I always hated those cooking shows where they had all the ingredients all chopped up in little measured out dishes. I was always "No one cooks like that!". It's probably one of the main reasons why I was a fan of the urban peasant. He cooked like you would in "life", not like a "tv" cook.
Tonight I was making up some deviled eggs and I figured that I'd like some finely chopped red onion to toss in. I had some. In a little glass dish. Finely chopped. Just the right amount.
It felt so weird and I don't know why. It was just some chopped onion. Sometimes life does reflect art I guess...
... and that's all the time we have for our blog post. If you'll be joining us next time to rant about something or spew some random drivel, here on the jim blog.
Lots of chefs cook like that, that's why the bowls are common on cooking shows. It's called mis en place.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mise_en_place
I think they do that so that they don't have to measure everything out while taping. It's a lot easier to just toss the stuff into the recipe when it's premeasured. People don't need to watch you measure everything.
ReplyDeleteI like watching cooking shows. Some of my favourites are "Chef at Home" and Ricardo. The food network has lots of good stuff on.
Ryan: Wow. I didn't realize that they had a name for that. Figures though. Reading that through it sounded more like general line prep done... it *did* say that things are measured, but I think that a lot of cooks go by feel / taste. Baking is a different story though.
ReplyDeleteKibbee: my point is I don't think that a lot of cooks actually measure much. You don't cut up 1/4 cup of carrot, you add a small carrot. Cooking (not baking) doesn't have to be as precise as those shows make it to be. It takes the flexibility / creativity / fun out of it. It implies that you follow the recipe exactly. I think that you have to make changes along the way. ie fresh herbs are different from new dried herbs which are different from older ones; lemon juice in a bottle is different than from a lemon... you have to taste it as you make it to course correct.
but those are just my biased views...