Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Cooking like Jamie Oliver

Though I like trying and experimenting with new recipes, I rarely watch any cooking demonstrations on TV nor internet but prefer to look into cookbooks or eat at  certain restaurants and ask the name of the dishes. I will then look up in the internet for more information on the dishes and the recipes, just for some inspirations and creating similar dishes to my liking afterwards.

But it is easier and more practical to learn how to cook new dishes from the demo on TV, you will argue, one can see exactly how things are done and cannot go wrong from there.
Yes, you are right. But it can be depressing too to see how those cooks prepare everything so quickly and easily while in reality one needs much more time and efforts to do exactly as those guys do. But if you are as quick and skillful as those guys, then lucky you.
Me, I am not a professional cook, never attended any cooking classes in my life (except at school when cooking was obligatory, but lucky me, for some unknown reason I was always assigned to do petty and harmless tasks only like peeling garlic or washing the veggies), so I cannot expect to do what the cooks on TV do namely  set 4 different delicious dishes, in less than 30 minutes, as famous Jamie Oliver does.
Maybe I need 60 minutes for the same things, or even more, because I am a very clumsy, slow and not so skillful cook (If I may call myself a cook) or person.  I often drop, splash and stumble upon things while cooking even when I already try to do things carefully. I swear a lot in the kitchen out of frustration for not doing things good, or quick enough as I want to. Sometimes I feel myself as a failure when things go completely wrong, though fortunately it happens only once a while.

So watching cooking demonstration on our vacation like today was fine, just for a change since I had never watched Jamie Oliver's cooking program on TV before.
He is preparing cauliflower macaroni, salad with basil dressing, baked fruits and brandy, all which sounds delicious and tempting. And high on calories too. He is, admittedly, a very creative, talented cook!

Look at the kitchen he is working in! So spacious, neat, clean and modern! He will find everything he needs within reach. My kitchen is a tiny space, cramped with kitchen equipment, utensils and I don't know what. Looking for the right items on a tiny working place can be a torture sometimes. (Grumbling) Envious? Nah, just wishing we had a bigger kitchen at home.

But wait a minute! What am I seeing here? Why did he bang the pan into the oven? Hey...
'He is handling the equipment without any respect! Now he is throwing off the stone of the fruits just like that! He mixed the sugar with the fruit, now he is opening the drawer with his sugar coated hand! Nah, now he is squeezing the lemon, look, the juice is spraying all over. Now he is opening the oven with his sticky fingers! He never even bothers to wash his hand first before he grabs the handle of the oven or the food processor!' I shouted at Jamie's image surprising hubby who seemed to be enjoying himself watching the the images of the FOOD.
I am a fan of kitchen gadgets, I love kitchen aids since they make my life easier, and treat them accordingly. Though already some years old, all my kitchen devices are in tip-top shape.

'Look, instead of plucking the basil leaves, he is just twisting them off!' How cruel!
And next comes the chicory. He opens the salad from its package, slices the vegetable, and decorates it with some basil leaves. Without washing the chicory, mind you. Last time when I washed some leafy greens I found enough earth on the bottom of the leaves to fill in my teeth AND a larva of some unknown insect curling cozily on one of the leaves!

'Look, he's sieving the capers out of the hot oil and now taking the sieve to the working place, of course with some oil still dripping from the sieve!'
By this time I got really heated like a football, no, a food commentator.
'Nah, he just wants to show how cool he is,' defended hubby.
'But if I do as he does, throwing off things, banging pans, touching everything with oily sticky fingers, I will need not only extra 30 minutes, but 3 hours just to clean up afterwards!'
'He has somebody to clean up the mess! Besides he can afford to buy new ovens and pans everytime he ruins them!' Hubby retorted.
Yes, I wish I could import or borrow one of my sister's maids in Indonesia or employ a dust goblin who gobbles all the mess AND conjures up new pans and ovens.

When we went shopping the same day, I threw the groceries into our cart, bam, bam, bam! Probably exactly as Jammie does when he does some shopping himself.
Hubby glared at me in dismay and scolded, 'Sei nicht so grausam!' (Not so cruel / harsh!) 'What did you do that for?!'
'I want to be cool like Jamie!' I retorted.
'But it is not necessary, you are not on TV!' He said desperately and shook his head.

Yes, thankfully, we don't have a TV at home, otherwise I'll be even cooler than Jamie!
What do you think about Jamie's cooking STYLE or way of cooking (NOT his creations since I believe without even trying that most of them will be very yummy)? Do you think it is cool or a bit TOO cool?

PS:
Yes, Jamie Oliver is really cool in 'Pink Slime'.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Ich bin leider erst jetzt dazugekommen, ein bisschen hineinzulesen und habe sehr über dich in Jamie-Oliver-Style gelacht :-) Mir gefällt dein Schreiben wirklich sehr gut und ich freue mich schon auf alle weiteren Geschichten!
Alles Liebe,
Maria