cooking dealbreakers...

There is a great article in today's NY Times Food section...Recipe Dealbreakers:  When Step 2 is 'Corral Pig'.

This article was asking chefs what were the things in recipes that they considered dealbreakers.  Let's just say, they are willing to put up with ALOT more than I am.

One recipe discussed involved (for Mexican sausage moronga) called for 2 quarts of pigs' blood.  "If you do not kill your own pig," she advises, "order it through your butcher."  LOL.

Now, I like to cook (sometimes:  ie when I am not too tired, too stressed, have food in the house) but I have lots of recipe dealbreakers, and none of them involve pigs' blood.  Never even thought about that before...

I have to have a limited number of ingredients.  More than a dozen, and my eyes glaze over.  

Ingredients that I can't find in my local grocery store, unless I can substitute successfully with items at-hand:  forget it!

Things that need more than 4 hours to marinate...no, siree...

I'm pretty persnickety, I guess, but I don't want to spend all my time looking for, planning for, or spending my savings on things to put into my mouth.  

Comments

[Barbara W. Klaser]

I like to cook, but with my own time line and creative resources. I don't like complex menus or long ingredient lists, especially things that are only available in specialty stores, which I don't have access to -- and I didn't like running all over town tracking down ingredients when I did live in a city.

If the recipe is overly complex in preparation steps, my eyes start to glaze over and I wonder if I could just open a can in place of a portion of the process. With the few complex recipes we like, we make a big batch and freeze some. Might as well make a few meals out of that much trouble.

I enjoy cooking when it's relaxing and simple, not stressing over how some exotic sauce will turn out. I find chopping veggies to be meditative, on the other hand.

[Margaret]

I don't like too many ingredients OR too many steps. I have made some horrible mistakes when there are numerous steps to follow and I forget one! I'm glad your dad's lungs are OK--that's good news!

[Arlene]

It took me a minute to quit laughing over "Step 2 Corral Pig." I'm with you on the ingredients list. Nothing is more discouraging than picking up a recipe to see 17 ingredients and 10 of them are speciality items. That recipe never gets made in my house!