Sha-WING!
The good folks at the Kitchen pose this question. Seems Anthony Bourdain, the rock-star chef and author, has a list of his own featured in his new book, Medium Raw. I love a good list as much as the next gal, but this one I dunno. It included:
- Chopping an onion – Agreed. And something I still can’t manage. Learning to dice an onion is on my to-do list, however.
- Making an omelet — I can do this, believe it or not. Maybe I need two hands, though, not the one Julia Child tells me I should be able manage with.
- Roasting a chicken. – Ah, no. Can’t do this one. Still.
- The correct way to grill and rest a steak — Can’t do, good buddy. That’s men’s work.
- Cooking vegetables to desired doneness — Well. OK, I’m flying blind when it comes to cooking veggies.
- Make a vinaigrette – Yes! I can do this one, thanks to Nora.
- Buying a fish, cleaning it, and making it – Um…
- Shop for fresh produce – Yeah. Got this one. Especially if I can get a chocolate croissant to fortify me while at the SaMo Farmer’s Market.
- Roasting meat – I don’t know how to do this and I am unlikely to learn, seeing as I’m going veggie again…
- Braising meats and vegetables. – Braising? Is that when you squirt stuff out of a turkey baster onto something in a pan?
- What to do with bones – Kelli showed me this once…wait, I think I can remember….no. Never mind. I buy my stock from Trader Joe’s.
OK. So that’s an admirable list, I suppose. But as the Bad Home Cook, I have my own list.
It includes learning how to:
- Dice an onion
- cook vegetables so they’re not soggy
- Roast vegetables
- saute anything
- Make a sauce
- Make something decent using tofu
Pretty basic, I know. I’m gonna redouble my efforts too, I promise.
What about you? What’s your need to know list?
Seriously, I want to know…
Hit me…
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Sauces, definitely. Know how to make a decent glass of iced tea (harder than people think). Making a salad dressing – beyond the basic vinaigrette. How to poach an egg, for sure. Actually, learning as much about eggs and what to do with them will get a person well on the way to being a good cook, IMHO.
Poaching a whole salmon or trout in court bouillon is actually really easy but seems like such a classic served with homemade mayonnaise (there’s one for the list). I would really like to learn how to make a roast. But, making decent tofu would be good too.
A few years ago, I crossed my mom’s bulgogi recipe with a roasted tofu recipe from the Sundays at Moosewood cookbook. Here’s a link to the evil, Frankensteinian spawn that resulted:
http://www.slashfood.com/2009/06/19/flashback-to-the-seventies-korean-barbecued-tofu/
Hate to send a link to a site that I don’t work for, but there you go…