IMAGE SOURCES: ©MELANIE NEER~PERSONAL PHOTOS
Quiche Lorraine
Chicken Alfredo
Bœuf Bourguignon
Homemade Minestrone Soup
ABSTRACT: In today's society, many people have resorted to shortcuts in cooking, from getting processed foods, frozen dinners, and relying on fast food restaurants. Sadly, this means it seems the people have forgotten how to cook good old fashioned homemade meals.
CONTENT:
Once in awhile I reflect on different things, and only recently I was thinking of how real genuine, homemade cooking from scratch has become a lost "art' form. And yes, homemade cooking can be considered an art form, as it can take skill, time and patience. However these were qualities our ancestors seemed to have naturally; they had whether they liked it or not since there weren't the conveniences we have nowadays. Did one want to serve piping hot biscuits with their dinner? Well one couldn't simply go to the supermarket and get that pop-able Pillsbury canister, our ancestors had to make them from scratch. Did one want some kind of soup, no matter what kind? Yes, back in the old days one had to spend perhaps hours making it, from first making the homemade chicken, beef, or vegetable stock, then later adding in all the other ingredients. One couldn't simply open a can, pour into a saucepan and heat the soup on the stove or pop in a container and place into a microwave.
Another thing that kind of sparked my recent reflection of how cooking has become a lost art form was when one day I was talking to someone and I mentioned that I was planning to make homemade chicken pot pie. So here I was rattling on how I make the dough for the crust part from scratch, chop up the onion and garlic, cook up the chicken and vegetables and make a white sauce for it. The person listened to me with a great deal of interest and when I finished yakking about it, but she asked me, what is a white sauce? At that moment, I swear I was having a Hell's Kitchen Chef Gordon Ramsay moment and rolled my eyes up in disbelief.
As for myself, I must be one of those rare breeds of people. I absolutely love cooking and yes, I do things the old-fashioned way: I prefer to make everything from scratch. I must have inherited my great grandmother's skills in cooking, as she was known as THE cook of the family, while ironically my grandmother nor my mother could cook to save their lives. I had been told that in her younger days, my great grandmother would get up literally at the crack of dawn just to start making the homemade bread for the day. I do happen to know the joy of real, authentic homemade bread as I've done it myself in the past, and nothing beats smelling that yeasty aroma as the bread dough is rising, and then to actually bake it in the oven. I plain couldn't wait to "sample" a slice as the homemade bread came out of the oven and have it literally dripping with a lot of butter.
For awhile there, up until I was about five years old, my great grandmother, grandmother, mother and I all lived together. No one was really allowed to go into the kitchen as that was considered my great grandmother's domain, save for myself that is. Since both my grandmother and mother worked, my great grandmother became something of a babysitter to me, so I supposed to keep me busy and amused she actually would allow me into the kitchen to help out so to say. I remember her teaching me very, very basic things to cook at that young age, like scrambling eggs or frying up the bacon; she'd let me stir her homemade soups as they were simmering, and even taught me how to make something like homemade mashed potatoes.
After age five, my grandmother, mother and I moved out from my great grandmother's home. Well things changed. As I mentioned neither my grandmother nor mother could cook to save their lives. And yes, by that time there were more convenience foods, especially frozen TV dinners like Swanson's, other types of frozen foods like vegetables, canned soups like Campbell's, even instant mashed potatoes once could buy in a box. Yes, of course on occasion my mother would perhaps roast a chicken or form ground beef into hamburgers and fry them up, but my mother had a habit of burning everything she cooked, even the frozen dinners. Let's put it this way, growing up I often ate foods in various shades of grey or black. It's a wonder I survived my childhood!
As I got older, say in my teenage years and a bit older, yes I started to do some cooking, but very, very basic things. In other words, nothing fancy schmanchy, but at least I didn't burn anything. Then came my college years and I was about to embark on a journey so to say. It was during college that I decided to take a basic course in French. The course was entirely conducted in French by the professor but on occasion she would then speak in English and tell of various aspects of the French culture, which of course included French foods. By a coincidence one time I was watching an episode of Julia Child and she was introducing an upcoming new French chef, Jacques Pepin. Well that cinched it. I had become inspired by the talks about French foods via my French language professor and now with Jacques Pepin.
After buying a good number of French Cuisine type recipe books, including ones by Jacques Pepin of course, I now started my new "journey", that of attempting real cooking, not just scrambling eggs, frying up bacon, cooking up hamburgers and fries, I was to embark on real cooking journey and entirely from scratch. It didn't seem to take me long to acquire my new culinary skills, for as I said, I must have inherited my great grandmother's skill in cooking. Yes it did take skill, patience and time, but out of it all I was having fun with my new skills. I was making Crêpes, French Onion Soup, Bœuf Bourguignon, a myriad of French styled desserts and yes, I even did a few Soufflés.
It didn't stop with French cooking however, but I also ventured at making Italian, Oriental, German, and Mexican cooking, heck it really didn't matter what nationality, if it was food and a recipe sounded good to me I would make it. Even when I did old-fashioned American type cooking, I still would do everything from scratch, no short cuts. For example, if I were fixing a Thanksgiving Dinner, I would make some kind of homemade soup, usually Cream Of Celery, homemade stuffing of some kind, no Stove Top here! I would make homemade mashed butternut squash, the homemade biscuits, and no, Bisquick was never used and to this day, some thirty five years later i still won't use Bisquick. For dessert I would usually opt for sweet potato pie rather than pumpkin.
Don't get me wrong however since I'm not saying I don't use any kind of processed foods at all, I do as its not as if I'm making homemade pasta for instance, nor am I churning my own butter, but I do try to eliminate as many shortcuts and processed foods as possible. My freezer hasn't seen any kind of frozen foods stored in it in decades. Swanson? Lean Cuisine? Banquet? Healthy Choice? You might as well be speaking a foreign language to me. The only frozen foods I have stored are my own food that I cook in volume and and maybe some frozen vegetables, but that's it. Also, now that I'm on my own since both my grandmother and mother have passed on, I'm not exactly cooking the way I used to, but I'm still a stickler that when I cook for myself I still cook from scratch.
Now…I just might have another Hell's Kitchen Chef Gordon Ramsay moment and roll my eyes up as I wouldn't be surprised if you are wondering what a white sauce is. It's one of the most basic of all sauces to make, and basically it is a combo of melted butter, flour, milk or cream, salt and pepper; also by adding ingredients to it, it can also become Sauce Mornay, Alfredo Sauce and so forth. It's the type of sauce that is used when making chicken pot pie, macaroni and cheese, the base for creme-styled soups, potatoes au gratin and scalloped potatoes; goodness, the list is nearly endless.
To give you an idea of just how versatile white sauce can be, I've done a good number of articles in the past using white sauce and I have them listed in my Sources section.
Image Sources: ©MELANIE NEER~PERSONAL PHOTOS
Quiche Lorraine
Chicken Alfredo
Bœuf Bourguignon
Homemade Minestrone Soup
Sources:
Former articles of mine using white sauce which have been published. Originally at Yahoo.voices, now on my blog:
The Many Uses For White Sauce in Recipes: Cream Soups Without the Cream
http://myfavoriterecipecreations.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-many-uses-for-white-sauce-in.html
Old-Fashioned Baked Macaroni and Cheese
http://myfavoriterecipecreations.blogspot.com/2014/07/old-fashioned-baked-macaroni-and-cheese.html
Two Special Potato Recipes to Enhance Any Meal
Part Two: The Versatile Potato
http://myfavoriterecipecreations.blogspot.com/2014/07/article-two-special-potato-recipes-to.html
The Art Of Making Croquettes:
http://myfavoriterecipecreations.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-art-of-making-croquettes-special.html
The Skill and Art Of Making Crepes
Part Two: Creative Ideas for Using Leftovers by Making Crepes
http://myfavoriterecipecreations.blogspot.com/2014/07/article-skill-and-art-of-making-crepes.html
