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Bona Petite!

Let's Get Cooking!

By Denise WillisPublished 4 years ago 4 min read
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osMy father was an amazing chef and could take a tough piece of meat and make a tender roast out of it, pink on the inside and brown on the outside. But, he wasn't patient and could not figure out how to teach my sister and me how to cook. Mom wasn't a cook at all and dad did all the cooking in our home. Consequently, when I got married I had no idea how to cook. Everything I made was burned on the outside and raw inside because of the high heat I used. I didn't understand about temperature, timng, or seasoning and what you saw was what you got.

My favorite meal to make was to open a can of spam and cook it with a can of pineapple. I think that was one of my mother's recipes, only she didn't burn hers when she cooked it. I made a lot of jello, Bisquick cakes, and spam. It's a wonder my kids were healthy at all.

All that began to change when my husband and I were forced to stay with his parents while we located a home in Denver. He and his parents went to work each day and it was my job to fix dinner for everyone. I didn't think spam every night would be good, so I called my father and asked him to walk me through making a meal. He was remarkably patient on the phone, and managed to do this for me every day for at least two months. The upside was I was actually learning to cook, and the downside was the phone bill it brought.

From that experience and armed with a little knowledge of timing and temperatures, I began to pay attention to what other people were cooking and how they were cooking it. I discovered I have a unique talent for going into a restaurant and ordering something from the menu with a sauce perhaps, and I can tell you what is in the sauce from the flavor and recreate it at home. Cooking became a favorite pass-time of mine, and I became quite skilled in it. Having said that, I would like to share a few tips I have learned over the years from other people.

Always Use a Low Heat Unless Deep Frying

Starting out with your food on low gives it a chance to cook thoroughly and all the way through. For meat, it is better unless you are flash frying it to keep the juices inside. That was the secret to my father's famous beef roast. He would trim and season it, and then he would heat oil up to almost bubbling and put the roast in, turning it constantly so it didn't burn, and once he had the outside nice and brown the way he wanted it, he would put the roast in foil with powdered onion soup and a little water, wrap the roast, and bake it at 350 degrees.

Butter and Olive Oil

A great combination for flavor is to put a bit of butter in the skillet and some olive oil with it. The combination gives fried food a very nice flavor and keeps it moist.

Marinate, Marinate, Marinate

The biggest thing in cooking is to give meat a nice flavor without overpowering it with any one spice, and to keep it moist so it is tender when cooked. Marinating it overnight in olive oil, garlic (which is a natural tenderizer), onion, a little vinegar and salt and if you like some Italian seasoning. The meat will have a nice flavor and be tender. My father used to take a pork roast and insert whole cloves into it overnight and it gave the pork a remarkable flavor.

Take Your Time

One of the best examples of a dish that takes time is pasta sauce, or red gravy as the Italians tend to call it. I always start out with a rue of celery, carrots, and onions that I cook down and then add both sausage and beef to the rue. I cook the meat down and add tomato paste, never sauce because it is runny, and some beef broth to reduce the acidity of the tomatoes. I add neck bones, seasoning, and let it cook for at least two days before even thinking about eating it. It takes time for all the flavors to blend the way they need to.

Online Recipes

There are some amazing recipes online to try and also a lot that can be learned from cooking shows. I used to watch cooking shows every day and learned all about simmering and how you cut certain things when making vegetables. Some of my best recipes have come from online sources as well, and another good source is when you find a dish you like, maybe at a pot luck or church function, ask the person who made it for the recipe. I have done this and never been unhappy with the results.

I hope some of my ideas and tips can help someone else out there struggling with the idea of making food for more than themselves. Food should be smelled, tasted, and enjoyed slowly.

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About the Creator

Denise Willis

I love art as much as writing, and when the world feels dark, I get out my paper and colored pencils and draw while listening to music. When my husband and I were going through a divorce, journaling is what got me through that..

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