Chances are, being that it’s Jan. 2 and all, I’ve already broken at least one of my New Years’ resolutions, which include:
• To come to a full stop at four-way stop signs.
• To cut my coffee intake by half.
• To finish that half-empty bottle of Plymouth gin in my liquor cabinet before treating myself to a new one.
But there is one resolution I have no intention of dropping, and that is this: to get far more ambitious in the kitchen.
I have had it with Fifteen-Minute-This, and Partially-Homemade-That, and Just- Open-A-Can-No-One-Will-Ever-Know-The-Difference-The-Other.
This year, I will block off the whole weekend to make a real cassoulet. I will soak dry beans overnight rather than pop a can for soup. I will call in sick for two straight days to produce enough chicken stock to get me to next Shavuos.
I refuse to buy into the communal brainwashing that tells us that cooking is the height of drudgery, that if we spent less time in the kitchen, we’d have more time to do, well, other things. Like watch TV, I guess, or mow the lawn, or fight with our better halves.
Because as far as I’m concerned, I’d rather kill a few hours in the kitchen than anywhere else. I’m happiest when the iPod’s in the dock, my glass of Riesling is chilly, and I’ve lost all track of time making pie crust after pie crust until they’re perfect. In the kitchen I know I’ll learn something, I’ll accomplish something and, most important, I’ll eat.
Will there be nights in 2008 when I just scramble a couple of eggs, toss them over some arugula, and sit on the floor in front of the television? Sure. I like those nights.
But I resolve now that whenever I can, I’ll try a recipe I’ve never tried before, even if it’s the longest, most complex one in the book. I’ll cook with ingredients I can’t pronounce, even if they smell funny at the store, just to see what happens. I’ll ask unlikely people for recipes, because the most valuable secrets always come from the most unexpected places.
I will cook meals, not just assemble them. I will fill weekend afternoons scouring sinister-looking strip-mall groceries for unexpected products, which I will purchase and prepare. I will experiment. I will make mess after mess. I will screw up on purpose so I know what a screw-up looks like. I will forgive my own mistakes and try again, and again, until I get it the way I like it. (Not until I get it “right,” but until I get it the way I like it.)
I will cook this year, with abandon and fearlessness and invention and pluck.
That is my resolution.
What’s yours?
Tucker Shaw: 303-954-1958 or dining@denverpost.com.
