Tastes Like Home
Hi Everyone,
A few months after completing my cookbook, I spent several weeks with a friend in the USA and of course, I cooked. Each day was an adventure in the kitchen – frustration, anxiety, and some success, exactly in that order. At the end of each day I had a different perspective on recipes and giving people advice. In some cases, I wanted to go and re-write my book!
I felt totally off my cooking game. The simplest of tasks for me – such as roasting a chicken, had me questioning my skill. The entire period in this ‘alien’ kitchen was a challenge. I found myself scorching things, burning things, under cooking some dishes, over cooking others. I have always felt that a good cook is one who is able to adapt to various cooking environments – that includes not only adjusting to new ingredients, but also adjusting to various environments and the physical elements such as appliances, tools and equipment. I began to ask myself, if I was having so much trouble in this new kitchen… really… how good a cook am I? (Cue the dramatic music)
The first challenge was adapting to an electric stove and oven as I come from a gas environment. This alien kitchen had one of those new solid top electric ranges where the heat elements are underneath a glass top. The heat is regulated by HI, LO and the numbers 1 to 9 in between. The two extremes were easy enough to work out, and I assumed mark 5 was about medium, but it was often difficult to figure exactly what range of heat the other numbers represented. I scorched rice, stews and curries until I realized that I would have to rely on my instincts and knowledge about how food is supposed to look, sound and feel if I was going to adjust to this stove.
When it came to the oven, baking things such as scones, buns and breads, the heating and timing was spot on but for roasts – chicken, beef, pork, lamb and vegetables, I found that I always had to let it cook for more than the time I’d usually do with my gas oven back home.
But it wasn’t just the stove and oven. I am very comfortable cooking with a pressure cooker and have been doing so since I was a teenager. However, cooking with my friend’s pressure cooker took some adjustment. Again, it was a matter of timing. The main difference with the pressure cooker was that unlike mine that buzzes and then whistles, my friend’s gives a constant buzz. It is one of the newer features of some of the pressure cookers today all in an effort to be safer and less intimidating.
So, on a few occasions, I’d set my peas, beans or meat in the pressure cooker to cook in the time that I’d normally do at home and always, the things were overdone. My peas and beans would turn to mush and the meat would become way too soft and lose its form. After those disasters, I cut the cooking time by more than a half to yield the results I needed.
Don’t get me started on trying to balance my Caribbean round-bottomed karahi on the stove! Remember I told you that my friend’s stove is one of those smooth solid tops. So, In addition to easily sliding all over the stove, the pointed part of the karahi that made contact with the stove did not generate enough heat for the food to cook evenly. A wok ring eventually helped.
Ingredients such as sugar took lots of adjustment. The granulated sugar was of a finer variety so too was the brown sugar and I found both not as sweet as those I was accustomed to using. This really made me panic as I thought of my recipes and the sugar quantities I suggested using.
There were times I forgot that I was not in the Caribbean when I’d take butter or eggs out of the refrigerator just half an hour to come up to room temperature before using. In some cases it took at least 3 hours. I adapted by taking things out just before turning in late at night as the house maintained a coolness that would not deteriorate the ingredients.
Tap water temperature was yet another thing of worry as I thought of my recipes. Cold water in the US is cold! Tap water in the Caribbean is much warmer. A friend of mine who was assisting in proofing some of my recipes for my book, sent me a note asking if I did not mean that warm water should be added to the grated coconut to be squeezed for milk, I was a little puzzled only to realise that her tap water would be way too cold to be used in the way I was suggesting. Like I said, our water is warm enough.
I really treasured the time in my friend’s kitchen, as those are some valuable lessons and insights that will serve me well. It reconfirms that cooking, ingredients and recipes are all relative. There are so many variables that need to be considered and adaptations to be made. Being out of the comfort zone of our own kitchens also means that we must rely on our own instincts. We’ve got to adapt in order to succeed.
Cynthia
tasteslikehome@gmail.com
www.tasteslikehome.org
Cardamom (Elaichi) Sago Pudding
Ingredients
½ cup sago pearls
1 cup boiling water
5 green cardamom (elaichi) pods, lightly bruised
2 cups whole milk
1 egg, room temperature, lightly beaten
½ cup white granulated sugar
1/8-teaspoon salt (pinch)
Method
1. Add water to large saucepot along with cardamom pods and sago, stir, cover and let soak for 15 minutes.
2. Add milk, beaten egg, sugar and salt to a large bowl and stir to fully incorporate.
3. Add the milk mixture to the sago, place on medium to low heat and stir to mix thoroughly (be careful) as you do not want to scorch the mixture.
4. Cook, stirring often until the pudding has thickened (about 10 – 15 minutes) depending on the heat you are working with.
5. Transfer to individual serving bowls and serve warm or chilled. You can opt to lightly sauté some ripe bananas in butter like I did and serve it with the pudding.
