There is a type of magical love that goes into making a home-cooked meal, taking the time to do everything by hand and doing each step perfectly or imperfectly correct. There is an organic nature to a home-cooked meal that you can't find replicated at restaurant. The unique nature of removing something that the person doesn't like without them having to ask. Adding something that isn't in the recipe but would still taste good or adding that magic ingredient. But what makes a home-cooked meal special, is that its being made for a specific purpose.
I've been cooking since I was a child, when my dad would ask if I wanted to flip the pancakes while making breakfast that morning. I would often be amazed at the pancakes flipping and puffing up when the batter side hit the griddle. There has always been that kind of wonder in the kitchen for me, a sense of magic and love being poured into the food and making it taste better. My dad would ask me if I wanted to help him cook when I was a kid, it was one of the chances I got to spend time with him when I wasn't running from sport to sport, practice to rehearsal, or in school. Most of the time I wouldn't get to see the recipe, I would just follow along with what my dad told me to do, trusting that he hadn't skipped a step. Of course the magic came when we did skip a step and either had to halt the process, continue and multitask, or just skip the step entirely.
Cooking with my dad is still one of my favorite activities, there is a connection in cooking a meal that people enjoy and a sense of accomplishment. My dad is largely the reason that I enjoy cooking as much as I do. The magic that he showed me in the kitchen is something I have attempted to recreate countless times on my own to no avail.
It took years of cooking for myself to understand why the food made in that kitchen always tasted better than whatever I had made for myself. You see for years I had been cooking for solely myself, and being in a depression I never put the same energy into the food that I was making. I didn't care if it tasted amazing, I just wanted to eat and get out, the rest be damned. I hadn't realized that the reason my dad's cooking was always so good was because he wanted everyone to like it. Its become like clockwork in the Robinson household at dinner for my dad to ask how the food is and if we like it. He's a terrible liar, so if he doesn't like the food or notices that someone isn't eating as much he will ask what we don't like so that he can improve the recipe the next time. There's a magic in that.
I finally had my breakthrough cooking moment cooking for someone else's family. I had offered to make dinner and was ready and willing to make anything that the family requested. They decided on a surf and turf dinner, Scallops and steak with a side of veggies. I had cooked for my own family enough times to know the steps of how to make the meal, but I was nervous about the taste. So I tried harder on this meal than I ever have, put together a silly little dessert at the end, and made sure that everything was better than I have ever made it. After a few bites I finally got to look up and ask that question I had only ever asked my family, "How'd I do?" There is always a slight hesitation before someone answers that question, and if its good food its usually because they are chewing and don't want to be rude. Thats magical.
There is magic in the emotion that cooking and food bring. A restaurant is a dining experience, based on the food you eat and the people that you are with. A home-cooked meal is different for the magic that it brings. While you can get consistently good food from a restaurant, home-cooked food can take a turn for the worse. We have all accidentally served our friends a bad meal that we made and laughed about it. You have likely never gone to a restaurant, had bad food and then laughed about how bad the food was, especially if you have paid a decent bit of money for it.
So the next time that your friend decides to make you a meal savor it a bit more. Chances are they made it because they love you.
Recipe: Winslow's Carbona
Ingredients:
1/2 box of spaghetti or pasta of your choice
1/2 cup powdered parmesan or pecorino cheese (more to taste)
2-4 slices of bacon
2 egg yolks
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
Step 1: slice the bacon into smaller sections about a 1/2 inch wide. Cook the bacon in a frying pan, once fully cooked remove 1/2 the bacon grease and clean the grease off of the bacon bits.
Step 2: Fill a pot with water and add salt and olive oil. Bring to a boil and cook the pasta until tender.
Step 3: Remove 1/2 cup of pasta water before straining pasta, DO NOT WASH IT.
Step 4: In a small bowl whisk together your egg yolks and cheese, add salt and pepper to taste.
Step 5: In the same pan that has your bacon grease add your pasta and pasta water while heating it on the lowest possible setting, stir until the pasta is coated in grease and water. It shouldn't stick together at all.
Step 6: turn off the heat and add in your egg cheese mixture and mix the pasta and cheese together until it forms a light custard-like consistency.
Step 7: Serve in a bowl or on a plate, top with bacon bits and any extra cheese you want and enjoy!
Comments