Category — Rants

It’s summer. It’s beautiful. My favorite fruits and vegetables are not only in season they’re at their pinnacle. Not to mention, it’s tormentingly hot and ungodly humid, and to be honest, I rarely go outside except to experience what I deem to be  ”mind-blowingly magnificent southern summer sunsets,” (hey… that is catchy, kind of a tongue-twister, huh?) So why am I not blogging?

I’ve been feeling more than a little guilt over this situation over the past month as I’ve unproductively meandered through the void of “summer-time,” a concept all to fresh and appealing to my college educated but apparently schoolchild-like mind. Heck, I’m required to feel guilty. I have readers,  a fact which I’m grateful for and one that I don’t easily take for granted.

In truth, I often wonder in the echoing halls of my mind if I’m just lazy, if food blogging is just a phase, if I even like to cook anymore. And what about that expensive-ass camera that I’ve grown dangerously attached to? Or the money that I’ve poured into food props, lighting, and ingredients that most college kids only experience when Mom and Dad foot the bill? I shiver to think of the time that I’ve spent and the effort that I’ve expended taking and editing pictures, writing (hopefully) entertaining articles, and daydreaming and conceptualizing dishes, topics, and ideas all in an effort to propel “my blog” further along the path to becoming a “useful and entertaining” vehicle of information in the metaphysical world that is the blogosphere. Surely it hasn’t been for nothing… has it?

Then it hit me. I like to relax. I like to do nothing. I like to kick off my shoes and simply enjoy the experience of living life and all that it has to offer; to take time to restore balance to my life, recharge, and refresh my mind, body, and soul with the hope of returning to reality (whatever that is) with a new and hopefully improved perspective.

And so, two months too late, but better late than never, I’m finally pounding the proverbial rusty nail in the door and proudly declaring to the world that I’m gone fishin.’ And if on the off-chance that you come a knockin’ and I am home, I probably won’t answer. Unless, you come with food. Or beer. Then we’ll talk.

A quote to change your mind to:

“In the 16th Century, Shakespeare said, ” The world is too much with us.” What better way to describe the never ending hustle and bustle of life in the 21st Century. To be busy constantly and to socialize with other people as much as possible is encouraged, expected and easily accomplished in this age of communication. Plans, worries, hopes, and fears fill our minds. Entertainment, telephones, televisions, and computers are always there to take up “empty” time. We are taught from the beginning that idleness is wrong while being alone is boring. In other words, the society is based on continuous planning, productivity and activity. From bright colored-mobiles for the day old infants to senior activities for the dying, no allowance exists for doing nothing.

-Joan Bello

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Recently, as I was perusing through my copy of “The Flavor Bible”, the latest addition to my ever expanding list culinary reference books, I was inadvertently confronted with a question that I’ve always subconsciously known existed, yet had otherwise failed to confront– ‘”in cooking, what’s more important – ingredients or technique?”

Surprisingly, it’s not such an easy question to answer. For instance, let’s say we give ingredients the nod and crown them most important. Now let’s hand over those luscious vegetables, dry-aged steaks, and tantalizing spices to a baboon with a knife and see what happens – I can’t say for certain what would take place, but it would likely be interesting, not tasty, and maybe even a bit scary. I once saw Anthony Bourdain eat an egg cooked in a pit of sand and ash for a few hours until it was grey and gritty. From the look on his face, it could have been a golden egg– it would’ve still been disgusting.

But what if we hand over some of that god-awful produce they sell at Wal-Mart to the world’s most technically capable chef. Certainly the results couldn’t be too much better– though much less frightening than the baboon example and hopefully tastier than egg cooked in ash by tribal people.

Clearly, if neither ingredients or technique is capable of sustaining itself, the two must work in tandem, each gracefully picking up where the other falls short. So what about when you put the highest quality ingredients into the hands of a master chef? Will one suddenly emerge victorious? Unfortunately the answer is no– and not surprisingly the question becomes even trickier to answer. The fact is that every chef possesses a different approach to food– a unique style or flavor, if you will. Some prefer rustic interpretations in which technique is minimal and simple ingredients are left alone and allowed to speak for their selves. In such a case great ingredients are clearly more important. On the other hand, some chefs contend that the creation of food is akin to a perfectly sculpted work of art in which great technique and great ingredients coexist to create food that is truly stunning.

Yet, it goes deeper still. It could easily be argued that the answer is dependent upon which ingredient you are choosing and for what specific purpose you are using it. Lousy cream is certainly capable of making a great crème brûlée or salted butter caramel ice cream. A lousy tomato, however, has no chance at making even a decent tomato sauce– believe me, I’ve tried.

So what are we left with? Are fresh ingredients more pivotal than great technique or vice versa? Sadly I feel the only appropriate answer is that there really is no definite answer. There are simply too many variables to reach a decent conclusion. FYI, the chefs in the book are in favor of 60 percent ingredients to 40 percent technique, which if anything only proves that, much like any question, the answer lies in the eye of the beholder.

So what do you think? Which is more important in creating delicious food, great ingredients or great technique?

P.s. “The Flavor Bible” is an incredible resource for anyone who would like to take their cooking to the next level, amateurs and pros alike. If you’d like to check it out, click here.