Last Saturday I mentioned how people are skeptical about cooking foods that they don’t know well, for example making canned or frozen vegetables because they don’t recognize fresh vegetables. Nutritionally that’s OK, but we can really expand our horizons and celebrate real food in endless ways. The point I was going to make in that discussion, which I completely forgot to make at the time, is that providing people with more food sometimes is not beneficial if they don’t know what to do with it. I have an upcoming post on food security and one of the issues is getting more nutritious food to the hungry, but the confidence to try preparing different meals is also important.
One time someone from the seafood industry was on the radio saying they did some research to figure out why they can’t get people to buy more seafood. They found that most people who do not buy seafood do not know how to prepare and serve it. Anyone who cooks knows there are a million recipes out there, so there’s a mental block that’s preventing people from doing new things with food outside of their comfort zone.
Tonight our menu was kind of screwy because we were going to have leftovers and yesterday my daughter made a lot of potatoes, but I wasn’t up to coming home from work again and having another potato dinner. I suggested we buy and make a nice steak, quickly prepare it, and divide it between four to give the vegetables a boost on leftover day. This would also save me from having to get creative and postpone dinner another hour. Tony got home first with steak in hand while I was still on the way.
He wanted to make the steak but, with it being nine degrees outside, grilling is out of the question. He always felt somewhat intimidated about using the broiler. The website he went to for instructions said that using a broiler was just like using an upside down grill – instead of having the flame a few inches below the meat, you have it a few inches above the meat. After he read that, his whole attitude changed about using the broiler and he went for it with excellent results.
There are a lot of different ways to prepare food and they can all produce delicious results. Besides challenging ourselves with trying new food ingredients, we can increase our comfort levels with modes of preparation. Some ways to prepare food are grill, slow cooker, stove top, oven, raw, griddles or hot plates, pressure cooker, broiler, etc. This weekend I’m going to try a clay pot. Stay tuned for the results, and let me know how it goes when you try something new.
