Listen because your Food is Talking

As America’s Cooking Cheerleader, I want you to start cooking, in fact, I want to start a movement of men and women who are cooking for their families again and loving it. My goal is to teach you that cooking is easier than you think and that you, and your family, are worth the time and effort it takes. I will teach you anything I know to make cooking less of a chore for you and to make your life in the kitchen easier.

If you hate to cook, or do not know how, then you probably do not realize that cooking food talks. I will use fresh mushroom as an example. When you add fresh mushroom to hot butter or oil, they immediately absorb all of the fat and the sound is very quiet, almost muffled. After a few minutes, they start to release their liquid and the sound gets louder as the liquid starts to come to a boil. As more liquid is released, it gets much louder. All of this noise continues for a while until, suddenly, it changes again and becomes very quiet meaning the liquid has evaporated and the mushrooms are starting to brown. The sound changes from liquid boiling to fat sizzling.

If you train your ear, you can save yourself time in the kitchen and saving even five minutes can be significant. Turn your back on the mushrooms, cut the next ingredient, or start some clean up, or help your son with his homework and when the pot starts to sizzle go back to it. With the exception of garlic, you do not have to stare at your food as it cooks instead the sound it makes will tell you that it needs attention.

I realize this is not practical if you have children in and out of the kitchen, but if you do not have a lot of background noise start paying attention to what sounds the food makes when it is ready for the next step. Food is more forgiving than you think it is and if you learn to listen to it, you will realize that you do not need vigilance as you cook only good hearing.

Have you ever thought of listening to your food before?

Cooking is easier than you think and you are worth the time and effort it takes.

Simple cooking idea: If you line your cookie sheets with parchment paper, you will have one less thing to wash.

Copyright ©2010 by Gigi Centaro. All Rights Reserved.