Cooking storm
Lately we have been pretty preoccupied with cooking (while the windy storm is progressing outside - not much places to go outdoors) as evident on my facebook photo page. We dont always take pictures of what we cook and eat because most time it is the normal stuff. We do when its something that require a little extra effort (or perhaps alot of extra effort).
At the moment, i am also toying with the concept of documenting adult food made out of 'necessity'. To be frank, i dont think i am a real cook per se. More like 'accidental' cook. The way i do groceries totally reflects this because i don't shop with a list. That is, i do not really plan what i want to make and then go get ingredients for it (only exception is food for baby but that's another story altogether). However, there are times when i will deliberate get one or two missing ingredients to make something because i already have the majority of the stuff at home. Most times, we will just get a bunch of generic stuff (meat, veggies, fruits) or whatever happens to be on sale at that time (most time it is mince meat of some sort). Then it is a case of "Hmm what can we make today" for the rest of the week. And believe me, it can get pretty challenging towards the later end of the week when supplies run low and you need to come up with something that involves 1 carrot, 2 tomatos, 200g of diced lamb, half a pack of tofu.
Challenging but fun and satisfying when the result turns out great (if it turned out so-so, well... at least our tummies are full). I guess it is a similar feeling for those contestants on MasterChef's invention test challenges. It is with these 'accidental dishes' that you can see the big difference between my culinary exposure vs wilkie's. I guess we ARE what we eat... After years of my mom's hakka cooking and watching cooking shows, I have a penchant for spices such as ginger, pepper, vinegary, salty savoury stuff, plus a hefty dose of 'Ang Moh' dishes. While Wilkie likes his black bean paste, curry powder, sichuan powder and dash of fish sauce, in what is what i can best describe as Asian dishes infused with 'wilkism' (mixture of hokkien, hainanese and god knows what influence).
This is also why it is not a great idea for the two of us to cook 'together'. After the first few 'clashes' where we counter questions each other's cooking processes, we decide it is best to decide who is the chef and who is the sous chef for the day. Works out great from then on. Wilk makes fantastic curries and enjoys making simple things that takes up alot of processing time. He conceded that my 'Ang Moh' dishes are better (i suspect my asian stuff, while edible, aren't really something to call home about) and i enjoy 'mixing & matching' the various ideas i have seen.
Still, there is always room for improvements but i doubt i will ever become a real cook. One case in point, while Wilkie is quite meticulously writing down all the recipes of stuff he made on his blog. I can hardly be bothered with mine. Mainly cos, i dont actually follows recipes.. it is the "see how it goes" and "i think i shd add this now" sort of thing. Aiya.. can eat can already la..
At the moment, i am also toying with the concept of documenting adult food made out of 'necessity'. To be frank, i dont think i am a real cook per se. More like 'accidental' cook. The way i do groceries totally reflects this because i don't shop with a list. That is, i do not really plan what i want to make and then go get ingredients for it (only exception is food for baby but that's another story altogether). However, there are times when i will deliberate get one or two missing ingredients to make something because i already have the majority of the stuff at home. Most times, we will just get a bunch of generic stuff (meat, veggies, fruits) or whatever happens to be on sale at that time (most time it is mince meat of some sort). Then it is a case of "Hmm what can we make today" for the rest of the week. And believe me, it can get pretty challenging towards the later end of the week when supplies run low and you need to come up with something that involves 1 carrot, 2 tomatos, 200g of diced lamb, half a pack of tofu.
Challenging but fun and satisfying when the result turns out great (if it turned out so-so, well... at least our tummies are full). I guess it is a similar feeling for those contestants on MasterChef's invention test challenges. It is with these 'accidental dishes' that you can see the big difference between my culinary exposure vs wilkie's. I guess we ARE what we eat... After years of my mom's hakka cooking and watching cooking shows, I have a penchant for spices such as ginger, pepper, vinegary, salty savoury stuff, plus a hefty dose of 'Ang Moh' dishes. While Wilkie likes his black bean paste, curry powder, sichuan powder and dash of fish sauce, in what is what i can best describe as Asian dishes infused with 'wilkism' (mixture of hokkien, hainanese and god knows what influence).
This is also why it is not a great idea for the two of us to cook 'together'. After the first few 'clashes' where we counter questions each other's cooking processes, we decide it is best to decide who is the chef and who is the sous chef for the day. Works out great from then on. Wilk makes fantastic curries and enjoys making simple things that takes up alot of processing time. He conceded that my 'Ang Moh' dishes are better (i suspect my asian stuff, while edible, aren't really something to call home about) and i enjoy 'mixing & matching' the various ideas i have seen.
Still, there is always room for improvements but i doubt i will ever become a real cook. One case in point, while Wilkie is quite meticulously writing down all the recipes of stuff he made on his blog. I can hardly be bothered with mine. Mainly cos, i dont actually follows recipes.. it is the "see how it goes" and "i think i shd add this now" sort of thing. Aiya.. can eat can already la..
2 comments:
Wooohooo... food! Think it's fun experimenting different dishes. Maybe u'll come out with your own 招牌菜。:)
To me.. eat already never lao sai can consider zhao pai cai already ;)
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