Editor’s letter
Ithink it’s fair to say we all have our strong points and that cooking isn’t one of mine. I’m sure my family would be the first to agree.
Thankfully, my husband once worked as a chef and is happy in the kitchen – most of the time. I call myself his culinary muse, and like to invite people to dinner and then inspire him to weave his magic. He loves this – most of the time.
When he’s away, I tend to keep things very simple for the kids – “pasta bums” (tortellini), which I guess require heating rather than cooking, pizza or tacos.
We often order My Food Bag and I have learnt lots thanks to Nadia Lim’s recipes. But I engage my teen sous chef Cleo to help as I tend to panic. I have to read the instructions four times before they sink in – and then read them four times again.
The other day, Conrad went to a cricket test and I asked him to buy something easy for me to cook. I got a text saying, “Chicken breasts in fridge. Slice breasts in two horizontally. Season with salt and pepper. Hot pan. Colour one side, then turn and place in oven at 200ºC for 10 minutes. Salad in fridge.”
I read the message several times, then texted a couple of important questions, like, “oil in pan?” and “what oven symbol?”. I thought, “I’ve got this!” so when the kitchen filled with smoke and the 10-minute timer hadn’t gone off, I ran to the pan on the stove. “Hang on a minute,” I thought, “that breast isn’t golden – it’s black!” I re-read the text. Apparently, it was an operator error.
I think my problem is partly genetic. No disrespect to my dear mother, but cooking wasn’t her strong point either. Mum is a brilliant scientist, but the ability to experiment never extended to the kitchen.
By the time I left home at 16, my kitchen repertoire extended to banana cakes and apple crumble – all yummy, but not much help when your name comes up on the flat cooking roster. I was scarred by many kitchen fails and developed a cooking phobia early on.
But I think weaknesses are important. If we didn’t have flaws, the world would be full of perfect people, which would be boring. That said, even I could make the mince recipes in this week’s food section (page 44). Check them out!