Pea Soup

"It looks like that someone threw up, someone else added ham and they put it in a bowl for you to eat. YUCK !"
Experience Project, I Hate Pea Soup

For those of you who feel this way about pea soup - it's okay. Even lovers of this old soup find it hard to disagree with the sentiment. When you take a green or yellow starchy vegetable, and mash it or slow cook it, well - the results are going to be of a similar color. And, after all, we are an extraordinary people, who supposedly have taste buds in our eyeballs. That which looks like vomit, must therefore taste like vomit.

It is actually strange enough that I, who as a child, like many, detested vegetables of most kinds, adored pea soup. Come to think of it, I tended toward vegetables most hated (peas, brussel sprouts, okra) and veered from those more liked or known (lettuce, tomato, onion.) But that's another story. I was still a picky eater as a child, and if I didn't like the looks of something, then my lips were tight-shut, no matter how much I got yelled at. Pea soup, then, should have been a given.

Nevertheless, something remained eternally compelling about the smoky, earthy flavor of peas, potatoes, carrots, and ham, slow cooked all day. Maybe it's because the soup goes back to our earthen, hearth roots, where meals stewed in a pot over the fire in the center of the home were a staple. The ingredients, too, are simple and richly draw us back to the farm. Of course the soup isn't beautiful to look at, but that doesn't matter. It is beautiful to taste; it returns us to the deep, earthly roots of our race, of our humanity, of our soul.

So the next time you're faced with pea soup, take a taste of it, and think back to your memories. Perhaps you have no childhood memories, but below that, deep down, is the memory in your flesh, of a food more natural and a cooking more soulful than your street-fare cuisine.

Grilling Basics

First of all, I will freely admit that I am not a grilling, barbecuing kind of woman. I do not currently own a grill. In my childhood, the one grill that was possessed was used on less than a handful of occasions. I have, though, eaten plenty of grilled foods and I approve of the cooking method when used right. When used poorly, however, the grill is going to not only ruin the appetite of those eating its offerings, but may also ruin the appetite of nearby people.

One of my neighbors has a charcoal grill. From what I know of charcoal grills, they can be the most difficult to control or master, but produce some of the best grills when used right. From what I know of charcoal itself, it is not well used in damp weather. Yesterday, it was constantly stormy, going from rain to sleet to hail and back again, with brief interludes of cold wet winds. Naturally, charcoal is not going to heat well in these conditions. To assist with heating, one is to use lighter fluid - not gas - on charcoal grills.

But the air smelled like gas for hours, and the fresh cool air that was coming through our windows was terribly tainted (the smell is being washed out of the bed sheets as I write.) So, after waiting tentatively for a few hours, I daringly stuck my head out the window, hoping for fresh air. Alas, while the gas had begun to dissipate, the air stunk now of badly burnt grease still resting on the cooling charcoals. It took another hour or so to be able to open the windows safely.

Self-made grill masters, I beg of you: learn carefully the basics of grilling before even purchasing, much less using, a grill. And remember, if at home, and the conditions aren't right - there is a nice oven and stove inside you can use. While campers may forgive your stink on a damp night, there is no excuse for giving indigestion to your neighbors at home.

Top Chef: Winners, Lessons Learned

Like other episodes in the finale, the final episode has left little to say. I must applaud Top Chef for keeping, for the most part, their heads a little above the reality-show crap that they dig into during the normal season.

I must also say that Hung, Dale, and Casey were all winners in this competition. Alas, Casey lost her chance by letting herself be thrown off by her stressful circumstances. Had she not, the decision for who was the final winner would have become ten times more difficult than it was. Hung was technically extremely deserving of the title he earned (unlike last season's fiasco); Dale was earning of the soul. Casey, I think, would claim perseverance and competitive spirit. Of all the contestants, Casey kept a professional, cool attitude, and I admire her deeply for that. Had I bothered to vote for fan favorite, she would have been my vote (although CJ's humor comes a top second.)

If anything cooks should learn from this season, it is what the soul of food is all about. It is difficult to define this exactly; it varies from chef to chef. But there are a few things that it can be contained within. Food with soul is something that the cook would not only eat, but want to eat. It is food that is composed thoughtfully, with as much care as an painter gives their painting, or a poet their poem. Most importantly, food with soul is one that the cook cares deeply about. Although food without soul can taste delicious, food with soul remains in the memory, in the heart.

Hopefully Bravo has learned from its successes this season, and continues that as they continue to film Season 4. Although we can't take the reality show taint from Bravo, the contestants of this season have proven that they can stand above the drudge and compete in a true spirit of a cooking contest.

Personal Note: I apologize for the delay in posting; I have been very sick.

Home Cooking Disclaimer

I feel the need to make this disclaimer now, before things get messy. This disclaimer applies to parents, grandparents, and others who bore the burden of cooking dinners for their families.

From time to time, foodies will criticize home cooking. Sometimes it is to mock the mistakes of others' parents and caretakers. Most often, though, they are directing their attention to their own memories, to the foods, fair and poor, of their own youth. Naturally, these foods have embedded emotions in their chefs as well as their "customers," and so can arise the defense of these foods as a sacred category, unable to be assaulted.

However, these home cooked meals cannot be held faultless, for ill or for good. The foods that each of us grow up with shape us as people, shape our attitudes toward food and its ingredients, direct or turn away our attention from cooking and culinary arts. The kitchens of our youth are the hearths of our hearts; we remember fondly into our age our favorite meals, the times we were honored to help in the kitchen. But likewise, we also remember with disgust the meals that went wrong.

It isn't that we are expressing hate for their creators. We have created dishes of our own that we have hated, and have not hated ourselves in the process. In my own experience, I can recount many things that I found distasteful in that memory of the kitchen and its products, but I remember the care of my mother in cooking them with fondness. I do not hold her to blame because she had no harmful intent. But the dishes were what they were, good or bad, and can be judged independent of their creators.

So if you read something in this blog, or elsewhere, that points negative attention to a home cooked dish, do your best to restrain your defensive emotions. Food is personal, and we are entitled to our opinions of those dishes. If we wish to assault the chef, we are witty enough to do so - and in home cooking, we are rarely wont to.