The Supermarket Gourmet
by Buck Reed
From the time Homo erectus placed his mastodon rib over the fire he had just invented, we have been experimenting with how to cook in the pursuit of the perfect meal. This is not the search for the perfect tasting meal, but the best way to produce the perfect meal. It seems that these days, almost every day there is a new trend, a newly discovered ingredient, an obscure cuisine, an all-encompassing new diet, or some clever technique that is thrust into the lime light and, for a brief time, we are held captive to it. The sad part is, unlike fire, these ideas are cast aside for the next big thing, almost before we can grasp them.
Some of these trends are a flash in the pans, like Southwest cuisine, and others have real staying power, like Pizza joints. Others are throwbacks, like cast iron skillet cookery, to a kitchen history that was all the rage only to be lost and then brought back.
In order to understand these trends and get the most from them, we have to look at history. We need to go all the way back to the late 19th century to Auguste Escoffier and his book, The Guide to Modern Cuisine. In this book, he wrote out all the various elements of French cuisine and broke down each recipe to the techniques, as well as the measurements for each ingredient. Before his book, anyone trying to explain a recipe for the professional chef was giving a list of the elements or ingredients with no measurements. It was up to each professional chef to learn these measurements on his own, as well as the techniques needed to produce them. This called for decades of practice as an apprentice and then a cook in a professional kitchen. Today, we can do the same thing online, apparently in a class named after Auggie. I can hear him spinning in his grave.
It can almost be a full-time job keeping up with all these trends. No sooner does one pop up, it is quickly replaced by the next one. By the time a book or a trendy magazine article is written about the next big thing, it is over and the next one has taken over. I do not even think the internet will be able to keep up.
What once took time and effort to learn for the professional can now be “mastered” by the amateur cook during a weekend class. You can spend a couple hours a week in a local culinary class or spend a vacation in a foreign country, getting a real taste of another country’s local fare, as you learn to prepare it yourself. For the professional chef, following a career path can be fairly typical for everyone; but for the amateur cook, there are many ways to go.
How are you keeping up with culinary trends? Do you have a chance to try any at home? Let me know at RGuyintheKitchen@aol.com.
