[To poach an egg: boil and simmer four inches of water; add a bit of vinegar; crack the egg onto a cup and pour into the water; after a minute and a half, lift with a slotted spoon and prod a bit to check; drain and store in ice water; reheat in simmering water before serving.]
I usually have at least one nicely cold soft-boiled egg on hand to lure my thoughts away from eating lunch out.
[Cooking seems like something to juggle amongst life’s many complications rather than a clear path through them.]
[Fast-and-easy recipe books try to sell us akin to ‘breathing air more rapidly’ while pasta is already ‘boil then toss’ and omelettes are already a minute away.]
[Cooking is transformation, and transformation is human.]
[Absurd to think that nature starts from scratch at dawn: cooking as well is continuity, picking up where something else left off.]
Stale slices of bread should be ground into breadcrumbs, which make a delicious topping for pasta, and add crunch to a salad. Or they must be toasted and broken apart for croutons or brittle crackers, which ask to be smeared with olive paste.
This continuity is the heart and soul of cooking. If we decide our meals will be good, remanded kale stems, quickly pickled or cooked in olive oil and garlic, will be taken advantage of to garnish eggs, or tossed with pasta. Beet and turnip greens, so often discarded, will be washed well and sautéed in olive oil and filled into an omelet, or served on warm, garlicky crostini. The omelets or little toasts will have cost no more than eggs and stale bread, and both will have been more gratifying to eater and cook.
If our meal will be ongoing, then our only task is to begin.
if there is anything that you can learn from what is happening, learn it.
[Adding salt is more than just about boiling: it’s a way to cook one good-tasting thing inside another.]
[You already know how everything is supposed to taste: it should be ‘good’. And that’s as true for water as any other ingredient.]
[Add ingredients together warm, as they’re already transforming and open to change.]
[Push re-use of water by moving from less starchy to more starchy ingredients.]
[Taste the broth often and cook until delicious.]