Love this, and adore cooking with friends. It's rare that Charlotte and I cook together, unless we're entertaining, but it's often far more lovely a thing than when we eat together. And doing so from a cookbook is the perfect vehicle of democracy needed! And what better way to remember a great man gone too soon than to cook his food. x
I can sense that. As food publishers we probably don't give things like that enough consideration. They become manuals, or become food books of a more literary hue. I wonder how often, ironically, we actually consider the sheer enjoyment of cooking and sharing!
I get so excited when my son of 23 comes home from uni - he’s a passionate cook of Asian food - specifically Korean food as that is his lifelong passion and his degree - and we jokingly say ‘ready for your weird sh*t food now’ and he and I will go to great lengths going to the Asian supermarkets to find unheard of and previously unimagined ingredients. His relative inexperience in cooking means he doesn’t feel he can vary by one single ingredient from a recipe and I’ve learned to shut up and sous for him. We always have his music on and some home made makgeolli or some beers on and these are hit and miss affairs for the most part, but how I treasure our bond over cooking.
Ah....love this post. And note to self to try out this idea in a very deliberate, collaborative way rather than my usual, when people come round and ask to help, to which I reply stgh like "oh no it's fine" or "well if you are ok to chop the onion..." which is SO not about a shared cooking experience. Et bien voilà quelle belle idée merci 😘
Good point about the oven temperatures, I often forget to state if I am using a fan oven. I used to cook on a coal fired Rayburn and I simply would say pop in the oven until cooked as I could never work out how long it would take to cook on a regular oven.
That kitchen had a central work station and I loved having people mingling around while I was cooking, but they knew to stay on their side of the table.
Now I have a smaller kitchen I am quite protective of my sphere.
The people on the AI-made image have melting hands and faces! Luckily, the chicken ballotine picture restored some sense of Truth and Beauty.
I know 🙄 It's a bit rubbish but had to upload a picture quickly before the train pulled intoi the station!
That's quite a good image when you don't look too close, I generated a three legged person riding a bicycle the other day. Quite disturbing.
I bet!!
It's not your fault, Fiona, I enjoyed your article very, very much, and I know I'm going to dream about that chicken ballotine for a long time!
What a great post and what a great idea to cook together like that
It really is fun, Mark.
Love this, and adore cooking with friends. It's rare that Charlotte and I cook together, unless we're entertaining, but it's often far more lovely a thing than when we eat together. And doing so from a cookbook is the perfect vehicle of democracy needed! And what better way to remember a great man gone too soon than to cook his food. x
It brings an entire book to life in the way that just leafing through it rarely does.
I can sense that. As food publishers we probably don't give things like that enough consideration. They become manuals, or become food books of a more literary hue. I wonder how often, ironically, we actually consider the sheer enjoyment of cooking and sharing!
How fun Fiona! Looks like a good time was had by all!
Definitely was - and for the lovely people who got to eat it!
I get so excited when my son of 23 comes home from uni - he’s a passionate cook of Asian food - specifically Korean food as that is his lifelong passion and his degree - and we jokingly say ‘ready for your weird sh*t food now’ and he and I will go to great lengths going to the Asian supermarkets to find unheard of and previously unimagined ingredients. His relative inexperience in cooking means he doesn’t feel he can vary by one single ingredient from a recipe and I’ve learned to shut up and sous for him. We always have his music on and some home made makgeolli or some beers on and these are hit and miss affairs for the most part, but how I treasure our bond over cooking.
That is the loveliest thing to do! What a treat!
Ah....love this post. And note to self to try out this idea in a very deliberate, collaborative way rather than my usual, when people come round and ask to help, to which I reply stgh like "oh no it's fine" or "well if you are ok to chop the onion..." which is SO not about a shared cooking experience. Et bien voilà quelle belle idée merci 😘
It just takes so much of the pressure off!
A very healthy approach (and attitude) indeed — cheers to that!
Good point about the oven temperatures, I often forget to state if I am using a fan oven. I used to cook on a coal fired Rayburn and I simply would say pop in the oven until cooked as I could never work out how long it would take to cook on a regular oven.
That kitchen had a central work station and I loved having people mingling around while I was cooking, but they knew to stay on their side of the table.
Now I have a smaller kitchen I am quite protective of my sphere.