Tuesday, October 5, 2010

What are basic skills needed in the kitchen?

I read and interesting article over at theKitchn.com by Emma Christensen about what basic skills all cooks should have, with Anthony Bourdain's POV from his book Medium Raw. Personally I can do all of the tasks with varying degrees of success, apart from cleaning a fish, something I've never learned to do. Here's his list (from theKitchn.com) :
• Chopping an onion
• Making an omelet
• Roasting a chicken
• The correct way to grill and rest a steak
• Cooking vegetables to desired doneness
• Making a vinaigrette
• Shop for fresh produce
• Buying a fish, cleaning it, and making it
• Roasting meat
• Roasting and mashing potatoes
• Braising meats and vegetables
• What to do with bones (a.k.a. How to make stock)

Emma adds baking cookies, bread, and a birthday cake, which I heartily agree should be basic. It's quite often I hear people claim the can cook but not bake. Some things are just basic skills, just like English Majors need some small proficiency in math to graduate. Other commentators mentioned adjusting the list for regional and dietary needs. This made me think more about what the basic skills I use day to day as a mother in a kosher kitchen. Living in Israel taught me some things I hadn't done in America, and I know my "basics" are more complicated for it. I'd add:
  • make homemade pasta sauce
  • eyeball portion size before and after cooking
  • Read a recipe
  • keep laws of Kashrus (Jewish dietary laws)
  • cook in a crockpot
  • make at least one vegetarian main dish
  • make a balanced, nutritious menu
  • fry an egg, over easy
  • cook dried grains or beans (from the comments at theKitchn.com)
  • use common cooking & spice substitutions
My grandmother would lament my inability to cut a whole chicken up, something considered basic in her day, while my mother-in-law is appalled that I can't make a good cuppa (tea that is) or kasher my own meat by salting.

On the other side, I've met people who subsist on instant food of all types and was recently in line at Target between two different families with carts piled high with microwave dinners.

What cooking skills do you think are necessary in general, or for your lifestyle?

I read and interesting article over at theKitchn.com by Emma Christensen about what basic skills all cooks should have, with Anthony Bourdain's POV from his book Medium Raw. Personally I can do all of the tasks with varying degrees of success, apart from cleaning a fish, something I've never learned to do. Here's his list (from theKitchn.com) :

• Chopping an onion
• Making an omelet
• Roasting a chicken
• The correct way to grill and rest a steak
• Cooking vegetables to desired doneness
• Making a vinaigrette
• Shop for fresh produce
• Buying a fish, cleaning it, and making it
• Roasting meat
• Roasting and mashing potatoes
• Braising meats and vegetables
• What to do with bones (a.k.a. How to make stock)

Emma adds baking cookies, bread, and a birthday cake, which I heartily agree should be basic. It's quite often I hear people claim the can cook but not bake. Some things are just basic skills, just like English Majors need some small proficiency in math to graduate. Other commentators mentioned adjusting the list for regional and dietary needs. This made me think more about what the basic skills I use day to day as a mother in a kosher kitchen. Living in Israel taught me some things I hadn't done in America, and I know my "basics" are more complicated for it. I'd add:
  • make homemade pasta sauce
  • eyeball portion size before and after cooking
  • Read a recipe
  • keep laws of Kashrus (Jewish dietary laws)
  • cook in a crockpot
  • make at least one vegetarian main dish
  • make a balanced, nutritious menu
  • fry an egg, over easy
  • cook dried grains or beans (from the comments at theKitchn.com)
  • use common cooking & spice substitutions
My grandmother would lament my inability to cut a whole chicken up, something considered basic in her day, while my mother-in-law is appalled that I can't make a good cuppa (tea that is) or kasher my own meat by salting.

On the other side, I've met people who subsist on instant food of all types and was recently in line at Target between two different families with carts piled high with microwave dinners.

What cooking skills do you think are necessary in general, or for your lifestyle?

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3 comments:

  1. I know how to do a lot of those omnivorous, dead animal food kinds of tasks, but I never need to do them.

    I can make excellent macaroni and cheese from scratch, beat egg whites until fluffy with a wire whisk and bake bread from scratch. But I think the only really essential skill a person needs in the kitchen is how to read a cookbook and follow directions.

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  2. Ruth, how long does it take you to do egg whites like that? Last (and only time I tried) after 45 mins, a shift change where the hubsters took over, all we had were 4 sore arms and a tiny bit of foam . . . thank G-d for the electric mixer!

    I know many people who can't follow a recipe, or what I think is worse, can't alter a recipe if it's not good or they don't have all the ingredients. I have friends who didn't know the shorthand c for cup T for tablespoon and tsp for teaspoon . . .

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  3. I just blogged about this in terms of what I want my kids to know when they "grow up." Some of the things on that list overwhelm me--I refuse to experiment with red meat because it's expensive! I could probably roast but not carve a chicken--but personal preferences around here run to dark meat...

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