Kitchen Magic

[JanMcBaker]

OK-- I know that all cooking is basically some kind of chemistry-- a combination of ingredients and some kind of catalyst to hlep bring about the finished product, but still......

It still seems like magic when I put these gloppy blobs of chocolate chip cookie dough in the oven and come out with these wonderful smelling, and even better tasting, airy disks of chocolate, butter, sugar, eggs and flour. And when my Hollandaise sauce comes out right-- that seems like damn near a miracle, let alone magic! Sooooo..... what's magic to you in the kitchen? Either how it all comes together, or when you're amazed that it all comes together at all?

[CompassRose]

Eggs. Eggs are all about the magic, from the shell all the way in!

[jsolomon]

baked cheese when it gets all brown and crusty and tasty! That's magical

[ladyyoung98]

magic...when im trying out a new recipe or creating a new one and and it happens to come out great

Edited February 17, 2005 by ladyyoung98 (log)

[andiesenji]

There are so many kinds of magic in the kitchen it is difficult to choose which to mention.

I suppose the one that most fascinates me is when one starts out with plain milk and with a few minimal additives and a certain amount of time, it turns into cheese with its myriad complex flavors.

However another magic is simply GRAVY, one moment it is a smear of fat and starch in the bottom of the pan and the next moment it is a heavenly sauce.

[Behemoth]

the miracle of yeast.

[Marlene]

Any day without me sustaining an injury in the kitchen is a miracle for me. See the Stupid Kitchen Tricks thread for my latest.

Other than that, the miracle is most new dishes I try actually turn out. Even without blood.

[PurpleDingo99]

Baking is magic for me because its a total mystery.

Whenever i have to bake something, i always bring it out and say "Oh god, this better harden up..."

[Moopheus]

the miracle of yeast.

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One could generalize to the miracle of bacterial fermentation. How many foods are made, or made better, by the action of some single-celled critter eating one chemical and pooping out a different chemical. Bread, cheese, miso, yogurt, etc.

'Course, sometimes this action produces deadly poison, so there you go.

[jgarner53]

Anyone who can throw things together to make a good, if not spectacular meal, is a magician in my eyes.

I can learn technique. I can learn basic flavor combinations, but I don't know that I will ever get to that stage.

Other than that, most baking. Pouring a liquid batter into a pan and getting cake or popovers or muffins or éclairs out of the oven. Yeah, I understand how it works, but it still is pretty damn cool.

[iheartoffal]

kitchen magic occurs when someone as hopelessly inept as myself makes something that it is actually fit for consumption by humans

[mnebergall]

Bacon.

[jgm]

Finding an incredible recipe, like I did when I made Tony Bourdain's mushroom soup. I've used all of those ingredients before, but not exactly in that way, and the result was way better than anything I thought would ever come out of MY kitchen. Boy, did that make me believe in magic! What an incredible soup.

The same kind of thing happens when making lemon curd. Lemons, sugar, eggs, butter. Everyday objects that become incredible when combined correctly.

I'm sure there are others, but right now I'm too busy thinking about mushroom soup, to remember what they are.

[ChefSwartz]

magic in the kitchen is when you get someone to try something new, and they like it

[chef koo]

something that i consider magic is the process of refreshing greens. no matter how many times i do this when those greens come out of that cold water from wilted to crisp it always amazes me.

[SuzySushi]

Besides the examples mentioned above, brightening the color of purple foods (like red cabbage) by adding vinegar or lemon juice during cooking, or else they turn out blue!

[petite tête de chou]

Salt.

[dodger]

starting with certain ingredients...not really knowing where you are going...and just making something happen in the kitchen.

The best part of this is when your spouse says.."Wow...How did you make this?"

You just shrug and say..."Damn...I should have written this one down....."

John

[dodger]

oh....and salt!

[snowangel]

From the time they were babies, my kids were pushed up to the counter and watched me cook. As they got bigger, they graduated to sitting on the counter. Then standing on the stepstool. I'll never for get when Diana was 3 or 4. Friends were over, the other mom wat mincing stuff. Diana said very clearly -- "no, when you want little tiny pieces, rock the knife like a rocker."

Watching them come alive and learn things before kindergarten that I didn't know until I was in my 30's has been magic.

That, and eggs. What they add to baked goods. What you can do with them on their own. What you can do to then with a bunch of leftover stuff in the fridge.

[ruthcooks]

Using butter to thicken a sauce. Butter melts. It's not supposed to thicken, but magically it does.

[kitchenmage]

starting with certain ingredients...not really knowing where you are going...and just making something happen in the kitchen.

The best part of this is when your spouse says.."Wow...How did you make this?"

You just shrug and say..."Damn...I should have written this one down....."

John

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Oh John, listen to the wise person! (even if the wise person is yourself)

I am currently working on my first food related book and I <i>wish</i> I'd had someone telling me to write things down for the last 20 years. I don't even really have any excuses either because I've written (non food) books before, I know how the process works, I know how much easier it is if you've been writing things down for a decade already... but smart enough to do it myself? hell no!

snowangel, i am with you; there's nothing like teaching people to cook, and if those people are really small it's truly a kick! Diana sounds like a fun one, and smart too.

along those lines, i think that one of the most magical things i've seen in the kitchen is when someone who was once a timid cook talks with me about how to do/improve something, then tries it on their own and it works. And not just works as in technically accomplishes the task, but works on a deeper level, instilling some fundamental confidence or sense of mastery.

I recently got mail raving about a new friend's purchase of a pizza stone. (We met at a pizza party where I brought the stone, nobody had ever used one. As I am new in town, this helped my reputation considerably with a small group of new friends.) It's a small thing to me, but she's converted from not attempting pizza to confident about the all important crust in one shot...and 3 bucks for a piece of tile.

Now, <i>that's</i> magic.

[emmapeel]

something that i consider magic is the process of refreshing greens. no matter how many times i do this when those greens come out of that cold water from wilted to crisp it always amazes me.

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Chef Koo,

Can you explain that process? Sounds great.

Thanks.

[srhcb]

New Ingredients.

I'm currently working with dried eggs, carob and Vegeta.

[fauxtarga]

Kitchen magic seems to me to be sometimes more like alchemy, in that you don't always have to understand exactly what is going on, and sometimes you produce gold.