MetaChat - Cooking as therapy.

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22 April 2008

Cooking as therapy. It being damp and miserable here at the moment, I'm making two vats of curry to chase away the cold and to distract myself from house-hunting woes.→[More:]One is a spicy beef rendang and the other will be a mild vegetable curry. My house reeks of ginger, galangal, coconut, shrimp-paste and garlic, amongst other things. I've already given myself chilli-eye (and one minor dose of chilli-nose...OWWWEE!) through inattention but there's plenty of yoghurt in the naan-bread dough that's rising in a corner, so everything works out in the end.

Tomorrow, I intend to make myself a nice pot of tripe (simmered with white wine, a smoked bacon hock, fresh herbs, cream etc) to have with a fresh baguette. Just thinking about the processes of chopping, measuring and cooking makes me happy.

Does anyone else head to the kitchen when the going gets tough??

post by: ninazer0 at: 23:14 | 11 comments

Mmmmmmm. That all sounds delicious.

I have the same tendency--when I'm really stressed out I make one or two really elaborate, time-consuming dishes (usually curries). There's something very soothing about the process.

Tonight I was just wiped and had leftover meat from last night's tacos, so I picked up a can of refried black beans and am making baked burritos. They're bubbling away right now, turning into a gorgeous spicy cheesy tomatoey oozing goodness. Of course, I'm not eating until after 10 my time, but that's not all that unusual. Plus, I'll have leftovers for lunch, and wrap fixings for tomorrow's dinner (rice and veg, which will make me feel all virtuous).

Good luck with your ongoing house search, ninazer0. In the meantime, at least you'll have wonderful food.

posted by elizard 23 April | 00:16

Does anyone else head to the kitchen when the going gets tough??

Only because that's where we keep the bourbon.

I have found that if I've got something serious on my mind, the kitchen can be a dangerous place. At various times I have sliced through the tip of my thumb, dropped and broken valued crockery, and burned myself so many times I've lost count.

posted by bmarkey 23 April | 00:25

I've been doing that, too. I'm a miserable wreck right now, but goddamn have I learned how to make all sorts of food I used to think was out of my league. It turns out cooking elaborate meals is a nice way to kill a few hours, and you can get completely hammered while doing it.

posted by cmonkey 23 April | 00:57

I've always found cooking elaborate dishes to be a soothing, meditative process. I love the chopping and the timing of when to add ingredients.

One of my favorite meals since childhood starts off with "first, you boil a chicken" and then let it cool and pull all the meat off. There is an entire set of steps that have to be followed, but it's one of the best comfort foods ever AND we end up with extra chicken broth and/or stock, if I decide to boil the bones down even more. There's even room to play with the recipe some, depending on what's in season.

Unfortunately, in my part of the world, we're having our first warm and humid stage of the seasons, so it's too stuffy in my kitchen for lengthy boiling or roasting right now.

posted by lilywing13 23 April | 01:12

I just toasted the shredded coconut for the rendang and the house smells delicious. Now I'm considering making some macaroons. I should be boxing up my crap and tidying the place, but perhaps my husband will be distracted by the sweeties so he won't notice how damn lazy I am.

Oh, I've just remembered I bought a bottle of gin yesterday! Who cares about packing!!!

posted by ninazer0 23 April | 01:22

When it comes to alcohol, a dose for the dish and a dose for the cook, I say. :)

Carefully, of course.

posted by lilywing13 23 April | 01:42

Does anyone else head to the kitchen when the going gets tough??

I think my man does. He bakes when things get rough, so far he's telling me it's because our current rough = broke, so he's just 'helping out' by saving money by making bread - but I think he uses that whole lots-of-physical-kneading and creating thing as therapy. It does look hella satifying anyway, to slap around a big chunk of dough for half an hour or so. He'll go nuts and bake lots too.

He bakes sweet breads when he's in a good mood. :)

posted by dabitch 23 April | 03:12

dabitch, I did that for a while, too. Years ago I was off work on stress leave and my unemployment insurance hadn't come through yet (and was going to be pretty paltry when it did). I made loaf after loaf of whole wheat French bread. It was perfect--cheap, took all day (long slow rises), the kneading was a great outlet for my stress, and I had really good bread at the end. I had some broke friends who benefited from this obsession, too.

posted by elizard 23 April | 09:46

When the going gets tough I open a bag of Doritos.

posted by deborah 23 April | 12:33

See? I am the thread killer.

posted by deborah 23 April | 17:14

*laughs out loud*

Naw, deborah, it's just that how could anyone top that?

posted by elizard 23 April | 17:41

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