My mother was of the concept a man’s place was by no means in the kitchen, and this made clear to us as she shooed us out of the kitchen whenever we tried to step within the kitchen to see what was cooking. It might not have been the best or appropriate thing to do, and because of this, her children including me, grew up not knowing how to cook till we were school going teenagers and had to live away from home and to begin to prepare dinner and fend for ourselves.
Deprived as we had been in cooking for ourselves, it made us extra conscious of the beauty in mother’s cooking. Mother’s ready food that was completely marvellous, both in taste and smell. Meals ready by her were by no means ordinary. They were a delight to behold, a pleasure to devour – irrespective of how simple the meal was.
Now in last phase of her life, mum can now not prepare dinner for herself. She has bouts of amnesia, and old age has taken a extreme toil on her. Depending on others to prepare dinner and serve her meals, she will generally wrestle to the kitchen and still manage to organize a ten minute fast cooking on the spot noodle, a lot to our chagrin and anxiety. The doctor orders were to not let her near a stove for concern of a fit or a fall, lest she burn the house down.
Just yesterday, in the quiet of the evening, I was capable of recall occasions I had with mum when I was about to go to college. Crystal-clear in my thoughts, as history started to flash back, I recalled phrases of wisdom from mum on cooking. We were at all times profuse in our praise and bountiful in our appreciation for mum’s implausible cooking.And on one occasion, she revealed the secret formulation that had always surrounded the food she cooked.
“In Chinese cooking,” she mentioned in the future,” the two most important issues are to have a sharp knife and a hot stove. Always ensure your knife is sharpened so to slice via your veggie and your meat or fish. Cutting them up becomes a pleasure and not a task. Remember to have everything prepared earlier than you start cooking: the greens washed, drained and cut; the meat cut and marinated; the sauces prepared.”
“And get yourself a great wok – It is the one piece of cooking equipment you might wish to purchase before you start cooking Chinese language food. Always warmth up the wok. When cooking meat or poultry, guarantee that the wok could be very hot earlier than adding the food. If you’ll stir-fried meat and greens, stir-fry the meat first and set it aside. Then put it to the wok with a sauce during the ultimate stages of cooking. And use slightly cornstarch as a binder at the end of your cooking, if it calls for that. Just remember how the dish tastes like, the best way I cooked it”, she said.
All through the years once I needed to cook, her words of knowledge flashed back to me each time I lamented my cooking. I am now a much better cook, and had added extra styles and recipes to differ my cooking within the later years of my life.
If you would like to get your hands on a killer kungpao chicken recipe, make sure you read this informative kungpao chicken recipe blog.