Wok This Way

[macgreggor]

why dread,

you wax absolutly poetic about cooking!!!!

it is grand to see a man passionate about something other than football or sex.

if i ever get down that way i will do my best to talk, bribe, beg you into cooking a meal. if it tastes as good as you make cooking it sound i can die a happy man.

macG

[Dreadbelly]

it is grand to see a man passionate about something other than football or sex.
macG

I don't watch football. I don't get it. It bores me to tears.

Now, about sex. A good hot meal will get you that. And a whole lot more. Women are completely powerless to men who cook. A kilted cook is a double threat.

Cooking is my joy. It is, other than extreme violence, one of the few things I am truly gifted at. We all have to eat. It is an inescapable fact of life. So it is a good thing to be gifted at. Food is art. It is it's own music. The colours, the smells, the sounds of cooking are all part of the experience. The love. I love to hear a good sizzle. Music to my ears.

I would be a much happier cook if my tortilla press, my molcajete, and my comal would hurry up and get here.

Happiness is a hot fresh tortilla. With a little fresh salsa smeared on it, some guacamole, and a little pepper jack cheese. Mmm.

Edit.

Forgot to add, if you ever get hungry, come on down my way. There is a Holiday Inn Express right next door.

And free warning. I have been known to make food a little hot. People are sissies.

[Rob Wright]

I hear you dread, I love what cast iron cookware I have, handed down to me from relatives. Right now I'm grilling my veggies on my bbq grill, fresh stuff from my dad's garden mostly, a little olive oil sometimes and or some fresh herbs and spices sprinkled on top, man good stuff.

I love to cook, I just hate dealing with people, especially ones who should knowbetter and just keep their mouths shut. Or customers who think they know how they should be doing my job. It doesn't help their dispositions that the owner always backs me. But that's getting way off topic.

When I cook, it's like I hear the music, the whole day is a symphony, with the individual orders little parts that create the whole. And the music has it's own dance, one that you have to let into you and flow freely so that every move is in synch and the dance and the music meld.And nothing is fixed, you have to adjust and adapt to keep the flow and the rythem going.

Rob

[Dreadbelly]

I hear you dread, I love what cast iron cookware I have, handed down to me from relatives. Right now I'm grilling my veggies on my bbq grill, fresh stuff from my dad's garden mostly, a little olive oil sometimes and or some fresh herbs and spices sprinkled on top, man good stuff.

I love to cook, I just hate dealing with people, especially ones who should knowbetter and just keep their mouths shut. Or customers who think they know how they should be doing my job. It doesn't help their dispositions that the owner always backs me. But that's getting way off topic.

When I cook, it's like I hear the music, the whole day is a symphony, with the individual orders little parts that create the whole. And the music has it's own dance, one that you have to let into you and flow freely so that every move is in synch and the dance and the music meld.And nothing is fixed, you have to adjust and adapt to keep the flow and the rythem going.

Rob

So do you see the beauty too?

Ever watch a slab of eggplant or a slab of meat actually slide across a searing hot griddle because the explosive power of the instantly boiled water vapour lifts it ever so slightly and allows it to hover? Every time I see that, even if it only moves an inch when I flip something on to a griddle, it takes my breath away.

It's free form poetry. From the 'thwup thwup thwup' sounds of a cleaver hitting a wooden cutting board as you dice veggies to the slight clicking sounds of a mandolin slicer, to the thrumming hum of a grater being used... Cooking is more than food for the mouth... The ears man, the ears get it too. The rhythmic sounds that cooking makes... All in perfect timing. The mechanical clicking of a stainless steel spatula ticking over a griddle, scattering onions, chili peppers, and potatoes. The sound of a bubbling boiling pot with something thick inside of it, like a good soup or stew. Blub blub blub.

Did you know... You can tell when a slab of salmon is done by how it hisses. When it starts out, it has a high pitched steam hiss. When it's almost done, the pitch changes... To a dull flat hiss. Ya yank it off a grill and get it on a HOT plate. And it will finish cooking it self because of the stored heat. Mmm. Eggplant too!

Hmm I bet a bunch of you think I am crazy for waxing poetic about food... Maybe I am.

Edit. Found a typo.

[Rob Wright]

Oh I see the beauty, food is sight, smell, sound, taste, and feel, I just wish more people were appreciative.

Rob

[Dreadbelly]

Oh I see the beauty, food is sight, smell, sound, taste, and feel, I just wish more people were appreciative.

Rob

Rob... A vast majority of people happily stuff their faces with McDonalds or whatever slop they get through a drive through. People don't have time to cook in this day and age. Look all around the web and read about how they are dropping cooking from many home ecc classes because in the modern age, it's no longer needed, unless as a career option. There was a big article not to long ago about a generation of mothers and fathers that never learned to cook well, and now their children that are turning 18 and entering the adult world don't know how to cook at all, and the dependency on fast food establishments to feed themselves. Or you can find articles about how major fast food chains are researching and developing machines to cook bloody everything in the store because many of the employees there don't even have the basic cooking skills needed to prepare fast food.

It made me sad.

Now a wok, that's fast food. And it's not to terribly difficult. Get wok HOT. Add a dribble of oil. Toss in veggies or whatever floats your boat. Stir veggies with wok shovel vigorously. Serve with rice. Or noodles. Or whatever. They even sell stir fry veggie packs in the produce department of grocery stores.

I can't think about this no more.

[Doc Hudson]

Dammit Dr. Douglas!!! You ought to have a cooking show!!!

I can see it now, one part poetry, one part philosphy, one part cooking, and one part how to beat the crap out of the produce man who supplied wilted herbs.

Jokes aside, I think you could make a most entertaining cooking show. You have the passion that most TV Chefs lack, and it would be infectious.

BTW, did you make that Sunflower Bread? If so, would you care to share the recipe? I love to bake bread and I love sunflower seed.

I also have a great fondness for cast iron. I'm not in your league by any means, but I'm something of a camp cook myself. I love to cook over an open fire even more than in the kitchen.

[GMan]

OK I will WOK on the wild side (groan).

Yes after reading your description of what and how it was cooked really says alot about the love and joy you put into cooking.

Thank you for letting us know about those bargains, now if only I could wax poetically while cooking!

[Archangel]

beautiful: peace, love, harmony, it all comes together.

(respect)