Lora Brody - Kitchen Survival Guide

ONE
WELCOME TO YOUR KITCHEN

TWO
130 RECIPES TO GET YOU STARTED

S everal things happened recently that made me realize that I couldnt just turn my kids loose in the world and expect them to be able to feed themselves as safely, efficiently, nutritiously, and deliciously as they were fed at home.

The first thing that happened was one Sunday morning while I was making French toast, I accidentally set my potholder on fire. The fire traveled quickly to the butter in the pan, creating a great deal of smoke, a dramatic flame, and major hysteria from the crowd of hungry observers. Now, were not talking about a major inferno here, but from the reaction of the twentysomething crowd screaming directions from behind the safety of the kitchen counter, youd have thought this was a replay of the Chicago fire.

There were screams of Water! countered by admonitions of Hit it with a dish towel! I calmly reached to the shelf next to the stove for the large yellow box of baking soda that is kept there for this very purpose and emptied its contents on top of the pan and potholder. This immediately put out the fire.

Guess we cant eat those now, huh? was the disappointed reaction. My reaction was how will these kids know how to put out a kitchen fire if I dont write it down somewhere? As a matter of fact, how will they know how not to repeat my mistake of carelessly putting the potholder down too close to the burner if I dont tattoo it on their foreheads?

The second thing happened when I observed a very bright college-aged friend of mine making lunch for his younger sisters. He took out two boxes of macaroni and cheese mix and two small pots. He filled both pots with water and placed them on the stove. When the water came to a boil, he added one box of macaroni to each pot. When the macaroni was cooked, he got out two strainers and emptied one pot into each. With that, I couldnt stand it any longer and pointed out that he could have saved himself a lot of cleanup time if he had just used one large pot and one large strainer. Hey, you can do that? he asked incredulously. A genius in physics doesnt necessarily mean a genius in the kitchen. Someone had to spell it out.

The final thing happened shortly after my eldest son left for college, taking his appetite with him. He soon discovered that the school food service doesnt serve rare tenderloin and asparagus with lemon butter. He also realized that the thin, oversalted greasy liquid they called soup wasnt in the same solar system with the thick, flavorful, bursting-with-personality, gut-satisfying dish he got at home, and that homemade brownies from Moms kitchen were a hands-down winner over the packaged variety.

He was a good sport for about half a semester, manfully chowing down hydrogenated peanut butter slathered on overprocessed white bread that had all the personality of advanced calculus. He winced at, but gagged down grayish mystery meat, overcooked and unidentifiable vegetables, and gelatinous rice that was cooked some time the previous month and reheated in the microwave.

Then he came home for Thanksgiving and headed straight for the fridge, blowing me a grateful kiss in thanks for stocking up on all his favorites. Ah, yes, he was so relieved to spot the jar of pea soup, the brisket sliced and ready for sandwiches, my famous caraway coleslaw, and the plate of fudge brownies. As he pulled out the Cheddar and chili meat loaf, the grainy mustard, and several slices of my whole-wheat bread, he broke the news, Mom, that school food is killing me. Next semester the guys and I are getting an apartment so we can cook!

So he can cook? This child, whose only relationship to the oven is the clock, is going to cook?

He learned to read, he learned to tie his shoes, he learned to play the stock market, and he learned to speak Chinese. I suppose he can learn to cook. I figured that if I wrote down everything I thought he and all the other kids like him needed to know to cook good food it would save on long-distance phone bills and kitchen fires. Heres hoping.

P lease forgive my presumptuousness. Perhaps some well-meaning but misguided person foisted this book on you and in reality youre happy as a clam getting take-out from your local Kentucky Fried Chicken or from your corner yuppie food shop that sells tortellini salad for $14 a pound.

I hope this is not you. I hope youve tried take-out or the schools food service or a steady diet of Stouffers and Lean Cuisine and youre fed up without really being fed at all.

Okay, so you want to learn how to cook. Great. Not only will you be able to vent your creative energy, youll have fun, youll win friends and impress relatives, youll save money, youll feel better, andyoull get to eat delicious food whenever you want it.

Ive written this book as a teaching tool. You can use it to cook even if you have trouble boiling water and after you learn how to cook you can keep it as a handy reference source.

My advice is to read Part One before you even start to think about recipes. Thats where youll find all the basic information you need, from how to clean your oven, to how to pick out a ripe melon, to how to make dinner for someone whos a vegetarian. Cooking terms are explained in detail along with tips on how to organize and run your kitchen. Consider this the advice part of the book. The goal of the four chapters in this part is to teach you how to turn the recipes in Part Two into not only edible, but downright tasty food, in as short a time and with as little work as possible.

Spend some time thinking about how and what you feed yourself when you read , Fueling the System. Remember, if its Moms cooking that you miss, then chances are she wasnt serving you meatballs and dinosaur-shaped pasta from a can. She was thinking about nutrition and so should you.

When it does come time to peruse the recipes, dont be put off by the fact that some of them seem lengthy. These are teaching recipes, meaning I have left nothing to your imagination. I dont assume a new cook knows what an old-hand does, so everything is spelled out in detail.

Feel free to scribble in the margins, underline, take notes. If you love a recipe (or hate it), then write that down next to it. Did you make it for a friend who thought it was the best thing she ever tasted? Write that down, too, so you can make it for her again. Did the cookies take longer in your oven than the recipe said? Write that down. Was the chicken better baked or fried? And what was that wonderful vegetable dish you served with it? Write it all down.

Finally, once you get better at this cooking business, it will become fun. Youll feel great about your new-found talents and want to share the results with everyone you know. And, dont forget to feed your Mom.

ONE
WELCOME TO
YOUR KITCHEN