America: Too Stupid To Cook(blog.ruhlman.com)
blog.ruhlman.com
America: Too Stupid To Cook
http://blog.ruhlman.com/2010/01/america-too-stupid-to-cook.html
14 comments
Did you read his post closely? On closer examination, the whole industry seems to be centered around convincing people that there are thousands of modern shortcuts people can take to get complicated-sounding recipes executed in less than 30 minutes. The industry is simultaneously complicating cooking and dumbing down cooks.
As a sidenote, his book "Ratio" he mentions is exactly the opposite and has a nice methodological way of explaining cooking which gives a lot of insight into how everything works as opposed to blindly following recipes. Great for engineers and tinkerers.
Yes, and in many cases he's simply wrong. There are scads of cookbooks, cooking segments, and cooking shows with a "this may sound hard, but it really isn't" approach. The only thing "lacking" in their approach is the patronizing attitude of the roasted chicken recipe.
I love to cook, make my own stock, roast my own chicken, etc. But articles like this always rub me the wrong way. I imagine the all the articles I don't read that are about me:
America: Too Stupid To Change Its Own Oil
America: Too Dumb To Paint A Room
There's only so many hours in a day, and we all have different priorities. A rotisserie chicken is nice for people who don't work from home, don't want to eat at 9pm, and don't want to pick up KFC. Get over yourself.
America: Too Stupid To Change Its Own Oil
America: Too Dumb To Paint A Room
There's only so many hours in a day, and we all have different priorities. A rotisserie chicken is nice for people who don't work from home, don't want to eat at 9pm, and don't want to pick up KFC. Get over yourself.
End of the article (read all of it): yeah sometimes cooking is a pain in the ass, last night I got Chipotle for the kids so I could play an extra game of pool.
The title is sarcastic. It's making fun of the notion that America would think it is too stupid to stick a chicken in the oven for an hour and then put it on a platter.
The title is sarcastic. It's making fun of the notion that America would think it is too stupid to stick a chicken in the oven for an hour and then put it on a platter.
Yeah, I got there.
The problem with his premise that lots of cooking is just as simple as the "convenience" option is that it assumes away the time involved in obtaining the knowledge of how to roast a chicken or bake a cake.
The problem with his premise that lots of cooking is just as simple as the "convenience" option is that it assumes away the time involved in obtaining the knowledge of how to roast a chicken or bake a cake.
Rest of the end of the article (read all of it): turn oven to 450, salt chicken, stick lemon in hole (note: optional), put chicken in oven, wait one hour, rest off heat 15 minutes. How long did that take you to read? That's the amount of time he assumed away.
(You don't really have to make yourself a drink or go have sex during the hour the chicken is roasting. The chicken will taste better if you are slightly buzzed and freshly laid, but it will still taste pretty good if you aren't.)
(You don't really have to make yourself a drink or go have sex during the hour the chicken is roasting. The chicken will taste better if you are slightly buzzed and freshly laid, but it will still taste pretty good if you aren't.)
Again, I read it. Again, I am the sort of person who would read an article about how to roast a chicken.
Time spent reading his roast chicken recipe: 10 seconds
Time spent reading cookbooks/articles/magazines/blogs so that I knew that roasting a chicken is easy and good and so that I knew that Ruhlman's blog or book might be a good place to find out how to do it: 8 years
Like the apocryphal story about the itemized index: http://www.ruqus.com/the-red-x
Time spent reading his roast chicken recipe: 10 seconds
Time spent reading cookbooks/articles/magazines/blogs so that I knew that roasting a chicken is easy and good and so that I knew that Ruhlman's blog or book might be a good place to find out how to do it: 8 years
Like the apocryphal story about the itemized index: http://www.ruqus.com/the-red-x
Can't just throw a chicken in the oven, unless there's a chicken in the fridge. Can't always have them in the fridge - they go bad in 2-3 days. Don't have the family together reliably enough, half of them will go bad. Freeze them? Add 15 minutes to defrost, up the mess factor by X2, include shopping and freezing the chickens, dividing the chicken into portions, repackaging the leftovers, remembering to reheat the leftovers, time spent cleaning the fridge of month-old disgusting forgotten leftovers. Doesn't Stoeffers have a chicken TV dinner? Sigh.
In the US Gordon Ramsey is mostly known (unfortunately) for his vapid Hell's Kitchen show. But when I was working for home for a while I got hooked on his show "the F word" (BBC America). Part of that show is about how people no longer cook anymore and he takes it upon himself to get people cooking at home. Tons of simple home cooked "fast food" recipes. Really interesting show too. He takes home different livestock (Turkeys, pigs) raises them in his backyard with his kids and slaughters them at the end of the season for a holiday meal. He's of the opinion if he and his family is going to eat them they're damn well going to know where they come from. It sounds a bit more graphic then it is. Great show.
Also a plug for my favorite simple roast chicken is the SF based Zuni Cafe's (you can do it with or without the bread stuffing)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4401342
Also a plug for my favorite simple roast chicken is the SF based Zuni Cafe's (you can do it with or without the bread stuffing)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4401342
"In the US Gordon Ramsey is mostly known (unfortunately) for his vapid Hell's Kitchen show. "
But I like that show!
OK, I agree it's heavy on the vapid drama side. Still, it's oddly entertaining, and it got me somewhat interested in cooking.
One big complaint I have with Hell's Kitchen is that it fails to show enough about the food and cooking techniques. I bet lots more people could be tricked into cooking if such a show would mix in a bit of how-to and here's-why with the yelling and blustering.
But I like that show!
OK, I agree it's heavy on the vapid drama side. Still, it's oddly entertaining, and it got me somewhat interested in cooking.
One big complaint I have with Hell's Kitchen is that it fails to show enough about the food and cooking techniques. I bet lots more people could be tricked into cooking if such a show would mix in a bit of how-to and here's-why with the yelling and blustering.
"Of the top five books on the NYTimes advice and how-to bestseller list, half are about cooking"
There are 2.5 books? Lord knows I've read novels with gratuitous cooking scenes, but I wonder whether that's what he means. One should also consider that cookbooks are a handy gift--about the right cost and heft.
There are 2.5 books? Lord knows I've read novels with gratuitous cooking scenes, but I wonder whether that's what he means. One should also consider that cookbooks are a handy gift--about the right cost and heft.
My dad was a chef, so I'm used to cooking. I've taught several friends how to cook. Universally, the feedback is "I didn't know cooking was this easy." It really doesn't take much more than 15 minutes and basic literacy to make dinner for yourself, plus it's cheaper and healthier.
It's not really cheaper unless you make an effort to be cheaper (by making rice-and-beans style food, or by being careful with portions and leftovers). It definitely tastes better and it's probably healthier.
Most of the ostensible value of prepared food is made possible through the false economy of massive public subsidies for the commodity crops that make up the bulk of manufactured food products.
Which has absolutely nothing to do with your monthly food budget.
Where do you think the money to pay for those subsidies comes from? (Note: the response "my grandchildren" is technically correct but misses the point.)
A lot of things are "cheaper" if by "cheaper" you mean "supports a political viewpoint that asserts that things will be cheaper in some abstract future where a critical mass of people adopt that viewpoint" instead of "cheaper". In reality, when you cook, you're either (a) paying much more for food by buying local, humane, or organic, or (b) partaking in the same factory system that McDonalds does.
In fact, McDonalds and Chipotle are doing much more to promote sustainability than the typical home cook is.
In fact, McDonalds and Chipotle are doing much more to promote sustainability than the typical home cook is.
I'm not talking about some magical hippie love future in which everyone chooses to go local, organic and vegan. I'm talking about material, measurable public subsidies to specific agricultural practices that allow companies to sell their products at far below the cost of production and hence distort the market for those products.
About which the only influence you have vis a vis eating is to avoid the foods that are a part of that system; I was careful to say "organic, local, or humane" (not vegan) to provide as many non-Food-Inc. options as possible.
I don't see what your point has to do with the cost of cooking in vs. cooking out. At least 'kingkongrevenge has a meal plan to offer us. =)
I don't see what your point has to do with the cost of cooking in vs. cooking out. At least 'kingkongrevenge has a meal plan to offer us. =)
Again, to clarify: I'm not talking about conventional factory farming vs. organic/local farming; I'm not referring to the economies of scale realized by industrialized farming practices.
I'm talking about massive, direct economic subsidies for the kinds of crops that tend to go into prepared foods vs. the comparative absence of massive, direct economic subsidies for the kinds of crops that tend to be the ingredients of home cooked meals. (The actual ingredients of home-cooked meals vs. their prepared equivalents are rarely even remotely similar.)
I hope what this has to do with the cost of cooking ingredients vs. eating prepared food is self-evident.
I'm talking about massive, direct economic subsidies for the kinds of crops that tend to go into prepared foods vs. the comparative absence of massive, direct economic subsidies for the kinds of crops that tend to be the ingredients of home cooked meals. (The actual ingredients of home-cooked meals vs. their prepared equivalents are rarely even remotely similar.)
I hope what this has to do with the cost of cooking ingredients vs. eating prepared food is self-evident.
I'd have to make an effort to spend more on groceries than eating out, and I eat zero rice & beans. A diet of nuked frozen vegetables, eggs, butter, yogurt, and various cheap meats/fish costs me I think a few bucks a day. Prep time is usually less than ten minutes.
A package of chicken thighs (how much cheaper do you want to go?) is still $2/person/meal, and that assumes that you're careful about leftovers/trim.
OK, let's allow $4 for dinner: frozen chicken, bagged frozen vegetable, bagged frozen squash; takes about 15 minutes to nuke up.
$2 for breakfast. Three eggs scrambled in plenty of butter. Some nuked frozen berries in half a cup of whole plain yogurt. Five minutes prep.
$2 for lunch. Some celery, a can of sardines, and a large glass of half&half. Zero prep time, aside from rinsing celery.
This is roughly what I eat and there is no way you can save time or come close to matching the cost at restaurants or even with pre-packaged food. I don't even go to the grocery store: peapod drops my list off every two or three weeks.
$2 for breakfast. Three eggs scrambled in plenty of butter. Some nuked frozen berries in half a cup of whole plain yogurt. Five minutes prep.
$2 for lunch. Some celery, a can of sardines, and a large glass of half&half. Zero prep time, aside from rinsing celery.
This is roughly what I eat and there is no way you can save time or come close to matching the cost at restaurants or even with pre-packaged food. I don't even go to the grocery store: peapod drops my list off every two or three weeks.
You are making an effort to eat cheaply. Clearly it can be done. I think most people will lose the $2/person/meal lunch budget because they aren't willing to eat a can of sardines every day forever, and I think $4 is (a) a noticeably cheap dinner and (b) more expensive than some takeout meals portioned appropriately.
Also: a glass of half and half? Really? I get the milk carb thing, but why not just drink something with no carbs or fat?
Also: a glass of half and half? Really? I get the milk carb thing, but why not just drink something with no carbs or fat?
> You are making an effort to eat cheaply
It's more about convenience and I what I like, actually. No real effort to each cheap. I like eggs and I like whole fat dairy. And in truth I do often eat cod or flank steak or whatever, so up the daily cost by maybe 50%, but it's still peanuts compared to eating out.
> a glass of half and half? Really?
I go through half a stick of butter, a glass or two of half&half, and some whole fat yogurt daily. First, it's delicious. Second, dairy fat is frickn diesel. You can run on all cylinders for ages.
It's more about convenience and I what I like, actually. No real effort to each cheap. I like eggs and I like whole fat dairy. And in truth I do often eat cod or flank steak or whatever, so up the daily cost by maybe 50%, but it's still peanuts compared to eating out.
> a glass of half and half? Really?
I go through half a stick of butter, a glass or two of half&half, and some whole fat yogurt daily. First, it's delicious. Second, dairy fat is frickn diesel. You can run on all cylinders for ages.
If you control for portion size (instead of just eating what the fast food chains give you), your meal plan is just barely cheaper than Domino's Pizza, Chipotle Burritos, Subway Footlongs, and Wendy's Spicy Chicken Nuggets value meals (and those come with not one but three different kinds of peppers and savory spices).
I agree, don't eat Wendy's (it will also kill you), and I salute you for operating almost entirely on dairy fat, but I think my point stands: it isn't necessarily or even likely cheaper to cook than to eat out.
I agree, don't eat Wendy's (it will also kill you), and I salute you for operating almost entirely on dairy fat, but I think my point stands: it isn't necessarily or even likely cheaper to cook than to eat out.
To be fair, if you're comparing against McD's, you're comparing the cheapest foods available on both sides. You have a point that the costs tend to converge on the low end, so if your primary metric is cost it doesn't matter so much. However, when you get past fast food to the mid-range, your average dinner entre at a restaurant is going to be at least $10, while the home-cooked meal is going to be like $5.
For food of the same quality, cooking at home is cheaper. The absolute minimum cost of either food is comparable (corollary: there is worse fast food available than you could cook yourself).
For food of the same quality, cooking at home is cheaper. The absolute minimum cost of either food is comparable (corollary: there is worse fast food available than you could cook yourself).
I partially (though I don't know how much) blame the infantalization of children. There's no reason a 15-year-old can't cook a full dinner for the family, except that cooking is "too hard" for "children". And the only thing that made me go up to 15 is safety, 12 or 13 is probably enough on average.
I'm not saying this should be a regular responsibility, but they should be capable of it.
I wish my parents had let me cook more. I recovered in college and now I cook a lot, but there was no reason I should have needed to wait until I was not in the dorm anymore.
I'm not saying this should be a regular responsibility, but they should be capable of it.
I wish my parents had let me cook more. I recovered in college and now I cook a lot, but there was no reason I should have needed to wait until I was not in the dorm anymore.
I really, really think you're right!
I learned to cook because I grew up in a house where meals were cooked, not ordered out. I was making simple dishes and baking cakes on my own by age 10. Likewise, my 9 year-old son is learning to cook from me. He likes helping and the look of pride on his face when I let him make up a batch of meatballs from scratch (everything except putting them in the oven) because I was busy with something else had to be seen to be believed.
Even something as simple as letting a child mix some ingredients helps. They learn mise en place, how to use kitchen tools properly, basic kitchen hygiene and the overriding idea that everyone can cook!
I learned to cook because I grew up in a house where meals were cooked, not ordered out. I was making simple dishes and baking cakes on my own by age 10. Likewise, my 9 year-old son is learning to cook from me. He likes helping and the look of pride on his face when I let him make up a batch of meatballs from scratch (everything except putting them in the oven) because I was busy with something else had to be seen to be believed.
Even something as simple as letting a child mix some ingredients helps. They learn mise en place, how to use kitchen tools properly, basic kitchen hygiene and the overriding idea that everyone can cook!
My Mum taught me to cook quite well by being a good example but most of the technical skill I learnt in Home Economics at high school.
Peeling potatoes with my 4 year old is a test of nerve though - suprised I still have all my fingers left (I hold the spuds, he attacks with the peeler!). I'm aiming for him making cooked breakfast by 7 and meals by the time he starts high school. By then he'll be messing around with sharp knives and fire by himself so no reason why he can't do that and be productive ...
Peeling potatoes with my 4 year old is a test of nerve though - suprised I still have all my fingers left (I hold the spuds, he attacks with the peeler!). I'm aiming for him making cooked breakfast by 7 and meals by the time he starts high school. By then he'll be messing around with sharp knives and fire by himself so no reason why he can't do that and be productive ...
blog.ruhlman.com: too stupid to scale?
The problem with most blogs is they don't use static page caching. I'm willing to bet this person didn't.
I like cooking something great, especially when I have people over or just when I feel like eating something really good but I hate everyday cooking. It's so boring. The processed foods you can just throw in the oven for 30-40 mins are getting so good nowadays that the reason I don't cook that much is that it's just so much easier not to. Why spend hours to prepare a chicken pot pie when you can just buy a frozen one for 8$? Same goes for shepherd's pie and any number of others.
I feel like eating something really good but I hate everyday cooking
Me too, but thats why god (or somebody godlike) invented freezers. The secret to eating good food every day if you don't like to spend time cooking is just to make stuff in big batches and preserve it.
Today for instance I spent 30 minutes or so making possibly the most delicious stew man has ever tasted. I made enough for eight servings and am freezing most of it. It would have taken me almost as long just to make one serving.
People make plenty of excuses about why they can't cook but it's rarely true.
Me too, but thats why god (or somebody godlike) invented freezers. The secret to eating good food every day if you don't like to spend time cooking is just to make stuff in big batches and preserve it.
Today for instance I spent 30 minutes or so making possibly the most delicious stew man has ever tasted. I made enough for eight servings and am freezing most of it. It would have taken me almost as long just to make one serving.
People make plenty of excuses about why they can't cook but it's rarely true.
I do that a lot too. I have a lot of spicy chili in my freezer along with a batch of rigatoni that I use mostly for lunches.
I also have a lot of small portions of meat (french steak, pork chops, etc) that I just fry up with potatoes or occasionally bake in a shake'n'bakeish spice mix.
I do cook a lot but I eat a lot of the prepared stuff too, just because it's good and it's easy.
I also have a lot of small portions of meat (french steak, pork chops, etc) that I just fry up with potatoes or occasionally bake in a shake'n'bakeish spice mix.
I do cook a lot but I eat a lot of the prepared stuff too, just because it's good and it's easy.
You find more of the problem when you read the comments on the post. What America lacks are curious learners, what it has plenty of are 'experts' and fearful novices.
Which means you should love Ruhlman; his current major book is an anticookbook, containing the ratio kernels of important recipes (X:Y fat/meat = sausage; X:Y:Z flour/butter/salt = cookie) from which you can just improvise your own dishes.
His blog is also excellent. For instance, duck confit from his blog: take 2 duck legs, salt them, stick 'em in ziploc bags overnight, rinse them, cook them for long time in a pot of olive oil, cool and store. Missing from that recipe: $40 worth of duck fat, complicated curing recipe, ceramic crock stored under basement stairs.
His blog is also excellent. For instance, duck confit from his blog: take 2 duck legs, salt them, stick 'em in ziploc bags overnight, rinse them, cook them for long time in a pot of olive oil, cool and store. Missing from that recipe: $40 worth of duck fat, complicated curing recipe, ceramic crock stored under basement stairs.
Has anyone bought/used Ruhlman's "Ratio" iPhone app? http://blog.ruhlman.com/ratio-app
I used it a bit over Chistmas, and I recommend it if you don't own the Ratio book, but the book is more useful than the iPhone app. The Achilles Heel of the concept is that it is so effective that you can mostly memorize it, and a single index card is a decent replacement for the app.
The one caveat in favor of the app is, at least twice I've totally fucked up cookies by spacing out on math when scaling them up.
The one caveat in favor of the app is, at least twice I've totally fucked up cookies by spacing out on math when scaling them up.
It's handy, but could still use some polish. For example, when I was looking at the bread ratio the other day I noticed I could only see salt and yeast as weights even though the weights were far too small to measure without science equipment (down to the milligram). I imagine after an update or too it will be even better.
Conversation with Engineers about 10 yrs ago:
Me: Nobody knows how to cook anymore.
Don: Yeah, my Grandmother was a great cook. She really knew how to microwave a baked potato!
Me: {jaw drops, dumb silence}
[deleted]
Too lazy to clean, as I don't have a dishwasher.
Cooking seems fun. I'd like to learn it, and will once I live (a) within walking (or driving, outside of NYC) distance of a grocery store and (b) in an apartment with a dishwasher. Unfortunately, these are not to be taken for granted in NYC. Half the buildings don't even have laundry (I'm not joking).
Cooking seems fun. I'd like to learn it, and will once I live (a) within walking (or driving, outside of NYC) distance of a grocery store and (b) in an apartment with a dishwasher. Unfortunately, these are not to be taken for granted in NYC. Half the buildings don't even have laundry (I'm not joking).
Is washing dishes by hand really that hard?
It certainly is when you’re washing for more than one other person (e.g., children or guests).
Many people just aren't interested in cooking, out of laziness, busyness, and/or simple disinterest. I like cooking now and then, but some people don't find it enjoyable to do, and that's no crime.