Culinary ennui / Ever get bored with food?

[Verjuice]

This is where a well-stocked pantry enters the scene beautifully.

[Busboy]

I just live on pizza and carryout for a couple of days. Maybe an omlette and some fresh fruit. A change is as good as a rest and in a day or two, I'll start to crave a decent home-cooked meal and I'll end up back in the kitchen again.

You can't force inspiration, and uninspired cookies don't much seem worth the effort, to me. Better to use the time to tend the garden or to read a book.

[Anna N]

When it hits me I hit my cookbook library! It doesn't take long to dispel the boredom.

[Corinna Dunne]

I know exactly what you mean. I 'hit the culinary wall' from time to time and try to ensure that my freeser is in a position to respond to my temporary malaise. Frozen favourites are bolognaise sauce, homemade hamburgers, Mexican taco filling and lasagne or moussaka if they haven't already been gorged. I've just realised that all of these things are made from mince/ground meat, but they are all things I make in a larger quantity and put away for the 'refusal' days. They are very much in the comfort food zone too.

I once did a 'culinary wall' list of tasty, quick and easy to prepare dishes for my sister for days like these, but can only remember carbonara and barbequed steak off hand (not feeling terribly cullinarily inclined at the moment myself).

And when I simply don't want to do a thing, I get a takeaway from a place called Bombay Pantry which is unbelievably good (in fact better than any sit down Indian restaurant in Dublin). Yes, this is probably the best solution: get a really, really good takeaway. Sushi would be wonderful if you have somewhere good nearby.

[lesfen]

Seems to me that the best way to come to is to take a gander at the various smoked butt/pulled pork threads on eGullet right now. Should be just the ticket for the food blah's.

[*Deborah*]

When this happens to me, I do one of two things: eat buttered toast, or go for gelato.

After a few dinners of either of these, you will start thinking of delicious meals to make, or want to go out to eat something a little more substantial.

Edited July 5, 2005 by *Deborah* (log)

[devlin]

I'm with the general suggestions to maybe just give it a rest. And I too do things like just eat ice cream or popsicles, or maybe grapes, or maybe nothing at all.

[jsolomon]

Those nights I usually make alfredo on linguine (a better pasta than fettucine in my mind) or go to Burger King for a greaseball.

My SO, on the other hand, goes for Hot and Sour soup at a local oriental resto.

[Gifted Gourmet]

yawn ... zzzzz.... even more ideas here

Ever keep the refrigerator open so long trying to decide what to eat that you developed a tan from that little light bulb? (I have...)

[jsolomon]

Ever keep the refrigerator open so long trying to decide what to eat that you developed a tan from that little light bulb?  (I have...)

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Not since I started participating on eGullet. My monitor now keeps me too bronzed for the fridge light to have an effect

[mhadam]

When this happens to me, I turn to the deep freeze for a Trader Joe's strombolli or greek pizza that I supplement with an effortless salad.

Or if I'm sad (ontop of the culinary ennui) I pull out some frozen tempura shrimp and makeup some miso broth.

[Bernaise]

I always get inspiration when I have to prepare a meal that is missing either one or more key ingredients. The game I play is -how would I make this dish if I couldn't use dairy for instance?? I have made some beautiful soups this way. another is what could I substitute for bacon (as if!) that might come close or feel close.

I find the rut I'm in is usually related to visiting the same old same old ingredients that I most enjoy and use - over and over and over you get the idea. Pull some of your fav's out of the mix and voila whole new game!

[rooftop1000]

If I have to feed the family I make them decide after a list of ...in the freezer we have.....

If its just me I eat pastina with milk and butter or chicken base, mashed garlic, and grated romano cheese....sometimes I like when they all go out

T

[bleudauvergne]

What I do when I've got the food blues is carefully dice an onionand get it sauteeing. After sizzling for a while, I usually can muster up the courage to dig something up. The problem is that when I'm beat and uninspired, if I don't do the shopping and cook, we don't eat. And we can't shop very long in advance due to our small kitchen and small fridge. If this lasts more than a day or two we can get in trouble. I always try and have something in the freezer but it's not always easy.

[Carrot Top]

Ah, yes, Lucy! How very smart of you! The smell of an onion sauteeing would definitely do that!

Motivation by aroma. . .that could be turned into an entire artform. . .and probably could fill a cookbook with ideas, too.

Along these lines, what comes to mind for me is basil. If there is a big fresh bunch of basil sitting in the kitchen, it calls and calls endlessly to be made into something good to eat (hopefully before it gets nibbled away into nothingness by hands going by plucking a leaf here and there for "just a bite"!)

[BeJam]

Substituting a glass of wine for compresses could work, too. 

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I find a cup of the good bourbon a nice start then I make a pizza. Something about kneading the dough, maybe working something new like nuts or seeds or vegs into it, watching it rise, having some more bourbon, topping the 'za with what ever I have including whatever cheese, then almost burning the whole thing in a really hot oven. I then treat the burns on my hands because I had way too much bourbon to work around a really hot oven. I also play really loud music.

[RobinCR]

I generally rely on feeding my family from the freezer - hamburgers, corn dogs, chicken fingers, pizza. The thing is, it's fine for them - they could care less. But in a few days, I'm bored with being bored with food and get back to cooking.

We are moving in 2 weeks, but were supposed to move 6 weeks ago. So most of the kitchen - and rest of the house - has been half packed for a couple of months. So I have not done any real cooking for quite a while. Needless to say, I am looking forward to having all my things back from the boxes and getting into that brand new kitchen and cooking away.