What are your cooking ambitions?

[mskerr]

While ideally, in fantasy land, I would love to cook all sorts of cuisines and dishes wonderfully, and milk my own cow, ferment my own vinegar, and grow all my own produce, etc, etc, in reality, I like to prioritize my cooking goals, at least while I'm still a humble young amateur. In no particular order this translates to:

I would love to:

(1) Make a great New Zealand-style meat pie (mince; mince and cheese; and steak, onion, and cheese in particular),

(2) Make really tasty Mexican and New Mexican food from scratch, especially when I'm living in Mexican-food-wastelands like New Zealand,

(3) Make a handful of good, more-or-less authentic Italian dishes, like pasta e fagioli and really good pasta sauces,

(4) Master pasty-making,

(5) Make a lot of things myself, like pickles (all sorts), Mozzarella and Ricotta, kimchi, liqueurs, infusions, salt pork, sausage...just whatever I'm into enough to make myself, without being too ambitious,

(6) Make a really great loaf of hearty, crusty bread... If anyone's familiar with Hungry Ghost Bakery in Northampton, MA, they are my idols.

(7) Make great pretzels! + (8) fondue

(9) Make a damn-good weeknight stir-fry, without worrying too much about being 100% authentic or firing up a restaurant-strength wok,

(10) Make a killer cheeseburger. For me, the current standard- bearer is either In-n-Out, or a New Zealand food truck or fish-and-chips shop burger (I'm sure the $26 burger is heavenly, but budget matters a lot to me at this point...)

There's probably a lot more, but these are the priorities for now.

What about you?

[ChrisTaylor]

On the burger front, at least, you need to check out two things, first of all

- the In Search of Perfection episode wherein Blumenthal seeks out the perfect burger.

- the eG 'perfect burger patty' thread, which is a nice companion to the above episode.

I mean, really, for most of those goals, eG is a brilliant resource--either in terms of posts or recommendations (and detailed discussion and debate) of books.

[mskerr]

On the burger front, at least, you need to check out two things, first of all

- the In Search of Perfection episode wherein Blumenthal seeks out the perfect burger.

- the eG 'perfect burger patty' thread, which is a nice companion to the above episode.

I mean, really, for most of those goals, eG is a brilliant resource--either in terms of posts or recommendations (and detailed discussion and debate) of books.

Cheers, I will check out that book. I have read the perfect burger thread, and other articles and book chapters on ultimate burger making, and I think I have a rough idea of how it all goes down. Right now, my biggest problem is trying to find a decent bun. Also, I try to keep my food costs down, so I have not yet put out the bucks for a blend of grass-fed chuck, brisket, and short ribs, which I hear is the optimum blend (aside from getting into dry-aged/wagyu/ etc territory). And, of course, there are always going to be disagreements on the best way to make burgers (or anything else), so in the end I suppose it involves trying out a lot of different methods and your personal preferences.

My cooking ambitions are not necessarily complicated in themselves, they just involve lots and lots of repetition, proper equipment or clever stand-ins, and a few tricks to get just right (ex: artisan bread, the dough for meat pies and pasties, fermented foods, beginner charcuterie). Unfortunately, it's hard to motivate myself to practice my baking when it's been 90-100 degrees for the last three months, so I haven't made much headway.

Otherwise, like Keller says, it's all about finesse, isn't it? And that's an ongoing pursuit. I am still learning basic cooking technique, which in the end is what everything boils down to, right? I think I make a pretty decent pasta e fagioli, but I'd like to make a great one. Ditto with tacos, and bread, and risotto, and a lot of things. This is where I wish I'd had an Italian grandma... and a Mexican grandma, to boot! Maybe I just need to hang out with more grandmas.

In the meantime, thank god for eGullet! I'm sure many members here hang out with/work with food professionals and foodies all the time, but I only know a few people who cook seriously, so these forums are a life-saver. I think my summer cooking slump is nearing its end, in large part bc of these forums.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Infusions are something incredibly easy that you can start on now, even though it's hot enough to roast a goose on the sidewalk. I'd start with the simplest ones, like herbs into vodka or citrus rind into brandy/cognac, which are all about simply adding the flavours to the alcohol and letting it sit for a couple of months. Then I'd move on to things like Umeboshi (whole plums macerated in rice wine with sugar). Not at all difficult provided you can find the liquors!

[mskerr]

Infusions are something incredibly easy that you can start on now, even though it's hot enough to roast a goose on the sidewalk. I'd start with the simplest ones, like herbs into vodka or citrus rind into brandy/cognac, which are all about simply adding the flavours to the alcohol and letting it sit for a couple of months. Then I'd move on to things like Umeboshi (whole plums macerated in rice wine with sugar). Not at all difficult provided you can find the liquors!

Our de facto A/C is booze, so I have gotten around to a few boozy projects this summer - cherry brandy, ginger liqueur, mango liqueur, jalapeño & Serrano vodka (for bloody mary's, but oddly good straight as well), spiced rum (tasted like a cinnamon stick, not too flash), pineapple rum... Good fun, especially since guests are always keen to try out random jars of boozy projects. I might give the Umeboshi a go, since I have a bottle of sake here getting dusty. Cheers!

[Kouign Aman]

I'd like to be able to make a few authentic chinese dishes without having to think too hard about it - that just needs repetition with the recipes.

Expand my Italian repertoire

start deep frying again (but that's going to wait til there's a backsplash, which is no time soon)

pan-fry meat. I am defeated by a porkchop, as was my mother before me (she just didnt know she was defeated).

More different types of vegetables and more preparations of my standard 5 (carrots, cabbage, broccoli, spinach, green beans)

[Pierogi]

*snippity*.....

More different types of vegetables and more preparations of my standard 5 (carrots, cabbage, broccoli, spinach, green beans)

I was in the same rut as you until I joined a CSA. Suddenly I was getting winter squash and sorrel and cherimoyas (ok, technically NOT a veg) and bok choi and collards OH MY ! And turnips, and beets and rutabagas and, unfortunately, eggplants.

Since the thing I Hate Most In The World is wasting food, when I signed up, I vowed I would either use everything in my every 2 weeks share, or find loving homes for it. I even tried, several times, to find a way I could stomach eggplant. Couldn't, don't and I no longer take 'em. They either go into the share box, or I send them over to a friend's parents, who, aside from their appreciation of eggplants are lovely people.

It's been eye-opening. I've discovered that fresh beets, roasted or raw, are much superior to the canned ones my mom used to serve with some sliced onions as a quick pickle. I've discovered that, after 40-some years of proclaiming "I don't LIKE winter squash", that, when prepared well, I actually DO like winter squash. I've come to love hearty greens, chard (which up to 2 years ago, I'd NEVER eaten), especially. Collards, kale, mustard greens, bring 'em on.

If you don't want to do the whole CSA thing, then I'd say make a resolution to buy one new veg every time you do a big shopping or a farmer's market trip. There are endless recipes for all this stuff on the interwebs, obviously, and I'd bet there are plenty in your stash of cookbooks.

CSA was the most mind-blowing and palate-expanding thing I've ever done.