Ken's musings on cooking

It seems that over the years, I have run into a lot of people who say that they can't cook. While I cannot claim to be a chef, I have found that cooking for the most part is pretty forgiving. Do not confuse cooking with baking. Baking is a very exact science that has no forgiveness whatsoever. Cooking can be OK as long as you start with a few pieces of philosophy from Clint Eastwood's famous character "Dirty Harry".For those of you who just want to see the receipe I posted for caramel sauce, please click here.

A man's got to know his limitations

If you read a receipe that has many many ingredients, some of which you haven't ever heard of, and instructions that read like the instructions for constructing something large, chances are it may be a bit much to do your first time out. When you are just learning, stick to stuff that has relatively few inexpensive ingredients. That way, if all you end up making is a mess, at least it wasn't too expensive an excersize.

Every dirty job that comes around

Police your own crime scene. No, I don't mean drawing a chalk outline on the floor of whatever that was when you killed it with the oven, and setting up flashing barriers to keep the crowd away. Clean up. If everyone you know can figure out that it was you who left that mess without calling a CSI unit, you have to change your MO. Try to create a "perfect crime" by not having anyone able to tell that you were ever there.

Another note about cleaning

When cleaning up a kitchen mess, please be sure to be sanitary. Remember, if you have a dishwasher, make sure you use it with the high heat which kills most germs. If you have items that are too large to fit in the dishwasher, you can use boiling hot water to help kill the germs. If you use a sponge to wash things, make sure the sponge is left on the counter not on the sink, or it will grow germs that get spread around. If you want to be extra sure, moisten the sponge, and zap it for a short time in a microwave oven ONLY MICROWAVE DAMP SPONGES, DRY SPONGES CAN BURN IN THE MICROWAVE. On other items, I usually use hydrogen peroxide, or cheap vodka (you know, the kind that comes in those huge 1.75 liter bottles). The hydrogen peroxide is relatively cheap, and it kills germs relatively well without leaving toxic residue.

Something to try

By now, I guess you must be wondering if I am going to give you a receipe. I guess I owe you a first receipe since you have been here reading my writings so far. Hopefully, this will give you something to work on while you either wait for me to come up with something else, or read on your own.

Simple caramel sauce

This is a simple caramel sauce that can be made with ingredients that you can find in most households

Real butter
Real sugar
balsamic vinegar, or red wine vinegar, or red wine, or lemon juice, or lime juice
inexpensive rum, brandy, bourbon whisky, or some other whisky
spoon
heavy duty pot or pan DO NOT USE NON STICK
BONUS ITEM heavy cream, about 1/4 cup
The plan

the plan is to melt the butter and sugar together slowly until you see some browning, then add something sour to keep it from burning
1. over low to medium heat melt about 1 Tablespoon of butter (or a little less than 1cm for you metric folks)
2. stir in about 1/4 cup sugar or about 60ml
3. when the sugar and butter are melted together, and the thin syrup is starting to turn brown, add your vinegar, wine, or citrus juice
4. After stirring some more, by the way, how aggresive are you?, if you really are aggresive/ambitious/trying to impress, get some matches and crank the heat to high, if not leave it as it is, add about 60ml or 1/4 cup of your distilled spirit. Aggressive people can try lighting up the booze with their matches at this point and stir until all lumps are gone
If your sauce is still a bit lumpy, you can add some more of those spirits and stir around until it is smooth. as the sauce is smooth and warm, you can use it as is, or add the heavy cream to create something really really rich. The sauce works well with ice cream, fruits like strawberries, and certain pastries like apple pie.