Tuesday, August 10, 2010

I'm Always Learning - cached version

When it comes to cooking, I'm a beginner. A novice. A complete mess at times.

I don't really know how to cut vegetables... but somehow I just keep at it until they're small enough to cook with. I don't really know all my spices... but I'm learning how they smell when I use them. I don't really know how to locate all the ingredients for a recipe... part of that is because I grew up with the Chinese names of everything (turnip is literally translated as white carrot in Chinese) and part of that is because my mom once said to me...

"Don't worry about cooking. You got the whole rest of your life to figure that out once you're married."

True story.

And so I'm learning. I learned that chicken stock and chicken broth are the same thing. I learned what a pork roast looks like (the butcher showed me). I learned that cream of tartar and tartar powder are two very different ingredients. And last but not least, I learned that baked beans are not the same as the Mexican black beans you get at Chipotle, Baja Fresh or La Salsa.

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