esrosedotblog

DE-HAUTE CUISINE Revised AM 11/11

I identify a lot with this column by Garrison Keillor.

Men, Turn Off Your Cuisinarts

I never actually had a Cuisinart but I did have a Kitchen Aid big bowl mixer. And a lot of other equipment.

I had a convection oven and a barbecue grill right next to my stove top. Lava briquets. Electric coils.

I grated my own cheese, ground my own beans, bought my groceries at Whole Foods and made as many things from scratch as I could.

And that was when I was working and more or less running a business.

A lot of that is gone now.

Before we moved here, we lived in a small apartment for a year. I couldn't take the stuff with me so it got sold in the 'estate' sale.

I never restocked. I had low storage space so I learned to make do.

Now, that has become a habit.

I buy the parmesan (both grated and shredded) at the super market. And I get the coffee beans (when I do brew it for visitors) pre-ground; the good ones; Starbucks and up.

I use Paul Newman marinara sauce.

I have an inventory of Stove Top stuffing and the rice mixes you see in the pasta/rice aisle.

I use prepped spice blends (McCormick et.al) for beef stew and chili. I found a new thing; paste. They make it up for sweet and sour and various barbecue concoctions.

I like John being away because I can have a Stouffer Lean Cuisine (I favor the pastas) and, like Keillor, though I make my own with the prepped mix, I enjoy eating chili out of a can (a blend of Dennison's Fat Free regular and vegetarian varieties).

I use a non-fat mix to make gravies; Knorr, which is a bit more expensive but worth it. I do not even think twice about using rubs and other blended spices out of the bottle; hamburger mix, mesquite mix, poultry rub.

We use the Newman salad dressings and I buy all the premixed and precut produce packs; greens, broccoli, cole slaw and the like.

I did keep my german knives though. I use them on the meats and other small cutting job and out of sentiment.As to equipment, I didn't re-up. No blender, mixer, grinder things. No convection. We use the oven (a Magic Chef just like my mother's) that came with our house.

We don't eat a lot of baked goods. Nine grain bread from the local bakery. I use corn bread mix (Marie Callender). That is about the only 'baking' I do now.

I will put together a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving though. Pumpkin is a vegetable!

I will use the time tested Libby/Carnation evaporated milk recipe. But I will use a frozen pastry shell.

What happened? What changed?

It wasn't just the location change. I guess I just got tired of making stuff that, while better than the pre-mixed, took too much time to make without a sufficient bump in quality.

I have transformed my skill at the haute cuisine to become adept at using the prefabbed and the premixed.

I do not hide this incidentally. I flaunt it. As you can see here.

A good cook is a good cook no matter what the raw material.

I had my high cooking period and now I am happy to be a clever shopper and prepper; adding a bit and adjusting here and there to make the pre-manufactured seem as haute as de-haute can be.

How do I know I am doing OK? We ate out enough in top restaurants to raise our palate standards. I learned and got my skills up to the same level.

Now, we seldom eat out. I cook at home every night and we eat better. I have a rotating menu of about 20 dishes.

I have a system. It works.

No complaints so far; and when there are, I can turn on a dime to make the alternative even better.