Cooking is a form of transmutation. Alchemy, if one would want to get really want to get romantic about it. Cooking tries to take the best out of each element present and through sacrifice becomes something new. When one commits ingredients and energy to a dish, the synergy of the dish produces an effect on all senses in a euphoric array. Most equate basic cooking as very moderate in its precursors for succes. An undergrad student can use a tea kettle and some instant noodles to achieve a nurishing meal with some fair amounts of self-satisfaction. I started the same way at the age of 6 fabricating basic instant make dishes which tickled me. Today my tastes have changed, by biases are skewing and broadening without restraint.
I pursue techniques and cuisines that will utilize the most of the product available and tempered with my own, hopefully growing, skill; create an end worth whatever means. Oblique awareness of one's surroundings will bring an unfair value to everyday worth. With time and seasoning, like a primal cut of beef left to dry cure, one learns to appreciate the beauty that life brings. This applies to everything in the kitchen from fresh produce bought at a local market to knives that are clean, sharp and honed with a skill fit to be the jealousy of any surgeon. The waste of potential, product and skill is crime in my eyes when so much can be gained and enjoyed out of each. I seek to make the best from the best that i can find.
Already this mission is flawed. I am not the best chef in the world, much less the current city in which I reside. Not even a day after completing my externship, I nearly burned alive in an auto accident. I am seared. 1 square yard of skin grafts cover the areas on my legs that ignited in flame. Learning to walk again, I find that I don't dwell on how my hands crisped to blackness then cracked and bled upon flexing to dissaude overzealous EMTs that amputation was not necessary. I am fixed in casual
obsession over wasted life.
If we must kill to eat and survive, we must pay homage and honor ever contribution to each meal. In hopes of achieving this goal, I am writing about anything that comes to mind as I continue my career as a chef. With each entry I hope readers will experiement and pick up tricks, techniques and patterns that they enjoy in bringing happiness and life with each meal they create for their loved ones and guests. Selfishly, I hope that readers will also be my critics about my food and techniques. As the old phrase goes, it is only after you are burned that you learn the lesson. Oh yes, it is very bad humor. Please enjoy.
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