Lessons from Cooking

I love to cook. It hasn’t always been that way. In the 80′s when I was growing up there were a flood of cookbooks titled “Microwave cookery” and every new microwave came with a cookbook to teach you how to use the new kitchen contraption. Anything that helped, predominately women, to avoid using pots and pans and the subsequent washing up was the future of cooking. So other than occasions at my Nan’s house I didn’t see much cooking go on in my kitchen. Time spent cooking was wasted time that could have been netter spend doing something else. Or so I was taught.

It was a surprise to me when I moved out that I enjoyed the process of selecting produce and cooking a feast. The time spent cooking was pure delight. I decked myself out with good (read expensive) non stick fry pans. There were no shortage of TV advertisements touting the latest ad greatest advances in Teflon which I felt I had no choice but to take advantage of or else ruin my food. When I had a mid-week dinner to get on the table I used the hottest setting the stove had to hasten the cooking time knowing that the food wouldn’t stick to the pan.

Last month I bought myself a good (read quality) stainless steel pan and an enormous (read I can’t wait to cook paella) cast iron pan. I am using lower settings, producing better food and I am yet to burn a dish or stick anything to the pan.

Lesson:  Don’t buy into others pervasive fears even if those fears are accepted or in vogue. If you stick to quality and your values you will always come out on top.