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.
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.
Posted by: Barbara W. Klaser | Saturday, June 07, 2008 at 05:47 PM
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!
Posted by: Margaret | Wednesday, June 04, 2008 at 10:06 PM
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!
Posted by: Arlene | Wednesday, June 04, 2008 at 02:22 PM