who would have you believe that I’m some kind of great cook.  They are mistaken.  I am, at best, an average cook.  I have had more kitchen disasters than you can shake a stick at.  (Which, by the way, is a phrase which makes no sense whatsoever.  I did a little research on it and no one seems to know where it came from.)  I have blown up a pressure cooker full of beans (we never did get that stain off the ceiling).  I have overcooked and undercooked many a dish.  Some things I’ve tried to make just flat didn’t turn out at all.  And there have been a few times when supper just ended up in the trash!  I didn’t learn to cook at my mother’s knee.  Momma didn’t like to cook and was too sick to bother most of the time.  At our house, you pretty much fended for yourself most of the time.  Grilled cheese, corny dogs, TV dinners…you get the idea!  I did a little cooking at home, but didn’t really start learning much until after I married. 

For many years, I cooked only from a recipe.  I had no intuitive ability to throw something together that tasted wonderful.  I just tried recipe after recipe until I found ones that we liked.  As I’ve gotten older and more experienced, I’ve gotten a little more creative, but I’m still not a big experimenter.  I mainly just tweak a recipe here and there to fit with my family’s tastes.  I do love trying new recipes…I get SO tired of cooking the same old thing over and over!  I have devoured countless magazines looking for and cutting out recipes…and then trying to find a convenient and organized way to store them.  Now, with the internet, thousands upon thousands of recipes are available at our fingertips…plus variations and comments added from people who have tried them.  And still, it is so easy to get stuck in the same rut of fixing the same meals over and over!

What am I trying to get at here?  Being a “good” cook isn’t about talent or intelligence or natural ability.  It is about perseverance and desire.  I really WANT to be a good cook.  I love eating good food and I love feeding others food that they love.  Finding recipes that appeal to you and your family and experimenting OVER and OVER again…that’s the “secret”.  Now there are those out there that do have a natural flair for cooking or baking.  Unfortunately, I’m not one of those.  I just have to keep plugging at it and trying to find what works best for me and my family.  So my advice to all of you “wanna be great cooks” out there is to JUST DO IT, and keep doing it, and keep doing it until you finally get it right.  I derive so much pleasure, not from cooking, but from finding and successfully preparing a dish that my family and friends love.  (Just don’t fret over the flubs along the way!)

  Ec 9:10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.

  Col 3:23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;