Dealing with Disaster!

Ok, so here's the deal. If you're going to cook, I mean really cook, you have to remember that at some point, you're going to blow it.

The other night my beautiful wife, one of the most amazing cooks that I know, got to a place in the meal prep where she lost it. Things were not turning out like she wanted and, in all honesty, she was pretty discouraged.

At that point she gave me a holler and asked if I would help her salvage the meal. We tried a few tricks, but to no avail. Things were not looking good. The main dish, a beautiful curry, was spelling disaster! The flavors were not mixing! The fat was simply resting on the surface and wasn't allowing the curry flavor to penetrate into the rest of the dish.

So there we were, faced with a choice; give up, eat it as is and potentially end up throwing all the leftovers away, or keep on trying. We opted for the third choice and decided to thicken the curry with some arrowroot (a wonderful substitute for corn starch and flour) and cook it down on the stove. Our hope was that the thickening process would bind the flavors together and keep the fat from separating.

After a few minutes of hoping, we at last achieved success. The meal was amazing and the leftovers were so delicious that they were gone in only a couple days, which in our house is a record.

The moral of the story is that real cooking (the kind that doesn't come from a box or can) involves a whole lot of patience, time and endurance. Sometimes things just fall apart! The roast gets burnt, the veggies get overcooked, and we just want to throw the whole blasted mess in the trash! But listen, that is the nature of the game. You're going to ruin some meals in your life, but that's how we learn.

If you're new at cooking this can be especially true. There will be days that you wonder why you even try, but keep on plugging away, and don't, whatever you do, don't stop trying new things!

So when (not if, but when) disaster strikes, keep your cool. Remember, it's not the end of the world if you serve a mediocre meal. And last but not least, if you're not sure, add lemon!

If You're not sure, add lemon!

When it comes to good cooking there's no real trick, just know your ingredients. When I visit a restaurant for the first time I'm not necessarily looking for something to dazzle my taste buds. For the most part, what I'm hoping for is that the dish that I order will taste good! I like the ingredients on the plate to work together to help bring out the flavor of each individual item that I'm eating and not overwhelm the other items on the plate.

I'm big on protein. When I say that, I mean that I don't believe that any meal can rightly be called a "meal" if it doesn't contain at least 8 oz of meat. I am a meat connoisseur of sorts and as such I am very picky about how the protein portion of my meal is prepared. When it comes to protein, it's quite simple really: "If it ain't broke, DON'T fix it!" God designed beef to taste like beef. Likewise, chicken should taste like chicken and fish should taste like fish. One of my biggest peeves, when it comes to eating out, is when my steak is drowned with some kind of sauce so much so that I can no longer taste the steak. The other night, my wife and I were out at a local restaurant and I decided to order the Prime Rib Special. I ordered it rare as I usually do, and it came out served over a side of caramelized carrots.

Now before you say, "That sounds yummy," let me explain to you the nature of a carrot and the caramelization process. Caramelization is the process in which vegetables, carbohydrates and proteins are heated to 300 degrees fahrenheit and browned. The side effect of caramelization in vegetables higher in carbohydrates is that the proteins break down leaving the now more refined carbohydrates behind. High carbohydrate vegetables, like onions, beats and carrots, get sweeter and sweeter the longer you heat them. Now don't get me wrong, in the right context caramelized carrots can be a wonderful edition to a meal. However, in this case my beautiful piece of prime was literally resting on two cups of caramelized carrots. It might not have been so bad, except for the fact that the carrots were sweetened with sugar. SUGAR!! They would have tasted great served over a couple of scoops of vanilla ice cream but, honestly, they ruined my meat. I even tried to separate them out with the hope that I might be able to salvage some of my now violated prime rib steak. But alas, it was a lost cause. All I could do at that point was to try and overcome the sickeningly sweet flavor of the carrots with massive quantities of horse radish. This was not a good night for me...

This is why I say that you need to know your ingredients. Just because certain foods taste good by themselves doesn't mean that they were meant to be served together.

In conclusion, great meals are made up of three basic parts; a protein, a vegetable and a starch. Always start by picking your protein and then build the meal around that. I usually like to go low carb so I might substitute something like mashed potatoes with mashed cauliflower, but to each his own.

"Sweet" is sometimes O.K. in a dinner, but just be careful how you use it; your palate can be easily overwhelmed.

Let your protein stand on its own flavor. Don't mask the flavor of meat with sides and seasonings, accent it.

So go have some fun with food! Don't be afraid to try unfamiliar cuisine. Learn from your culinary mistakes. And if you're not sure, add lemon!