Creatures of Habit

[balmagowry]

This is sort of a lateral outgrowth from the Other People's Kitchen thread. We all have these - kitchen habits that may have made sense once upon a time, but that now bear no special relation to rhyme or reason. But we keep doing them the same way because they're part of our rhythm, and if something thwarts us it throws us into a tailspin, even though there are plenty of sensible alternatives. These things constitute part of our cooking vocabulary - in fact, sometimes they're literally part of a language that outsiders can't follow.

With me (embarrassingly enough, now that I've raised this I suddenly can't think of anything I do that's really wildly idiosyncratic) it's using certain pots/utensils/knives for certain tasks, and I guess also the way I organize storage and the containers I use for certain types of ingredients and leftovers. There is ONE POT that I always use to cook rice; if it happens to be unavailable I throw up my hands and mutter dire imprecations and feel thrown off my stride. This is silly, because I have five other pots that would be perfectly appropriate... but they aren't My Rice Pot. And I've been known to declare "but you CAN'T put that into that square container - it's WRONG!" when of course there's no earthly reason NOT to use said container, because it fits the whatever perfectly - it just happens not to be the one I've always used for the purpose.

OK, here's a dumb example. I grew up putting away glasses and mugs upside-down in a cupboard, because that's what I was taught and it seemed the logical thing to do. In my present house, however, there is one exception: the cupboard where the mugs live, in which I always place them right-side-up. This came about because when we moved into the house certain parts of it (even after an industrial-strength professional cleaning) still carried unpleasant odors left by the previous owner; that cupboard in particular had something nasty about it, and even though I had scrubbed it out myself I still wasn't comfortable thinking about the business end of my coffee cup coming in contact with its inside surface. But that was TWELVE YEARS AGO. All trace of the taint disappeared long ago... and still my mugs face up and I refuse to let them do otherwise. Go figure.

There's also a system of shorthand names for things and processes, developed over the years between me and my mother. Much of this has evolved from long you-had-to-be-there anecdotes into absolute nonsense, but if I find a package with a cryptic notation in her handwriting I always know exactly what it contains and why she wrote it the way she did. "CI ch. br." or "br. cr. H" or "1 BIG lencho" or - well, you get the idea. Like decoding someone's Private Freezer Cypher.

Anyone else? Habits you cling to? Where'd they come from? Make sense? Did they ever? Why?

Edited February 15, 2004 by balmagowry (log)

[chow guy]

From the time I was a little boy I have always eaten one thing at a time on my dinner plate . It used to make my grandfather crazy. I told him, "I like the taste of each thing by itself." I still do.

I use a Chinese clever (the same one for over 25 years) instead of my expensive chefs knife to cut almost everything. It feels better and is more versatile. I have even been ridiculed on line in restaurant jobs for this practice.

I have to use an ancient ladel that was my mothers. I will go nuts looking for it (we have two kitchens at our house so things get scattered sometimes). The ladel has just the right "feel" and shape, particularly for skimming .

There are certain pans that must be used for certain dishes. I won't elaborate

We have two sets of everyday flatwear. I cannot use the lightweight set for some reason. I will get up from the table and replace it with the heavier one.

When drinking anything bubbly I forgo the expensive flute glass for a thinner etched victorian glass that was my grandmothers. It feels better.

I have to admit, until I read this thread and started thinking about it, I never knew I had so many foibles.

[Mabelline]

This one's easy for me. Although I possess every processor,spice grinder, chopping jobbie they can come up with, I still reach for the knife or 75+ years old Mexican mortar and pestle my Grams gave me. The only time the processor comes out is when I'm doing tamales or something. Still shred meat with two forks. Go figure.

[JPW]

Like my father, I am a creature of extreme habitude.

I must have a half-dozen different small pans and pots suitable for melting butter for popcorn, but will ONLY use the little 1 qt All-Clad. We must have 3 or 4 different non-metal flippers, including a nice high tech silicone one, but I still must use ONLY the piece o'junk $2 one I bought at Target 5 years ago.

Dad's worse. Every Monday to Saturday morning that he has been at home for the last 30 odd years (and as far as I know even before). He has had the exact same breakfast. 2 Eggo waffles with Land O'Lakes butter out of the tub and Log Cabin syrup, 2 Bob Evans sausage links, and a glass of fresh squeezed OJ. He's been using the same cast iron skillet since I can remember. The same plate, the same OJ glass, etc.

I think the biggest crisis of his life occurred when his ancient juicer (the big mechanical metal kind where you put the glass under the spout with the hopper and the long handle) broke. It took him a couple of months to find a replacement and I could just tell that having to drink juice out of the carton was killing him.

[Hest88]

I don't know if it's habit so much as sheer laziness, but I hand-mix anything I can. I *hate* washing up so I'd rather beat egg whites by hand or mix things together until my forearm is exhausted, or dice copious amounts of veggies by hand rather than break out the food processor or the mixer.

[NeroW]

I don't know if it's habit so much as sheer laziness, but I hand-mix anything I can. I *hate* washing up so I'd rather beat egg whites by hand or mix things together until my forearm is exhausted, or dice copious amounts of veggies by hand rather than break out the food processor or the mixer.

I do the same thing. Since I learned to use a knife, the food processor is pretty much useless.

[balmagowry]

I don't know if it's habit so much as sheer laziness, but I hand-mix anything I can. I *hate* washing up so I'd rather beat egg whites by hand or mix things together until my forearm is exhausted, or dice copious amounts of veggies by hand rather than break out the food processor or the mixer.

I do the same thing. Since I learned to use a knife, the food processor is pretty much useless.

Oh, I dunno. I'll use a knife for most things, granted, but the processor comes in handy for large quantities. One or two onions, slice/chop by hand, *of course*. Several *pounds* of onions - ah, suddenly I become less meticulous. And for grinding and grating and pureeing in quantity - processor, every time. I just haven't got the biceps....

And the answer to the washing-up problem is simple: hoodwink someone else into taking charge of it.

[Mayhaw Man]

I have an oval roaster that I got from my grandmother. It is a cast iron thing with insert that goes in the bottom (for roasting, I rarely use it) and is stamped on the bottom-DripDrop Baster, Patent Pending 1913.

I have never made Gumbo in any pot but that one. I have tons of really nice cookware that would be better suited for the task (and certainly easier to clean up) but I always grab the same one. I just like the familial continuity I guess. There is something very satisfying cooking in a pot that your grandmother made the same stuff in while you were watching.

Other than that I am all for modern innovation and adapt to change pretty well.

[balmagowry]

I have to admit, until I read this thread and started thinking about it, I never knew I had so many foibles.

Oh dear, I suppose I should feel guilty about instigating all this introspection; frankly, though, I'm just glad to know that other people are as strange and compulsive about these things as I am.

Never thought about cooking as a particularly superstitious activity before, but the compulsion to repeat little rituals does smack of superstition, doesn't it. I'm sure that's how a lot of them come into being, at any rate.

If anyone innocently uses my tomato knife or my omelette pan for anything other than their approved purposes (in the second case that does include making mu shu pancakes, as long as *I* am the one doing it...! and as long as it is properly re-seasoned afterward), it seems like the most terrible sacrilege. I've gotten over the feeling I used to get that the article in question has been so desecrated that it has to be replaced. But just barely.

[Toasted]

I have a perfectly seasoned cast iron pan that I got at sal's (that's the salvation

army store for those who don't know) that I love. I use this 20 year old pan for

everything but most importantly, any type of potato dish. I even take this pan

with me when camping or when cooking at other people's houses. I hate to have

anything on my kitchen counters but this pan breaks the rule, it gets rinsed out

and then back on the stove because I know I'll be using it within the next couple

of hours. Call it my cooking muse, it works for me.

[foodie3]

i am an efficiency slave and, hence, follow a known routine - it saves time and prevents potential mistakes. i can and do change it, but must first test the new and convince myself that it's just as efficient.

[Lady T]

The first time an overnight gentleman guest used my sacred bread knife to slice a tomato, I drew a deep breath to take his ears off by sheer force of invective -- and then let the breath out without speaking, smiled, and thanked my guest for making me breakfast. No damage was being done, for cornsake: I hadn't told him where the tomato knife lives, and the bread knife is serrated, and sharp, lives in public view, and is heavy enough to do a dandy job making nice thin unmangled slices for the bagel the good man was toasting for me. I decided then and there that I needed to be waaaaay less petty and hung up, and waaaaaay more grateful for the good stuff the Universe sends me. Even if it doesn't happen exactly *my* way.

[Mudpuppie]

For the first time in my adult life, I don't feel so neurotic. Thanks, people.

The only time I lapse into habits is when I'm cooking with or near other people. Then I realize how screwed up their methods are and feel the need to educate them. But because I live and cook alone, my habits are pretty much invisible to me. The only one I can think of is extreme refrigerator slovenliness. But that's just a bad habit, not a compulsive one.

[maggiethecat]

I like to beat the eggs in a blue bowl; the cheap enamel version I bought in college travelled with me for a many years until it "disappeared" in a move. I bought a new blue bowl.

And while I am a food processor fan, and I know it can make great pastrydough, I still use my fingers to incorporate the fat into the flour.

[lala]

I have an oval roaster that I got from my grandmother. It is a cast iron thing with insert that goes in the bottom (for roasting, I rarely use it) and is stamped on the bottom-DripDrop Baster, Patent Pending 1913.

I have never made Gumbo in any pot but that one. I have tons of really nice cookware that would be better suited for the task (and certainly easier to clean up) but I always grab the same one. I just like the familial continuity I guess. There is something very satisfying cooking in a pot that your grandmother made the same stuff in while you were watching.

Oh my God, that's so sweet! I wish I had good kitchen equipment handed down to me, with those kinds of memories... My grandmother was such a terrible cook, all her pans were burnt!

I don't think I have too many foibles...I do use my ancient (ok, 20 years old) Sabatier knife a LOT, even though it's carbon steel. I remember buying it at this fabulous knife store in Soho in London, and it reminds me of my youth, learning how to cook.

My main compulsion is my morning routine, which includes cooking the same breakfast each day, timed between showering, drying my hair, and dressing (one bedroom apartment, easy to pop into the kitchen to turn the soy sausage on the griddle, then get back in the bathroom and put the anti-frizz stuff in my hair, etc). I'm not sure if it's a routine for a good purpose, or if I just do it because it's automatic, and it takes me so long to actually wake up - and I can do this all in my semi-awake state without damage to body or home.

Edited February 18, 2004 by lala (log)

[hathor]

Once upon a time, there was a woman who was making baked ham, using her grandmother's recipe. The first step in the recipe was to cut off both ends of the ham. One day, the woman asked her mother, why do I need to cut off the ends of the ham? The mother said, because that's how your grandmother taught me. So the woman went to the source, and asked her grandmother. Grammy said, "I cut the ends off because my pan was too small."

I think my mother told me this story to make sure I would always think for myself. Anyway...its part of the family story repetoire.

[Squeat Mungry]

Despite having read and heard a hundred times that they should go in the back where it's coldest, I can't store my eggs anywhere but the fridge door. Nothing else seems 'right'!

Cheers,

Squeat

[sequim]

For the first time in my adult life, I don't feel so neurotic. Thanks, people.

Yep, I feel normal in this place!

Before I can begin cooking, I must have a dit-free floor. It's white and shows everything and I can't stand thinking I'm stepping on stuff and dragging it all around.

I have lots of other anal-qualities in the kitchen (which way the glasses stand, what pots are used for what), but this one gets the most notice from everybody who knows me. Some so-called friends will throw dits on the floor just to see me dive for them...

The problem is, these kinds of qualities only get worse as you get older So I'm trying to be aware of this and kind of mix things up a bit just to stay more flexible.

[oraklet]

OK, here's a dumb example. I grew up putting away glasses and mugs upside-down in a cupboard, because that's what I was taught and it seemed the logical thing to do.

well, that's what my mother does, too, and so does my sister. or they used to. untill last christmas, when some of us thought the wine was corked, only it wasn't: some of wine glasses had picked up a bad fungus smell from sister's cupboard (not all of them, because she had not stored them all upside-down), or perhaps she hadn't dried them well enough. we had to pour out the wine in those glasses, and rinse them. a bad waste of a quite decent amarone.

several lessons learned.

i don't know if this is actually so silly, but it makes me furious when i can't find my tools because someone misplaced them when emptying the dishwasher. i'm not a very good searcher.

[KateW]

That bugs me too when I can't find something, and I'm not so good at looking for things either. I always like to leave things in plain sight which bugs people because it looks cluttered. But hey, if everything is on the counter, I know that what I'm looking for will be there.

I also eat things on my plate one at a time. My parents always begged me to "go around in a circle" thinking I would eat equal amounts of everything that way.

[Cusina]

I just hate it when the dishwasher doesn't get loaded well and the dishes are all grimy when they come out. I'm kind of particular about that detail. Also towel dry each dish before I put it away so it doesn't watermark my walnut cabinets. And I wash my hands a lot too. The combination of mother's ways and having worked in a hospital laboratory setting got me in the habit of running for the sink many times during the day.

Otherwise, most of my serious habits went out the window when I had kids. Childus interruptus will foil even the deepest set ways. Maybe when both of the little dictators are in school all day long I'll be able to get fussy again.

[fifi]

*raises hand* Yep... Me too.

That one pot for making rice was the only thing that I would trust. (Then I got the fuzzy logic rice cooker and never looked back. Maybe I can adapt.)

The ancient cast iron skillet is THE ONLY proper pan for some things... cornbread, hash, grilled cheese...

I find that I am establishing patterns of use for my various Le Creuset pots that make no practical sense.

Then there is the ultimate totem... My wooden spatula that I use to stir the roux. I have others that are just about identical that I use for other things but not for the roux. It is about 10 years old and is becoming darkened on the working end. If it ever dies, I will be consumed with grief.

Labeling... I label everything for the freezer having learned my lesson a few years ago. I also have my own system of abbreviation. One time I was putting up some containers of chicken and dumplings. My son was taking them to the freezer and turned around and said... "Mother! I simply cannot eat chick dumps!"

[Toliver]

Labeling... I label everything for the freezer having learned my lesson a few years ago. I also have my own system of abbreviation. One time I was putting up some containers of chicken and dumplings. My son was taking them to the freezer and turned around and said... "Mother! I simply cannot eat chick dumps!"

[balmagowry]

The first time an overnight gentleman guest used my sacred bread knife to slice a tomato, I drew a deep breath to take his ears off by sheer force of invective -- and then let the breath out without speaking, smiled, and thanked my guest for making me breakfast.  No damage was being done, for cornsake: I hadn't told him where the tomato knife lives, and the bread knife is serrated, and sharp, lives in public view, and is heavy enough to do a dandy job making nice thin unmangled slices for the bagel the good man was toasting for me.

Yes, that definitely falls under the heading of Forgive Them, Father, They Know Not What They Do! Not only that, but under the circumstances the substitution is at least a logical, intelligent one. I have the oppopsite problem - my SO keeps using my sacred tomato knife to slice rolls. I once tried to explain why I objected to the practice, but suddenly the argument sounded so lame in my ears.... Finally I just had to tell him to consider it one of my crazy foibles and just accept it without agreeing with it. Which he did. Trouble is... he's forgetful, so it hasn't made much difference. And in the grand scheme of things it doesn't really seem to make much difference to the tomato knife, either. So I save my breath for the battles that matter: forgetful though he may be, he *does* understand and remember that Dr. Paring's Prototype, the holy of holies among my knives, MUST be treated with reverence.

I decided then and there that I needed to be waaaaay less petty and hung up, and waaaaaay more grateful for the good stuff the Universe sends me.  Even if it doesn't happen exactly *my* way.

You are wise. I must try to remember to emulate you. (I'm a bit forgetful myself, sometimes....)

Edited February 19, 2004 by balmagowry (log)

[balmagowry]

OK, here's a dumb example. I grew up putting away glasses and mugs upside-down in a cupboard, because that's what I was taught and it seemed the logical thing to do.

well, that's what my mother does, too, and so does my sister. or they used to. untill last christmas, when some of us thought the wine was corked, only it wasn't: some of wine glasses had picked up a bad fungus smell from sister's cupboard (not all of them, because she had not stored them all upside-down), or perhaps she hadn't dried them well enough. we had to pour out the wine in those glasses, and rinse them. a bad waste of a quite decent amarone.

several lessons learned.

Ha! I feel vindicated!

i don't know if this is actually so silly, but it makes me furious when i can't find my tools because someone misplaced them when emptying the dishwasher. i'm not a very good searcher.

Same here. And besides, the thread isn't about silly habits... just habits. Some habits actually do make an awful lot of sense; good thing, too, because otherwise we could all just consider ourselves wackos and be done with it.