As you read this post, keep in mind that A)I’m food-stupid and B) I’m food-lazy.
Here I am, trying to plan a weekly menu, because that’s what all the homey-wifey websites recommend you do to keep the Arab-Israeli Menu Planning War of 1967 from breaking out in the household. I witnessed this first-hand on numerous occasions when I’ve been too lazy/tired/homicidal after work to cook dinner (this happens at least twice a week.)
On these occasions, when I was single and lived alone (ah, those good old days when I didn’t have to worry about doing laundry for two, but did worry about a burglar breaking in and shanking me on a daily basis), I would just eat cereal with milk and call it a night. Because, honestly, I am an average cook, and I don’t enjoy cooking 90% of the time (although 10% I do.) I look at it as something that has to be done, like taxes or deflecting baby fever. However, Mr. B is un-American and doesn’t eat cereal. Also, for some reason, he likes hot meals. Also, woman cannot live on Total alone (although it does provide 100% of my recommended daily intake of calcium and iron.) So I was trying to plan ahead so I wouldn’t have to cook multiple times during the week.
Scouring the Intertubes, I came across this recipe, which includes requirements for, among other things,
1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger root
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon garam masala
Unfortunately, I did not have 70% of this ingredients list, but it gave me a chance to go to an Asian grocery store and stock up on all kinds of crazy food. And in the end, I did make this dish, although, no matter how hard I tried to make curry, I made tikka masala by mistake.
I’ve gone completely off-topic in this post, which originally was meant to be, why do so many recipes on line require ridiculous ingredients that you never have? For example, from the quick and easy recipe department, chicken with Brie and vermouth. Why, yes, let me just get that bottle of vermouth out of that liquor cabinet I keep stocked in times like this, in its original packaging from a men’s club in 1963. Or, how about some gnocchi with sweet Italian sausage and San Maranzano tomatoes, fresh from Sicily?
Do people really make these types of recipes and have these types of ingredients on hand? I honestly think the majority of men and women who cook after work when they can find time don’t have the energy to seek them out. Are foodies the only target audience for these websites? I don’t think so, because Allrecipes at least is a huge website and gets tons of non-specific traffic from Google searches. And The Nest is for newlyweds who, oftentimes, don’t have a clue as to how to cook and usually eat cereal for dinner because they’re lazy and then accidentally end up cooking tikka masala. Even websites like Cooking for Engineers, which was very promising, also use complex ingredients that take too long to put together. Another site that doesn’t count is No Takeout, for obvious reasons.
Maybe I’m just lazy. Or maybe I should rephrase and say that 90% of people I know don’t cook like this, at least those that are relatively recent college graduates. We have maybe some chicken in the freezer, some eggs, some milk, some fruit, and some veggies. We usually don’t have crazy spices (even though I now do after making this dish, but these I had to purchase specially), we don’t have sweet Italian sausage, and we have a lot of frozen food. It takes me 25 minutes to buy these special ingredients and an hour and a half to make this dish. It takes me 20 minutes to put a frozen pizza in the oven. So, where are the websites for the truly lazy? Because for now, I’ll just keep making tikka masala since I already have the spices.
{ 29 comments… read them below or add one }
Assuming you are committed to cooking (this takes time), you eventually acquire many of the ingredients that you are talking about. When I got married I didn’t even know there was such a thing as cooking sherry–now, for the 8x/yr when I use it, it is in my pantry, and when we run low, it goes on the shopping list.
As for menu planning, well, that’s how you acquire these ingredients. Plan the menu for a week, make up the shopping list to get the items that will let you make up the menu, and then when you come home tired & cranky, everything you need to cook your (pre-set) dinner will be on hand. And if it is good, you can make it again during the week.
Then again, I’ve been married for almost 12 years now and have 3 kids, so I have to be on top of things. Although come to think of it, I think my family would *love* to have cereal for diner…
I don’t know that I’m committed to cooking as much as it’s something I have to do. I mean, I could not pay taxes either, but I’d go to jail. I like that you have a method for acquiring these ingredients and staying sane.
I’m trying more and more to plan a weekly menu with 2-3 dishes so I don’t have to do everything during the week. you should give yourself a break and serve up the Cocoa Puffs
OMG, my kids, and probably DH would be thrilled with Cocoa Puffs! LOL! Still, while I didn’t cook at all when we got married, I actually enjoy cooking now, and I hate leftovers, so I don’t mind doing it. Plus with my son’s ADHD it is good to be on top of his food (ie protein/sugar/additives) intake.
I also like to eat. Which doesn’t really help matters…or my weight
As for those “extra” ingredients, you can do searches for recipes that use those ingredients–this is also a good way to build your recipe repertoire.
I like both Cooking Light’s recipe site: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipes/ and the epicurious site: http://www.epicurious.com/. In both you can do searches for specific ingredients. Plus they have user ratings, and if it doesn’t have a 4 or 5 star rating, I don’t bother.
Another thing: you can tweet or FB request for recipes and you’ll get some fantastic (and often VERY easy) ones. I do this a lot, actually, ask everyone “What’s for dinner” or “Making pasta tonight–what can I do with it that is creative/easy?”. I’ll shut up now
this is why I like משה cooking. Not, as you may suspect, cooking for Moshe, but rather cooking with מה שיש Ma she’-yesh. And I’m considered above average and a cooking anthusiast.
Ma she yesh= What there is (in the fridge).
I love this philosophy a lot.
I don’t cook like that, nor do I keep those ingredients on hand. They’re expensive and end up getting thrown out when Passover comes around. I mean, I could keep sherry on hand, but I have managed just fine without it all those years.
I also like this. How do you cook? Do you plan ahead?
I dunno, Hannah, since we sell our chametz for Passover, I don’t worry about it much.
It cracks me up that you’re sad you “only” made Tikka Masala. I have to say, Allrecipes is usually still pretty reliable, since it’s mostly used by people who just need something tasty and casual for dinner- I’ve seen some recipes on it that call for stuff like pouring canned soup over pork chops.
And what is this Tikka Masala recipe that apparently is so simple? Is it just tomato sauce and curry powder or something like that?
The canned soup over pork chops sounds ideal.
Actually, the tikka masala was not simple at all and I ended up having to buy numerous ingredients of questionable Pakistani origin. But it did turn out good, and, as KA says above, now I have them again to use when I want to make anything South Asian.
Alas, most recipes are written by people who do think of food as more than a functional thing. I cook every day and I am one of those people you wonder about aloud: the ones who have shallots (and red onions), over two dozen kinds of spices, sundry oils (walnut oil anyone?), half a dozen kinds of vinegar etc; who make their own masala mixes every day; and who think nothing of handling brandy at 6.30am to make some pepper sauce at lunch. When I worked in an ‘office’ based corporate job, I cooked even more frequently and in bigger quantities. Because hungry bachelor male colleagues always got my sympathy. Few of them were any use beyond, may be, chopping onions. May be you need to move near me. I am a natural Annapurna.. You won’t need recipes
“Alas, most recipes are written by people who do think of food as more than a functional thing.”
I respect that. But I also respect that I don’t necessarily think of food like that and, while I’d like it to be healthy and taste good, I also want it to be easy to make.
I think moving near you is the ideal solution
“But I also respect that I don’t necessarily think of food like that ..”
Then I am afraid you are going to have to write recipes that have worked for you so other like-minded people are encouraged to share similar recipes as well.
Most things are easy to make if you plan ahead. By the way I was 3 years older than you are now, when I first started cooking.
I like to make things that are really flexible with ingredients. For example, I make stir fry. To make stir fry you need vegetables (whatever you have on hand), garlic, and soy sauce. You might add rice or asian noodles.
Everything else is flavoring (rice wine,ginger,peanuts, even peanut butter, etc).
Also, I’ll (or my wife) will make larger quantities of things on the weekend. Soup, lasagna, etc, so that you have a lot of leftovers for quick reheating on a week night.
We probably eat frozen tortellini and sauce once a week as well.
I love stir fry! Thanks for reminding me of this. I also love that it’s easy to make and you can just throw something in. I also make soup a lot so that it lasts the whole week. My mom always has soup on hand if nothing else and makes a new one every 3-4 days, something I learned from her when she cooks.
Technically, you likely didn’t make the tikka part of the chicken tikka masala- that would have required you pre-cooking marinated chicken in a Tandoori oven.
I think I’ve gotten used to these recipes and, as such, don’t find them as exotic or involved as you did. A lot of the recipes don’t have that many ingredients, so if you cook a bunch of stuff that requires, as you joked about before, shallots and Marsala wine, you end up having these things around the house pretty frequently. But it’s important to develop patterns and not buy random ingredients all the time, since then you have a lot leftover and no idea what to do with it.
As with most things, the cooking is just a matter of practice and organization. Now I’m going to go whip up some chicken marsala. (Not even kidding.)
I need to haul out my Tandoor.
I think what bugs me the most is that I don’t have the patterns and hence any fancy food I buy goes to waste, so the patterns make sense. However, that requires planning, and again, my opportunity cost for this is high. Marsala sounds delish.
I hate recipes with weird ingredients. I would rather have bunions, not to be confused with a specialty onion, than deal with wacky ingredients. The weirdest ingredient in my recipes must still be found at Publix or Brunos.
I recommend checking out America’s Test Kitchen, also known as Cooks Illustrated. Fabulous recipes with a range from country cooking to more European-style recipes, yet explained in a common sense manner.
Wait, I said I recommended Cooks Illustrated, but now I remember they had an article on cooking Chicken Tandoori at home, which is just absolutely ridiculous of a recipe. Why don’t you just ask me to build a spacecraft too? So they do have some out-there recipes (for the more adventurous, I guess?) but they have lazier ones too, like a 15-minute tomato sauce recipes, which fits my personality better.
Mwuahahahaa. Cooks Illustrated sounds like something I can go for. I really do need step-by step to make sure I’m making it right. I remember Pioneer Woman’s Tasty Kitchen had something about making bagels in your BREAD MACHINE the other day and I was like, nope, don’t have time for this drama, mama, and closed the tab.
With the caveat that I love to cook, I’ve got two approaches.
1. Like Kosher Academic, we have acquired a wide array of spices over time so we can make just about anything. For your best multi-ethnic cooking choices, here’s what you MUST have (dried herbs and spices) in your pantry:
-cinnamon
-nutmeg
-cloves
-ginger
-garlic powder
-onion powder
-mustard
-coriander
-sweet paprika (Hungarian)
-smoked Spanish paprika
-hot paprika (Hungarian)
-chili powder
-ground cumin
-curry powder
-cayenne
-turmeric
-fennel
-rosemary
-thyme
-oregano
-dill
-saffron
Those are the basics. In combination with fresh ingredients, they will get you: Italian, Indian, Thai, Mexican, Spanish, French, Eastern European, and basic American cuisine. Keep them out of heat and direct sunlight, and they will last for quite a while.
For specific recipes, you may need to pick up an occasional new item – lavender, fenugreek, dried anchos or smoked poblanos (yum!), etc. That’s part of your menu planning.
We also always have these canned goods on hand:
-whole or diced tomatoes (fire roasted ones are great)
-beans (whatever kinds you like)
-green chilis
-marinated artichokes
-smoked herring or anchovies or sprats
-red and white balsamic vinegars
-extra virgin olive oil
-mirin (sweet Japanese cooking wine)
-sesame oil
-rice wine vinegar
-canola oil
and basic things like:
-breadcrumbs
-rice
-barley
-lentils
-almonds
-raisins
It’s a lot if you have to buy it all at once, but these are your kitchen basics. It’s like needing a stove and a fridge.
2. I make 2-3 big batches of stuff a week, on days when I have more time. For us, that’s usually Friday, Sunday, and Tuesday. We eat leftovers (or parts of leftovers with some new ingredients) the other nights. For instance, we almost always have roast chicken on Friday night, and use the leftover cooked chicken all weekend in different dishes.
On nights when I just don’t feel like cooking, I can pull out and defrost some leftover portions from the big meals that I froze earlier that month, or cook up some pasta and doctor it up with whatever’s kicking around the fridge.
For you, the best thing might be to master 4 to 5 basic recipes that both you and Mister B. love, and put them in rotation, with leftovers on the nights you’re psychotic.
Or tell Mr B to cook his own damn dinner.
This is the comment of the year. I asked for help and a whole paramedics team plus ambulance plus fire truck arrived. Thank you. This is honestly pretty helpful.
The trick to becoming a regular cook and building up a larder is to pick one or two quasi-specialized cookbooks that you feel comfortable using a lot for a while. I recommend Mollie Katzen’s books (Moosewood, Enchanted Broccoli) for vegetarians or people on a budget, or Silver Palate New Basics if you’d like to go a little fancier, or Jane Brody’s Great Good Food for a middle-of-the-road variety approach. Pick out a handful of things to make over the next week, figure out your shopping list, and then make those things. Keep that up for a few weeks. You’ll build up a pantry of basics that the author tends to use a lot, and then after a while, your pantry and shopping habits will line up so well that you’ll be able to start picking new recipes based on what you have sitting around. Any of these books will open up your imagination and you’ll learn basic techniques.
Thanks for stopping by, Erin and for the suggestions. I looked up Enchanted Broccoli Forest and it looks pretty nice. I’ll have to check it out in a bookstore or something to get a feel for it. My main concern is that coobooks often don’t have pictures of what you’re cooking, which I need because I’m food-stupid, but I’ll make sure to check out that one and Great Good Food.
I easily could have written the first three paragraphs of your post and called it my own. My husband eats eggs and English muffins (fondly called “E & E” in our household) for dinner far too often because I can’t figure out what to make.
When I can stand being in the kitchen for more than 10 minutes, one of my standbys is chicken fajitas with green peppers and onions. Cut everything up, saute it olive oil, add McCormick fajitas seasoning packet & water. Cook five minutes and serve with tortillas, tomatoes, etc. I do a similar thing with ground turkey and taco seasoning packet.
And speaking of seasoning packets… At Rodman’s discount gourmet in White Flint Plaza, they sell the most wonderful ones, by http://www.aroracreations.com/. As far as I’m concerned, there’s no reason to buy all the individual Indian spices when you’ve got Aurora Creations. The gobi and the pujabi chhole are my favorites.
Robin, thanks so much for stopping by! I love to know that I’m not the only one who gets tired/can’t decide what to make and gets stuck. I like the fajitas idea, along with Howard’s stir fry. Nice standbys for when I can’t think of what to make.
After having cooked for almost seventeen years for a family, and having worked some time as a chef abroad, I can guarantee you that you’ll find a lot of recipes online that are written by people that wouldn’t know a crepes pan from a casserole.
(Or goulash from canned dog food for that matter.)
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