Opinion: Knowing How to Cook

I was recently rejected for inclusion into Food Blog Search because not enough of my posts were recipes. That’s perfectly fine. Doesn’t bother me in the least since I really don’t post that many recipes (but I’ve since noticed the rules for inclusion have been worded differently). But that reminded me of one of my pet peeves. My mother and grandmothers taught me HOW to cook not just to cook. And there is a difference.

Opinion: Food Fads

They recently wrote a story about how great dashi is. And Maki from Just Hungry & Just Bento responded (link). She’s worried that Japanese food is nothing more than a food fad. In my opinion she has valid concerns. One example is Swiss food – its come in and out of style a number of times (hello Melting Pot). Japanese food probably isn’t any different honestly. Its sad that food has been regulated to even having “fads” but that’s pretty much always been the case, more so since we started recording recipes in cookbooks but always among the upper classes.

My favorite subject is social history (things like marriage, art, food, cooking, etc). If you look at the history of food and cooking (my favorite one is Near a Thousand Tables BTW) as well as social history in general you will see plenty of examples of “fads”, even within one country’s culture. Very little makes it into the “mainstream” – and the mainstream itself is constantly shifting, not just from culture to culture but also by outside overlapping influences (think of the easy access to information that the internet has afforded us). When was the last time you had rabbit for instance? A Western staple for hundreds of years.

Opinion: Husking Corn

I’ve got a food pet peeve. And its a big one for me. And its in season right now. And it drives me absolutely NUTS! Honestly, I don’t know why. Perhaps because I love corn that much and I grew up in farm country.

Peeking at the corn and husking it at the store. This is Omaha and people still have bad form here, nevermind the rest of the country!!

An ear of corn starts losing sugar (and starts converting it to starch) the moment its pulled from the stalk. The husk and protective corn silks help delay this process by preventing the kernels from being exposed. Corn you buy earlier in the day or the day before WILL taste better with the husk left on until the last minute than corn that was husked at the store.

Further how many of these pro-store husking individuals just go home and eventually plop the corn into some foil to cook or grill? Stupid. It already had its own wrapper that you discarded!! A wrapper that vents very well on its own, unlike foil.

Last…peeking. You can tell what the corn cob looks like from the outside WITHOUT peeking at it, and peeking does accelerate the starch production which breaks down the taste. How? Just feel it. You will feel full kernels and a full cob through the husk. How do you know if your getting a bad one? True. Just buy an extra want if you want to be sure…its corn. Its healthy for you and filling so why complain about eating too much of it?? Besides I’m not allowed to peek at my cantaloupes, tomatoes, watermelon or even things like cream cheese before purchase! Yes, I have gotten 2 moldy packages of cream cheese (not sealed correctly) in the last few years. As for bad ears of corn? About the same as the cream cheese. Nearly all corn in this day and age has been bred from perfect hybrids reducing the incidences of worms, rot, etc.

Oh, if you buy from an actual farmer its actually an insult to him if you peek…its like assuming he has a bad product. Then again some want you to peek and some seem insulted by it. And frankly as long as you don’t husk at the store I could care less if you peek.