Misadventures in Cooking, Part I

I was originally thinking of calling this section “The art of preparing edible substrate for human consumption” but it didn’t have the right ring to it. Anyway, this is a running series I have planned where I’ll explore the art of cooking thanks to the host of tools generously donated by the foundation of Mac and my Grandma.

Before I got a literal trunk-load of cooking utensils, I relied on one pan, one knife, and two seasonings (Great American Land & Cattle, and Cavender’s All-Purpose Greek). Which is to say, our food wasn’t bad per se…just a tad - simple. The only dish of mention made before Denise arrived with our gifts was a failure-turned-delectable risotto (thanks to a call to Pop).

Post the one-pan, one-knife era, we went for something a smidge more complicated. The American Test Kitchen Cookbook (also given to us by Mac and Grandma) had a pretty easy and tasty sounding recipe for brined pork with a garlic-hoisin sauce. Everything went mostly to plan, but I cooked the pork a little too long so once I took it off the burner, the residual heat made it cook until it was a bit tougher than I would have liked. I probably should also remember to buy thicker cuts of rib chop next time as well… The sauce could have used some tweaking. Six minced cloves of garlic made it a bit too, well, garlic-ee. The paired sweetness of the hoisin with the pork was a nice combo, but it could be a bit more subtle. As to ideas for an inert ingredient to draw down the punch, I’m all ears.

If anyone wants to post suggestions for my next challenge, I’ll also be happy to field those.