Overcooked Food as Homey, Traditional & Authentic

[chemprof]

MizDucky, I'm with you on the greens. At some point I'd like to try them that "fast stir fried" way,but for now, it's a hamhock and waaay to long in the pot (but it's great!).

I don't make them like this very often, but I also like my green beans overcooked (or cooked to perfection, depending on what part of the country you're freom). Some bacon or side meat, mmm

I like them sauteed bright green with garlic too, it's like a different species...

-Anne

[petite tête de chou]

I think Pebs might be on to something...my mom grew up thinking that well-done meat was the only safe meat.

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Ditto that. I heard the word "trichinosis" every time I ate a pork chop as a child.

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I think it was my mom's voice you were hearing. She just said it again about two weeks ago when I was making pork chops...did you hear her then? I had to cook them for 35 minutes.

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Mine too! I love my thick-cut chops to retain a pinky-porkness...or is that "pork-pink?" Sounds like an e-Gullet lipstick color.

Yet, having said that...I adore my mothers white bean (pick a bean, as long as it's white) soup. It's usually over-simmered until many of the beans have burst and dissolved into the smoked pork stock. There's lots of super-soft root cellar vegetables (my favorite being the stock-plumped carrot coins) and a melted pool of butter on top to dip your bread in.

I *do* prefer most cruciferous vegetables quite soft- especially cauliflower in a browned butter sauce. Comfort, mom/dad, home, yes, absolutely. Also, though, I've had various food stuffs cooked at various temperatures for various lengths of time through-out these various years and, for the most part, I prefer my vegetables and fruits either raw or over-cooked (go figure ) and my meats on the rare side.

[Chris Hennes]

Sometimes there are other reasons for a preference for overcooked meat: it is generally preferable to undercooked, anyway (not that I believe such a thing exists ). My wife had a raw chicken encounter at some TGIMcFunster-type restaurant growing up and insists on all proteins except fish being overcooked ("well done" does not begin to describe it...). I forgive her this and cook hers to her preference because she seems to have a reasonable explanation. Not that I didn't try to convince her to try the Waygu carpaccio at Morimoto the other night...