The Minimalist

I stumbled across Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Cookbook recently and realized I'm hooked on the Minimalist's idea on cooking. I'm not a gourmet chef nor to I have much experience working in the kitchen. My mom is a great cook and worked at the UBC Clubhouse for many years. She never had me help out in the kitchen when I was young. She always said, "why don't you watch me when I cook to learn?" I never was interested in only watching someone cook so never did pick up much while living at home. There were many opportunities for me to pick up my cooking skills during my living abroad stints but nothing really materialized. So like many who were raised in a fairly traditional Chinese family, I didn't do my share of the cooking until I had my own family (aka became a wife).

I've discovered that cooking is very enjoyable (esp now that I have a baby, it's a real treat to be cutting up veggies and baking!) I try recipes from the web and I aim to bring a bit of chinese home cooking into my home (cuz I miss home cooking!) and often wonder about the purpose of ingredients and cooking techniques. After all, isn't cooking like chemistry: the mixing of different ingredients to produce a delight for your palate?

Then I met Mark Bittman (aka The Minimalist) whose recipes are simple and easy enough for me to get excited about trying them. He provides the basic recipe but lets you know what is optional and what could be used as substitutes which is helpful. I try to make more healthy, nutritious foods and there are times where I would like to minimize/eliminate certain ingredients and not sure if it would ruin the entire recipe. And then there are times where I have no idea what to make after a long day, I am missing certain ingredients for a recipe and have a ton of broccoli in the fridge. I am definitely NOT going out just to buy what I'm missing for that specific recipe. He also writes a column for the NY Times, one of my favorite papers so I'm on the Minimalist bandwagon. What is interesting is he has no culinary training in his cooking background except for being in his own kitchen. Hey, I'm not aiming to be a gourmet chef in my home right from the beginning. I just want to be able to make what I want, with what I have in the quickest and hassle-free way. Then when I have the time, I can dress up the recipe or adapt it with others to find my 'special' recipe.

Here's an article on Mark Bittman: http://www.observer.com/2008/o2/making-minimalist?page=0%2C0

His blog on NYTimes: http://bitten.blogs.nytimes.com/

The first recipe of his that I tried was for Steamed Chicken with scallion-ginger sauce. It was simple, healthy and quick. I know I shouldn't be going to a non-Chinese for a simple Chinese recipe but have you ever asked a Chinese person for a recipe? It usually doesn't exist. They just dribble a bit of this and dabble a bit of that and volia, yummy chinese!

Enjoy!