A Little Bit of Green

I remember watching my grandmother make the Thanksgiving Turkey. She seasoned it, stuffed it and put it in the oven. As far as I could tell over the next couple of hours she ignored it. She never basted it. She had no temperature probe to test when it was done. I don’t think she even opened the oven door and peaked at it. Then suddenly she walked over to the oven and pulled the turkey out. It was perfect with a crisp golden skin and a juicy fully cooked interior. At the time I felt like I was watching turkey black magic. When I asked what her secret was she said, “You cook enough and you just know.”

The question is how do you know? Experience plays a part. I’m sure after cooking enough turkeys she knows that an 18 pound turkey takes approximately 4 hours to cook. However that’s not enough to create a perfect turkey. Each turkey will weigh a little different then the others. Over time her oven temperature will vary slightly. However each year she turns out the same perfect turkey. The key is that while walking around the kitchen doing other things she is subconsciously paying attention to the turkey.

• She is listening to the sizzle of the fat that is starting to drip off and splash into the pan.
• She is smelling the rich smell produced by the skin as it turns a perfect crackling brown.
• She is looking at the rich brown color when it’s pulled out of the oven.
• She is feeling how the knife moves through the meat as she carves it.
• She is tasting the meat as she takes her first bite.

Most importantly she’s been doing that year after year, Thanksgiving after Thanksgiving. I’m sure if I’d tasted her first turkey it would not have been perfect. It would have been hovered over. It would have been poked and prodded. Over time her brain correlated a certain sizzle, a certain smell, a certain look with a certain feel, a certain taste. Her subconscious has created the perfect recipe so “you just know”.

Last week we discussed very basic kitchen tools but the truth is the most basic tools can not be bought in a store. The most basic tools are your five senses. To become a good cook you need to become aware of your food on a totally new level. To the point where you pull the cookies out of the oven not because it’s been 9 to 11 minutes but because they smell brown.

Please don’t let this talk of innate knowledge scare you off just because you don’t have it. One big problem of learning to cook is many people have the allusion they should just naturally cook like Martha Stewart (and her staff of 80). The truth is cooking is like anything else a learned skill that takes a lot of practice. You have to burn a lot of cookies before you routinely make them perfectly. If you aren’t messing up you aren’t trying enough new things! The key here is to start paying attention to your senses. When ever you are near food consciously think about what your senses are telling you even when you make mistakes.

Your homework for this week is to start playing with your food. Independent of if you or someone else cooked it start using your senses. Poke it. Prod it. Smell it. Cut it open before it could possibly be done. (If someone else is cooking they may get cranky at some of these suggestions. Restaurants tend to be picky about customers coming back and dissecting half cooked meals. ) Here are some things to watch for:

Listen

• What noises do you here coming from the oven or pan?
• What does the melon sound like when you hold your ear against it and knock?
• How does the green bean sound when you snap off the end?

Smell

• How does the food smell before you cook it?
• How does the smell change while it’s cooking?
• How does it smell when overcooked or undercooked?

Look

• What does the fruit / vegetable look like fresh?
• What color is the meat when done?
• What color is the inside when you slice it open?

Feel

• What does the food feel like when poked before cooking?
• What does it feel like when it’s done?
• How does it feel in your mouth while eating? Juicy? Dry?

Taste

• How do the raw ingredients taste? (Assuming it’s safe to taste raw.)
• How do they change in taste as they cook?
• What individual flavors can you pick out of a dish?

In future lessons we’ll discuss what to expect from the senses in different situations but for now experiment and pay attention to what they tell you. What other things can you watch for with your senses while cooking? What did you discover when you started paying attention to your food? Leave a comment and share with everyone else.

Are you new to this series? Check out How to Cook: Cooking Lessons from the Ground Up for a complete list of lessons.

Next weeks lesson will be “How to Cook: Salt, Pepper, Oil, Fire”. (And this time I really mean it.)

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