{"id":522,"date":"2011-11-10T07:32:57","date_gmt":"2011-11-10T07:32:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mrsbutterfingers.com\/wp\/?p=522"},"modified":"2012-03-26T21:55:32","modified_gmt":"2012-03-26T21:55:32","slug":"more-from-my-kitchen-diary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mrsbutterfingers.com\/?p=522","title":{"rendered":"MORE FROM MY KITCHEN DIARY"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The recipe I gave you from my Blue Ribbon Cookbook\u00a0 has a glaring omission.\u00a0 It should start,\u00a0 first, light a fire in your stove.\u00a0\u00a0 If I was lucky there would be some kindling by the woodpile, otherwise I would have to search for splinters of wood and bark (we weren’t allowed to cut kindling).\u00a0\u00a0 The lemon cookie recipe says bake in a “quick” oven,\u00a0 that would be a hot oven around 375 degrees.\u00a0\u00a0 It takes a while for the oven to build temperature.\u00a0 The quickest way is\u00a0 using the smallest pieces of wood.\u00a0 There is definitely\u00a0 an art to building a fire.<\/p>\n

When I started baking everything was mixed by hand;\u00a0 butter and sugar whipped to a creamy softness,\u00a0 egg yolks beaten, whites whipped.\u00a0 I still have a bump on my right fore-finger from years of vigorously\u00a0 creaming butter.\u00a0 You were very involved with the food you prepared.\u00a0 This\u00a0 physically connection to food gives you an awareness and appreciation of the process.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Today when I am teaching someone how to cook a dish I like to remind them to look on food prep not has a chore but part of the enjoyment of the food you are going to\u00a0 eat.<\/p>\n

Cookbooks that promise you a meal in five minutes using three ingredients may have their place in our busy society, but they are not doing you any favours.\u00a0 \u00a0 The food lacks depth, missing layers of flavours. \u00a0 It’s cooking without soul.\u00a0 Buying processed food; chicken breasts in a box, pasta in a bag, bread with so many preservatives you can keep it for a year, is so sad. \u00a0 It’s food that frequently doesn’t even nourish your body, let alone your soul.\u00a0 And it’s expensive.<\/p>\n

Would I give up my electric stove,\u00a0 standing mixer and food processor.\u00a0 Absolutely not.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What I’m writing about is enjoying the process.\u00a0 Enjoy buying your food.\u00a0 Enjoy cooking it, and most of all enjoy sharing it with your family and friends.\u00a0\u00a0 If you don’t love to cook, you should ask yourself, why?<\/p>\n

Would I\u00a0 bake again with a wood stove?\u00a0 Absolutely yes!\u00a0 Bread, cookies, pastry,\u00a0 all\u00a0 bakes better in the dry heat of a wood oven.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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