I started cooking while in university. It started with the simple things.
I recall one of the proudest and most memorable. It was in a shared student dormitory kitchen. I was faced with the daunting prospect of either starving that night, or confronting my greatest anxiety of quietly cooking in a shared unsafe space. Intimidating for there was a group of predrinking first-years. The sort that you kind of know as your neighbour, but never well enough to properly socially interact with them.
But by the will of Gordon Ramsay barking instruction in my ear.
- Bacon - in. High heat. Fried to Crisp. Remove.
- Pre sliced courgettes - in. Mopped up the grease, with a bit of caramelisation.
- Half a can of baked bins - in. Sauce boils. Remove. Spin a piroutte from stove to table. Plate.
And it was a complete meal (carb, protein, veggie) in under 5 minutes.
I wasn’t sure if I was prouder of leaving that kitchen so quickly without any social interactions, or the food itself.
The Art and Science of Cooking
As someone who has fetishises multidisplinarianism - I adore cooking as an expression of art as much as it is a scientific experiment.
The Science:
In part, thanks to being a chemical engineer. Its been the most practical part of my degree to understand:
- Temperature and temperature gradients.
- Chemical reactions (caramelisation)
- Concentration (hitting the right seasoning)
- Boiling points (why people salt their pasta water)
- Flavour Extraction (solubility of chemical compounds vs the extracting medium s
- Cleaning (solvent) - ugh gotta do this too.
- More recently - that thing about Fat Acid balances which I saw on netflix.
The Art
In part, thanks to being fairly travelled, and adventurous with food - all sorts of western and asian types
- Flavours
- Visual presentation
- Creative expression
The Homage:
There an element of preserving the culture. For one semi-sentimental as I am, I seek to learn and possibly evolve the flavours and recipes of the past. It could be a dying rarity in the modern world, and I am inclined to remember culinary traditions.
Theres a huge list of my mother’s and grandmother’s recipes I am yet to try and tinker with. Hopefully doing and keeping tradition alive and well.
The Outcome
And the product (more often than not) is nice. Labour is rewarded. The time spent sweating over the stove, with mild hunger pangs starting before dinner time. The satisfaction of the first bite after feeling hangriness creep in - is a divine ectasy.
It aint akways pretty, but its fuckin delicious, and you made it yourself.
It features as one of my core love languages - to make something nice for others. and the satisfaction of it all. Spinning their favoured ingredients in interesting ways for example.
Understanding Cooking
And so, similar to how I had built a mental model for sustainability - when people ask with I cook, I often try and gauge where they are at in their thinking too.
Level 1 - Religiously following a recipe (asking questions just like - what is the amount of salt, in grams, to put in?) Level 2 - Cooking without a recipe (independent judgement) Level 3 - Cooking with leftovers (i.e. opening the fridge and cooking in the order of expiring ingredients) Level 4 - Cooking an original recipe Level 4B - Cooking an original recipe that tastes good Level 5 - Cooking to salvage a mistake: Being able to “fix” dishes that have gone south. Burnt bread? too salty? Recovering dishes like these. The answer most of the time is breaking it down and smothering it with something else.s
Related to this, I ought to update the recipe list too.
Some future hobbies to write about: Music, run/gym, intellectual reads/research/watch. I just realised I had already written about cycling (link here)