How long to cook it?

[Buck]

I just had an email exchange with one of my boys that reminded me of something that happened long ago.

Thought you guys might appreciate it.

When I was a kid my Mom and Dad took us kids to the Pennsylvania Dutch Folklife Festival in Kutztown, PA every year. One year when I was curious about everything I was fascinated with the process of making apple butter. The stuff was cooked for hours and hours in big copper pots over an open fire. It had to be stirred constantly so it wouldn't stick and burn. This was accomplished with long handled stirring sticks which allowed the person stirring to stand back from the hot fire.

Intrigued by the process, I walked up to one lady stirring the mixture and asked her how long they cooked the stuff.

"Why, 'till it's DONE!" came the reply.

 

[CharlieD]

That's the way to cook.

 

[Uncle Bob]

And you reply was what???

 

[Buck]

I just stood there embarrassed I'd even asked. I was just a shy kid and it took me a long time to muster the courage to ask in the first place.

Katie will tell you I'm different now...

 

[mudbug]

I cook pretty much the same way the apple butter lady did. Have probe thermometers and some of that other stuff, but have been cooking long enough now to mostly know when something's done.

 

[Robo410]

yup, till it's done. I won't serve half cooked food. Carpaccio is cooked by looking at it...yup it's done! Pot roast is done when it's falling off the bone, yup it's done!

 

[Uncle Bob]

yep till it's done, and not a minute longer

 

[thebrat3731]

Hmm? Buck? Just gotta ask WHY? WHY? would ya ask?
Apples have a kinda weird way of breaking down when they cook.Plus adding the nutmeg & Cinn? HMM?
Depends on what variety your cooking with! Some get mushy,Some stay solid! Just Gotta know what good Apple your using? (To cook with for that apple butt that is!). It's been My Fav too! for Lots of Years.. my grands used macs,jona golds,Honeycrips & even a granny smith at times..Good Luck Buck! hope you have all the apple butter till your hearts content....

 

[Michael in FtW]

thebrat - I think you missed the esoteric wisdom that Buck was sharing - you might call it Buck's Kitchen Wisdom - How Long Does it Need to Cook? ... akin to one of Aesop's Fables ... it is a story with a moral. While the story may have evolved around making apple butter - the true moral of the story is asking the question, "How long does anything have to cook?" And, the answer is universal, "Until it's done!"

Sorry Buck, don't think telling Katie you're a philosopher is going to get you out of helping to clean up after cooking.

 

[Buck]

Thanks Michael....I think...

 

[Claire]

I love it! If I had a dime for every time someone asked me for a recipe, I'd be rich (haha). people who don't know me well think I'm being coy and don't want to part with my recipes. H--- no, I just don't do it the same from one time to another, and I only measure some recipes (which I am happy to part with). But, yes, I cook stuff until it is done, then keep it warm (or cool it down). I honestly couldn't in a million years tell you how long it takes to cook a potato or boil an egg. This after a half dozen years of home ec and 30 years of practical cooking. When someone sincerely wants to know how to cook something, I simply invite them over for the afternoon and show them. We sit and sip wine and go through the steps together. For example, after my husband started having blood pressure problems, I started minimally salting things, because I'm a salt-a-holic. I now ask him to taste the dish before I put it on the table for company, and put extra salt cellars on the table. I recently lost much of my sense of smell, so I'm depending a lot more on him to taste as we go along. But I still can't reliably come up with a recipe for something I've cooked. I often read three cookbooks or magazines, then wing it. But ... you salt it until it is salty enough. You cook it until it is done. I think a lot of young people simply do not have cooking confidence. And that really only comes with experience (I'm 52 and have been cooking more or less since I was in the single digits)