"For me, that's what cooking with water represents-- gathering together to harmonize." (Pollan)
Recently, I watched an episode of "Cooked," by Michael Pollan, focused on the element of water and how it plays into the concept of cooking. This episode highlights the power of water in cooking and it's power to transform ingredients into something harmonious, nutritious, and extremely tasty. "Pot" dishes are dependent upon the liquid medium that host the ingredients and they reactions. Without water, we would not be able to experience the transformation of even the toughest meats and vegetables into something completely different-- with the help of time, water is the medium that creates something new out of what we think we know about food. The simplicity is just as natural as it is beautiful.
For me, cooking with water has always found a way into my family meals. It is difficult to go without the process, it is so innate. Personally, we do a lot of simmering and boiling. Boiled vegetables, boiled chicken in a dish or soup, shrimp boil at the campsite or at the beach, chili simmering on the stove after boiling down homemade tomato juice: those are only a tiny taste of my families experiences with water in cooking.
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| This is our shrimp boil in process last year on our family camping trip. On the Friday night of the week we camp, we always host a shrimp boil and often attract the rangers of the park themselves, curiously drawn in from the aromas. This photo was taken by me. |
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Cooking with water does not only bring the flavors together, it brings people together also. Whenever large meals with heavy crowds are invited into your home, are soups and pot meals not a popular choice of the chef? This is not a coincidence. Cooking with water takes unlikely ingredients and makes them one-- just like a mutual meal shared between different people creates one harmonious people gathering.
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| This photo was taken by me. My sister and I gearing up for our commute home from school. |
Of course I had to share a coffee picture. But in all reality, coffee could not exist as a drink without the medium of water and it's power in reduction of the beans into a liquid. Teas, coffees, soups, juices... these are only a tiny taste of the foods influenced by the power of water.
Water is a medium that goes so unappreciated and unnoticed; it is essential to our lives as human beings, cooks, and functioning peoples. It creates and assists in some of the most homely and comforting meals I have ever experienced, and carries so much more than a blend of ingredients.
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| This photo was taken of the coast of Australia this January by my sister, Shelby. |
| Water is a beautiful thing. It's existence in the kitchen and in nature will keep me in awe, and have me thinking about the complex balance kept through simple this medium I neglect everyday. Until next time. |
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| -AR |
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