Cooks And Non Cooks

These past few months have been challenging for home chefs and non chefs alike. It's been harder for the second. Don't fret. You're not alone. Many out there have issues with food from cooking to baking.

This was the subject of regular contributor Priya Krishna's piece in today's New York Times Food section. Cooking and baking do not come easy to many. Ms. Krishna interviewed several baptized by fire home chefs about their experiences (it was accompanied by clever drawing s from celebrated artist Jessica Olien). Some home cooks even have problems with frozen foods as did Melissa Hodges in College Station, Texas. She noticed her classmates at the Texas A&M University posting glossy pictures of spaghetti carbonara and citrus scones on Instagram. it inspired her.  She tried to heat a frozen pizza but forgot two vital things. She forgot to read the instructions and put it in some kind of pan. The dough fell through the cracks in her oven and the flavors? Think doughy and charred. She tried again with pasta and wound up with another mess.It crunched when she bit into it. Ms. Hodges is now resigned to eating breakfast cereal and other easy dishes. She could have chronicled her failures like another non-cook , Kyler Callahan of Seattle, Washington. The computer engineer cooked a chicken breast but incinerated it when he turned up the heat, when a meat thermometer declared the meat undercooked. This was the case also with Eric Philips who joking tweeted he alphabetically arranged his five spices.It did upset some home chefs.

Do cookbooks help? Many haven't been cracked open since they were given as wedding and shower gifts.This was the case with Kim Baldwin who works at the independent bookstore, Parnassus Books in Nashville. She also hasn't used the appliances she received for wedding gifts either. She has made curried lentils with the legumes from her pantry. It worked save for one problem - the lentils were eight years old. According to her they were "chewy and weird'. Then she tried making barbecued chicken with boneless chicken breasts and barbecue sauce. Everything was thrown into a slow cooker and turned basically into a soup. That convinced her husband to a steady diet of ramen. She did have a victory with lemon pie even though almost every ingredient had to be substituted due to shortages. Some of the simplest recipes like whipped daglona coffee, a popular drink made with just instant coffee, sugar, water and milk has been met with problems. Jennifer Tallman of Brooklyn tried it with an immesion blender , only to be bathed in it. Her shrimp and pasta also bombed.

Home chefs, don't despair. Stick with the simple and then work up to the more complicated dishes. Learning how to cook takes time. That's the secret ingredient.