revival of the home cook

There is a heightened level of appreciation when you’ve made something yourself. I don’t mean out of the box- add moisture. Stir. Bake. Consume.

I am referring to finding the raw materials and evolving them into something that is a reminder of an earlier time. A simpler time.

 I remember growing up, in a household of chefs, where nothing from the store was ever good enough. You wanted herbs- you grew them. You wanted bread – you baked. Even something as simple as ketchup, my parents would wait till the peak of tomato season and bottle themselves enough to last through the next summer.

 This mindset was our law. That is until we moved to America.

 Here our food came from cans, and boxes. Not that the easy to assemble stuff was compatible to the homemade, but simply because the availability and quality of ingredients was so poor that one was left with no choice but to settle.

This is a happier day. Times have changed as America has discovered food all over again, and with it came appreciation not only for the ingredient but also for the process of its transformation.

 Think of it this way (follow me here), you are browsing through the produce section as you run down your grocery list to make, let say, gumbo (keeping it local). Onion- check. Bell pepper- check. Then suddenly out the corner of your eye, there it is – a jar of perfectly diced onion and bell pepper ready to cook.

Now tell me which one will give you the better finish product? Will the gumbo taste the same, sure it will. But because it has already been done for you, you now care that much less about the ingredient. Compare that to actually doing the dicing yourself- much different outcome. You now care. You have made it what it is, the fruit of your labor.

 This is strange coming from a restaurant chef, but I long for the revival of the home cook. That is my foodie driven American dream. Not for myself but for you as well. The thought that one day you will say to yourself, “I can make that.” And all the sudden the next generation will say “this is my family’s recipe.”