COOKING:
Rice does not need to be washed or toasted before it is cooked.Meat can be cooked in a tablespoon or less of oil.
Rinsing cooked pasta, especially in cold water, is a sin.
Toast should be brown but never black.
Sugar is not an appropriate second ingredient in any savory food.
Most vegetables taste better raw.
Potatoes do not count as "vegetables".
A meal should not take longer than 1 hour to prepare.
WASHING DISHES:
The person who cooks is ideally excused from doing dishes.
When washing dishes, it is important to wash at least all the tableware.
Sometimes this involves two loads, but it is part of "doing the dishes".
It is okay to soak pots overnight.
Dishes that are soaking should soak in the sink.
Emptying the dish drainer is part of washing the dishes.
Putting away the dishes is the last step in doing them.
Food should be tasted before salted or doused. Attempts at kitchen cleanup before the meal is served must be authorized by the cook. Fresh vegetables lightly seasoned are not "boring".
ps--enjoyed the Raymond Carver allusion!
Posted by: Corbin | January 05, 2010 at 08:47 PM
Cooking: We would disagree only in the preparation time. Some meals deserve more than an hour to prepare. Plus, some podcasts I listen to while cooking are longer than an hour.
Washing Dishes: Unfortunately that which is ideal and that which is real are often very different things.
Posted by: ste3ve | January 07, 2010 at 12:48 AM
Corbin - Good catch! You know how much I like Raymond Chandleeerrrr...Carver. And I agree with you: People who consider good food simply seasoned or unseasoned to be boring are projecting.
Posted by: tuckova | January 07, 2010 at 05:52 AM
S- Everything is an ideal, here, for me, and all ideals have real exceptions (rinsing pasta in cold water before making pasta salad is of course fine) and real world exceptions ("I didn't have time to do all the dishes b/c: EMERGENCY"), but these are the issues that seem to come up more than those exceptions should allow.
Posted by: tuckova | January 07, 2010 at 05:56 AM
I simply meant that ideally I wouldn't have to do the dishes when I cook, but in reality I do. ^_^
Posted by: ste3ve | January 07, 2010 at 07:57 AM
Eggs should always be basted or scrambled in real butter (period)
Posted by: Lake Boggan | January 15, 2010 at 11:19 PM