Yeah, I think overall, skill is going up, but I literally don’t know any millennial (or younger) couples where both people do not work. I can make a hell of a good meal out of anything, as can almost all of my peers, but the mental load and time required to effectively plan and execute a range of meals throughout the week is just too high for most people who work. Most traditional poor food is just stuff that takes time and/or labor to cook. Braises and barbecues, porridges like grits or oats, soups and stews.
I might grab some of whatever I see on sale at the grocery store, but I’m not planning anything ahead of time unless there’s a special occasion meal.
To take advantage of a ham going on sale, you need to plan one meal of ham + sides, and the ham likely takes a few hours to warm up. Another meal after could be baked beans with ham (which require overnight soaking) to be planned ahead, and several hours of baking. Another meal might be pea soup with the ham bone, another meal that takes a while to prepare. Most people just don’t have the time for that. When I want to make baked beans, I end up just buying a small chunk of country ham at a greater markup.
Nah, that’s insane. Both my wife and I work 40 hours a week and raise a toddler.
If you are doing 60 hours weeks sure that’s valid but at the risk of being called boomer that’s some bullshit. It takes 2 hours tops to shop every week and a half hour to make a decent meal. You have plenty of time to do that on a 40 hour week.
A lot of cookbooks give you the steps, but not enough tell you what steps are most important, and what, specifically, you need to be paying attention to get the best results. The food lab does stuff like telling you how the salt changes the chemistry of scrambled eggs, then do samples of “cook immediately after scrambling”, “wait 3 minutes”, “wait 5 minutes”, “wait 15 minutes” and show pictures of how it changes the outcome, before telling you his conclusions.
When you understand the core bits, it allows you a lot more flexibility and variety in how you do the surrounding bits. (I like Flour Water Salt Yeast for bread for the same reason.) Too many cook books are more recipe books that don’t teach the fundamentals.
(x) doubt
I see more young people with more skill than ever thanks to Kenji, ATK, and babbish.
Yeah, I think overall, skill is going up, but I literally don’t know any millennial (or younger) couples where both people do not work. I can make a hell of a good meal out of anything, as can almost all of my peers, but the mental load and time required to effectively plan and execute a range of meals throughout the week is just too high for most people who work. Most traditional poor food is just stuff that takes time and/or labor to cook. Braises and barbecues, porridges like grits or oats, soups and stews.
I might grab some of whatever I see on sale at the grocery store, but I’m not planning anything ahead of time unless there’s a special occasion meal.
To take advantage of a ham going on sale, you need to plan one meal of ham + sides, and the ham likely takes a few hours to warm up. Another meal after could be baked beans with ham (which require overnight soaking) to be planned ahead, and several hours of baking. Another meal might be pea soup with the ham bone, another meal that takes a while to prepare. Most people just don’t have the time for that. When I want to make baked beans, I end up just buying a small chunk of country ham at a greater markup.
Nah, that’s insane. Both my wife and I work 40 hours a week and raise a toddler.
If you are doing 60 hours weeks sure that’s valid but at the risk of being called boomer that’s some bullshit. It takes 2 hours tops to shop every week and a half hour to make a decent meal. You have plenty of time to do that on a 40 hour week.
Kenji did turn me from a kid whose parents can’t cook to a woman who cooks really well and rarely goes out to eat
What’s Kenji? Is it the cookbook mentioned here:
https://www.kenjilopezalt.com/
?
Yeah, he’s been a regular on serious eats since I was a teenager
I’m a big fan of the food lab.
A lot of cookbooks give you the steps, but not enough tell you what steps are most important, and what, specifically, you need to be paying attention to get the best results. The food lab does stuff like telling you how the salt changes the chemistry of scrambled eggs, then do samples of “cook immediately after scrambling”, “wait 3 minutes”, “wait 5 minutes”, “wait 15 minutes” and show pictures of how it changes the outcome, before telling you his conclusions.
When you understand the core bits, it allows you a lot more flexibility and variety in how you do the surrounding bits. (I like Flour Water Salt Yeast for bread for the same reason.) Too many cook books are more recipe books that don’t teach the fundamentals.