A Thought on Food

"Sometimes I tend to forget how savory and comforting the food of Creole/Cajun region really is..."

I should probably elaborate on that idea... For lunch today in our school cafeteria we had a really great spread: chicken gumbo, pecan crusted chicken breast, (I would have preferred catfish,) shrimp remoulade and some po'boys that were absolutely delicious, among other things. And as I sat there enjoying my second helping of the remoulade I realized that although this was not your top-flight 5 star restaurant quality food there was something basic and so delicious about the gumbo and everything that I ate that it just sort of reached inside me and brought me back to when I was a kid and my mother would make goulash.

First you should know that I grew up in your typical WASP-y New England household where the food was definitely an improvement on the heavy and oftentimes out-of-a-can 1950's housewife style of cooking. My mother and father both worked fulltime when I was growing up and they still do so I have no idea how my mom found a way to cook dinner every night. She is really another testament to how hard everyone in my family works.

In either case, I wasn't exposed to exotic foods and until the age of 23 I never had anyone in my family with a strong culinary background that influenced me. I don't come from a long line of chefs although my father spent a portion of his youth working at a bakery and doing some short order work while he spent his summers surfing the Jersey Shore.

So it wasn't until here in culinary school where I really became aware of the different kinds of food that the world and even America has to offer.

Wait... let me rephrase. I have spent the last couple of years all but glued to the television whenever Alton Brown came on, or Bobby Flay, (although not so much lately,) and especially Tyler Florence. So it wasn't simply that I had no idea about global cuisine or New American Regional food I just didn't get the in-your-face hands-on approach that being in school has allowed me. The sights, the smells, the sounds all of these things cannot be truly represented by a plastic and glass glowing box no matter how hard I studied it. However, amidst all of these chefs and their great shows I occasionally "suffered" through Emeril and his over-the-top nonesense and sometimes poor display of culinary ability and talent. Even a few years ago when I had no practical hands-on knowledge of proper knife cuts and cooking techniques I could still tell that there was something just a bit "off" about this jovial guy who has a new catchphrase seemingly every week.

Now however I am able to look past the fact that his shows were, (and all of the shows on the FN for that matter,) are designed around the idea that over 70 percent of their target audience is stay-at-home mom's and people who are your traditional home-cooks, like my mother (or guys looking to branch out from the breakfast and grill.) I would have to say that less than 10 percent of the people who watch the Food Network are actually trained culinarians like me. And maybe another 15 percent are your self-labeled foodies. The other 5 percent are probably critics, true working chefs, and maybe a smattering of passerby channel surfing types with no real interest in food except for the fact that it keeps them alive.

Once I came to this realization it became easier for me to embrace the ideas that he promotes along with many of the other chefs on that channel. I will exclude a few people from my list: the Neely's, Rachel Ray, Sonny Anderson, Paula Dean, and Melissa D'Arabian to name a few. They all have their own place and each have helped the FN in their own way but I wouldn't look to them for the same level of knowledge that some of the other people could provide me with.

The basic premise of Emeril and his food whether he is making "Italian" or "Cajun/Creole" or some other attempt at fusion or regional cuisine is that when you are cooking you should always:

1) Have fun or find a way to make it fun
2) Taste what you are making as you are making it
3) Try something new
4) Buy as fresh as you can

If you stick to these three basic guidelines you will never in "essence" fail, (no pun intended.)

The bottomline is that if you aren't having fun when you are cooking there will be no love in your food.

And as much as I love fancy food and pretty plates the thing I love even more is when they taste great. How many times have we all been to that fancy restaurant downtown or on main street and had a decent looking plate or even a good looking plate only to dig in and be quite let down by what we're eating. Just because you are paying top dollar doesn't always mean it's going to be great. When we as chef's go out to eat you'd think we all want to go to the fanciest places but a lot of times a great greasy hamburger will do me just fine as long as I know that the people who are making it did it with love and had fun while they were making it.

You should always always always taste your food as you are making it.

It's as though you were trying to drive your car with your eyes closed. If you don't taste your food for seasoning and flavor as your making it you won't know what it's going to taste like or how to fix it. Similarly if you close your eyes and drive down the road you won't be able to see on-coming traffic or any obstacles in your way so the potential to crash is that much higher.

One of the biggest things for me when I am cooking or eating is to always try something new.

We all have our favorite meals at our most favorite restaurants that goes without saying, and there is nothing wrong with it either. But if you don't try something new you are limiting your palate and closing your mind off to new flavor combinations and ideas. Change is the spice of life and if we don't change then moreoften than not we become stagnant and (not to sound morbid) die. Food is as much a science as it is an art and look at some of the world's most creative and influential people. Picasso, Van Gogh, Frank Lloyd Wright, Davinci etc, none of these people would have gotten where they were if they didn't push the envelope. Who knows, you could be the next Thomas Keller...

You should buy the freshest and best possible food you can, as often as you can

Buying food at the grocery store once a week is no longer a viable option in my mind. For the money I want to spend I envision myself at the store no less than 4 times a week. And that's if I'm busy. Granted there are things I will freeze and even buy frozen because they are actually of higher quality when you are in a more landlocked position but all in all, produce and most meat I will gladly buy the day of. Because even if you buy it "fresh" at the grocery store it still probably is at least a day or two old. Hopefully not but especially if things are out of season or not grown within a 50 mile radius you are looking at a minimum of a 2 day age on some things. By buying food on a more frequent basis you are already bringing more flavor to the party because the nutrient value is that much higher. Think about it, a grocery store restocks and replenishes it's inventory almost everyday so why shouldn't you?

So to everyone out there who doesn't think it's possible to create really great food at home just remember, with a little creativity, great ingredients, and some basic knowledge the only thing that will limit you is the size of your kitchen table...