Lucinda Scala Quinn - Mad Hungry: Feeding Men and Boys

Feeding Men and Boys

RECIPES, STRATEGIES, AND SURVIVAL TECHNIQUES

Lucinda Scala Quinn

PHOTOGRAPHS
by Mikkel Vang

To my mother, Rosemary Jean Scala, for showing me how and why to cook for those you love

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Copyright 2009 by Lucinda Scala Quinn
Photographs copyright 2009 by Mikkel Vang

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproducedmechanically, electronically, or by any other means, including photocopyingwithout written permission of the publisher.

Published by Artisan
A division of Workman Publishing, Inc.
225 Varick Street, New York, NY 10014-4381
www.artisanbooks.com

Published simultaneously in Canada by Thomas Allen & Son, Limited

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The Library of Congress has catalogued the hardcover edition as follows:
Scala Quinn, Lucinda.
Mad hungry: feeding men and boys / by Lucinda Scala Quinn.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-57965-356-9 (hardcover)
1. Cookery. I. Title.
TX714.Q587 2009
641.5dc22 2009004063

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eISBN 9781579655280

Design by Jennifer S. Muller, Lucky Tangerine

preface | my story

The secret rites of the kitchen need not be a mystery. Slowly build your specialized cooking knowledge, day after day, as you cook for the ones you love. Your table will be full, and one day the guys will wander into the kitchen, too. In the beginning, theyll slip in to steal a nibble before dinner, dipping some bread into the simmering tomato sauce or picking the browned bits from the fried chicken. And eventually, if they join you in these regions, the spirit will take hold.

I began to teach our firstborn, Calder, to cook when he was fifteen years old as a trade-off for more allowance. Now hes the one giving me .

Miles, our middle son, is a professional teenage cook, just like his mother was. And the baby, Luca, for whom eating hearty food is a favorite pastime (along with athletics, fortunately), is just learning to cook.

My husband, Richie, has a huge appetite for lifeall of itand food is at the top of his list. Unlike me, he is a bit of a rogue as a cook (lots of spice and darkly caramelized meats), but his passion in the kitchen is infectious and has inspired me over the last twenty-five years as well as the boys.

My own influence comes from my parents. My mom, Rose, made home-cooked meals for me and my brothers, day in and day out. And my dads Italian heritage meant my early years were filled with extended family gatherings that always centered on a bounty of food.

All of our stories are different, yet still, there are new chapters to be written.

introduction
cook for the men in your life and teach them to cook for themselves

Men eat differently from womenthey eat more, they eat constantly, and they eat passionately. They ransack a packed refrigerator and scrounge crumbs from an empty one. They eat standing in front of the fridge, and they eat with their fingers. They always make a mess and never notice. They are all appetite and no pretense. Whats for dinner? is the most important, most burning question. Food is everything to them and food is nothing until there is none. And, if theyre mad hungry with no food in sight, life is a living hell. But feeding them well is what many of us love to do and few jobs feel as satisfying. Its what keeps them healthy, keeps them happy, gives them some of their fondest memories, and teaches them to cook.

Boys and men who grow up eating flavorful home-cooked food are more likely to cook for themselves. A man who knows how to cook is more self-sufficient, is a better roommate, boyfriend, father, and son. And as any wife knows, a husband who can cook is like one who can dancethe deluxe package.

So no matter how busy you are, saut that onion, rip up fresh basil, or slow-roast a pork shoulder. Thats all it takes to fill their sense memory and make your family feel good for a lifetime. When I last gave a steaming bowl of lentil soup to one of my sons, his casual remark spoke volumes: That smell right therethats comfort food. It makes you feel happy. Once, another son arrived home from college, walked through the front door, and announced, unbidden, It smells so good in here. Sometimes I think I cook to re-create the smells Im nostalgic for from your cooking. Instead of being a chore, mealtime can be the foundation of a wonderful relationship with the men and boys in your life.

Feeding my four guys has been one of the greatest pleasures of my life. Ive had more fun in the kitchen and at the dinner table with them than almost anywhere else. Eating is something we have to do, so why give it short shrift? If you have to do it, make it beautiful and spread the beauty.

Home cooking feels good, is healthier and cheaper, and tastes better than processed food. It also liberates you from the angst-ridden daily choices of food labels that scream low-fat, low-salt, high-carb, low-carb, artificially sweetened or, worse, promise better health (all-natural) when there is none. The whole fast-food approach is leading us down the wrong ugly path. Now is the time to do something about it. Cook good, honest food and the rest will take care of itself.

If you were never taught to cook or appreciate a home-cooked meal, all the more reason to give your taste buds and those of your family a gift. If theres a will, theres a way. Find help all around you, from a grandparent, family friend, favorite teacher, book, or cooking class. Go step by step, because no matter where you start, its a trial by fire for all of us who cook for men. Whether you adapt the ideas in this book or gaze at them from a distance, like folks who watch cooking shows but dont cook, youve planted the seed for yourself and your guys. Create your own recipe collection, choose what you love, and cook it often; the common thread in this cookbook is nothing more than dishes my family loves.

Start off slow if you must. Cook just one meal a week and see for yourself what a difference it makes. Most of all be delighted with the time you and your men have together in the kitchen, whether cooking or sitting around the table eating homemade food. As your brood spreads out, these warm memories of good home cooking will guide them home and, having learned to cook themselves, they will pass it on.

It seems to me that our three basic needs, for food and security and love, are so mixed and mingled and entwined that we cannot straightly think of one without the others. So it happens that when I write of hunger, I am really writing about love and the hunger for it, and warmth and the love of it and the hunger for it... and then the warmth and richness and fine reality of hunger satisfied... and it is all one.

M. F. K. Fisher from The Gastronomical Me, 1943

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Decide its important to you

When the household cooks have jobs outside the home and still want daily home-cooked meals, a conscious decision has to be made to place value on this practice. We need to commit to it and collaborate with each other to achieve success. Its no different from creating any other aspect of a balanced home life.