Notes on technique.

Some things are harder to cook than others. I've been guilty of saying that a lot of different foods are 'the most difficult' to cook, which obviously depends on the intended result. For example, anyone can cook the hell out a shrimp or a piece of chicken and call it done. But cooking it 'correctly' requires that you cook it just enough without making it tough or dry. 

Here are some of the things I think are most difficult to cook well.

1. Eggs

2. Chocolate

3. Sugar

4. Fish

The first three all pose difficulties because the window between them being hot enough to cook and hot enough to burn is so small. As with the chicken example above, anyone can cook an egg that's spotty and brown. Cooking an egg with a smooth, coagulated white and a completely runny yolk is far more difficult. 

Chocolate and sugar are difficult to work with because they both begin to burn at such a low temperature that melting them can pose problems if you don't have proper equipment and pay close attention. 

Cooking fish demands a great deal of subtlety. Because there are hundred of different preparations and hundreds of different kinds of fish it's difficult to describe the gamut of possible techniques involved. I personally believe that cooking fish well requires that you do it over and over. I've never seen anyone do it well their first time and I think the time it takes to actually master fish cookery is very extensive for all but the most talented cooks.

In the next post or two I'd like to closely examine egg and fish cookery and offer a few different recipes which allow the opportunity to make wonderful food without necessarily having to execute the cooking perfectly. Think of them as practice dishes which will be delicious even if you don't acheive every goal in the process.