posted
I have been very pleased to find out recentley that more of my friends than I thought really enjoy cooking.
We've made a little cooking group to meet friday evenings at someone's home, where we will essentially be cooking and eating. Lots of fun!
The first night is being hosted at my house. Seeing as it is the first night, it will be the precedent all the rest will follow.
I had originally considered doing a Focaccia bread with a greek salad and Tuna with herbed Aoli sauce or an Oregano chicken...
...but then I realized that this group is together not because we love to eat, but because we love to cook. We love to get in the kitchen and get our hands dirty -- figuratively, of course.
So now I'm looking more for group-compatible cooking, like fondue or kebabs.
We stumbled across this idea last friday, when a friend offered to make sushi for us and we all wound up in the kitchen. She set out the fish, rice, rolling mats and nori, and we all made rolls and such and cut them up and shared them with everyone. Lots of fun because we all 'cooked' and we all shared the products of our work.
What could be done in a similar way to get 5-8 people in the kitchen cooking?
Posts: 515 | Registered: Mar 2004
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How about some stir fries. The chopping and prep work is the boring part -- but share that among many hands, and it could be fun.
Everyone can decorate individual desserts, then trade.
Mix up a batch of pizza dough, and divide the dough among the group. Each can do his own kneading, stretching and topping the pizza (or foccacia, or calzone, or whatever) to taste.
Posts: 10397 | Registered: Jun 2005
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quote:I'm not too familiar with stir fries; do you have anything trustworthy for me?
Hot Wok. Hot, Hot, Very Very HOT.
Now put in your oil. Swirl it.
Sizzle...that's the sound of your food hitting the wok. It cooks hot, but not long. Do not crowd the wok -- it needs to be able to breathe.
Stir (duh!) as it fries, then Whoosh! Dump it out onto your dish! Quick!
But it is the prep that takes a while. You are cutting up whatever vegetables you like in your wok. Meat or chicken is good, and here is a trick to slicing it nice and thin, so it cooks up quick -- slightly freeze the fresh meat or chicken, so that it is firm enough to slice thinly.
I like thin sliced chicken breast with sliced red bell peppers and a not-quite-ripe sliced mango. Season it with ginger, soy sauce, vinegar, hoisin sauce.
Posts: 10397 | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
To add to what Tante said, you would want to put your flavoring vegetables (onion, garlic, and/or fresh ginger) in the hot oil first, then meat, then vegetables in order of cooking time. So roots first, then firm vegetables, then delicate ones like mushrooms or bok choy greens. And be sure not to put too much oil! Just enough to coat the wok.
Additional things you can put into a stir fry (in no particular order):
Carrots Turnips Bok Choy (cook the green part and the stem seperately) Daikon root Mushrooms Water Chestnuts Broccoli (cook the stem with the roots, the crown with the firm vegetables)
That's all that I can think of off the top of my head. It can be tasty to toss some nuts in. Once I put in a small package of spicy peanuts, which turned out quite well.
posted
If you have a chopping assembly line, be rigorous about meat and vegetable separation. You probably all do it automatically when you cook alone, but with lots of people, safeguards can get overlooked. Have different color chopping boards, preferably separated (on different counters, or one on the table).
And tell everyone to bring their favorite knife, because few people will have enough good chef's knives for five people.
Another hint: partially frozen meat is easier to slice thinly.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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14 people who attest to no cooking ability whatsoever gathered in my kitchen and simultaneously made roasted mozzarella tomatoes, oregano chicken, tzatziki, baklava, a grecian salad, and garlic bread, with a pita and hummus appetizer. Might I add that I only have one oven?
I divided the people into groups based on recipe:
1. Tzatziki, salad, roasted tomatoes ------ The Tzatziki had two half-hour waiting periods. During the first, the roasted tomatoes were put in the oven. During the second, the salad was made.
2. Oregano chicken, Garlic Bread, French bread ------ After the tomatoes were taken out, the two loaves of bread were cooked. They added the garlic butter to one loaf when it was done and popped it back in the oven. Both loaves came out and were wrapped in foil when the chicken was ready.
3. Baklava ------ Because the Baklava is a labor-intensive recipe, one group was solely dedicated to this task. Their only onus was that the Baklava had to be completely ready for the oven as soon as the chicken came out.
For two hours, my kitchen was absolute chaos as 14 people ran around trying to cook and find utensils and ingredients.
Everything was finished on time and it all turned out perfect and delicious. They even managed to set the table for 14, clean -- by hand -- all the dishes and utensils afterwards, and they even found time to tango, salsa, and waltz between steps.
Did I mention that this was all done in togas?
As a finale, we watched Animal House. Toga. Toga. Toga.
The dinner itself was the most interesting event. The sense of accomplishment and pride was almost palpable in the air between the excited chatter over how great everything turned out.
These people, who had sworn to me before that they would just be watching because they could not cook, had gotten in there and gotten their hands dirty and created something they had thought was impossible.
It was stupendous.
Posts: 515 | Registered: Mar 2004
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