Archive for Kitchen Yarns
Man vs. Wild – Eating Rhino Beetle Larva
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I’ve debated including videos and posts like this on The Cooking Dish for some time now, but I finally decided I’d create a special “NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH” categories for them; after all, I can’t deny my inner boyishness. I love stuff like this, though I’m sure most of the world’s cooks find it less than appealing. But if you think about, as is mentioned in the video, somewhere out there, for someone, this is normal food…
I absolutely love food and I love the outdoors too. I live in the city now, but when I used to live in the country, I’d spend lots of time camping, fishing, hiking, and having fun in the wilderness. It’s been hard to find time to drive to the mountains now when they used to be at my backdoor. Every summer we’d spend a few weeks gathering wood to heat our house during the winter. I love the crackle of a warm orange-red fire in the hearth. Often in the summer while cutting and splitting the wood, we’d come across a batch of pine beetle larva, (we called them pine beetles, but the antennae were really long which makes me think they were maybe an asian beetle or male white sawyer beetles–not sure… ANYWAY, seeing the beetle larva in the summer always made me wonder if I could eat one of those things if I was lost in the wilderness… I always came to the conclusion that it’d have to be life and death.
Trauma in the Kitchen: It Found Me
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I’m not sure if even the best of chefs are immune to traumatic kitchen moments, but as an amateur, I know I have my fair share of them. With time I’ve learned to let them roll off my back and learn all I can from them. It’s probably a good thing too, or I’d be too afraid to set foot in the kitchen… burned fingers, crappy bread, etc. etc. Yep, I’ve been there and I’m sure I’ve got my fair share still coming to me.
A few years back I wrote a short, frivolous story for a writing seminar/class all about a terrible cooking day I’d experienced in the kitchen of my wife and I’s first apartment. We lived in an 8-plex’s basement in a one bedroom apartment. It was small, but not unbearable: it had a decent kitchen. Now, if there’s one thing I’ve learned about cooking, it’s that it has a way of humbling you when you least expect it… here’s my story. Reading time is approximately 8 minutes.
Your New Cooking Mantra: Bork Bork
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To my readers and fellow cooks who are scared to cook and spice, behold your new cooking mantra: bork bork. There’s a famous Swedish chef who’s not afraid to try anything, and who I love to watch cook. He’s had cameos in numerous films and is well known for his “throw caution into the wind” cooking style. If you don’t know who I’m talking about, take a quick gander at the guy staring back at you in the photo on the left, and meet… actually, he just goes by Swedish Chef.
One thing I enjoy about the Swedish Chef is that he’s over-the-top carefree in the kitchen; in this short article I hope to briefly illustrate why being carefree in the kitchen is not such a bad thing. Bork bork.
For me, being carefree while cooking is fun and relaxing. I often approach cooking with a fun “I’m going to perform an experiment” perspective that is occasionally accompanied by an evil mad scientist laugh, mwahahahaha! This makes cooking fun for me, and as I’ve been told, those who cook with me. The great part about experiments is that it’s strictly that–an experiment, and you can go at your own pace. If you’re unsure about how to experiment, start by following a simple recipe and then make some substitutions or add or leave out an ingredient to see what happens. I guarantee that in time you’ll start to understand how foods work together, and when that happens cooking becomes even more exciting. I find that when I’m carefree while cooking and having fun that I’m more relaxed and feel better about my time, even if my creation only ends up in the round file. One of the perks to always experimenting and being carefree with your stuff is that you end up with a bunch of recipes you can call your own.
