Saturday, April 4, 2009

Overcooked

Method of Cooking??
Amidst all the methods of cooking, I am very much fond of roasting. Apparently I have a pleasing palate for the roasted foods, tough the foundation is same, I have seen too many methods of handling the foods to be roasted, the right source of heat and the handling method means more to the final result/taste of the dishes.
When I was twelve, I along with my village mates, roam around the dry empty fields in search of dry woods and leaves for our cooking/roasting session, a small pit is made in the hard ground and filled with tiny twigs and leaves, on top goes the potatoes covered with more and more woods, which is then set on fire, those humble potatoes inside those blue fire for two hours is a real treat for our hungry mouths, we never worried about those black skin and muddy flavor, its smoky smell is an elaborate appetizer.
Unlike corn and other meat products, wherein, it is pierced with an iron skewer while roasting, our potatoes were left undisturbed. Small markings on potatoes were made with pebbles for identification (we don’t like fights, when it comes to food/eating) , how much ever long you roast, the carbohydrates in the potatoes gets soft, soft and softer. All this love for roasting started when I was twelve.
Twelve years later, in a school food fest, we had choices of meats for roasting, many suggested oven and pot roasting, but I want it to be spit roasted ( in open fire) , because cooking is not just making it edible, forget not the flavor. After a couple of words here and there, everyone mutually agreed to spit roasting, but they want the meat to be oven roasted before keeping it on the fire (BBQ). My angry mouths WHY? Got an answer that meat are hard and tough to cook, so cook the meat in oven and present it on BBQ (fire), but what happens to the taste, its cooked twice, its not those humble potatoes to cook as long as you wish.
The agreed minds and meats were oven roasted and the meats were placed on BBQ, (literally on fire, how much heat and time is required to cook a meat – they are overcooking it) but sometimes the roasts turn out to be a dirty work if not handled properly.
The guest’s started flowing in. Wow! what a BBQ – Thanks for the compliment. Oh! the meat is raw – It’s a complaint, for this grand food fest few pay three hundred and many pay thirty hundred, what for? Is it for the raw BBQ? All the brown fingers covered with complaints pointed towards me.
Yes, I do hurried the oven roasting process. Yes, I do want to cook it traditionally (with fire touching the meat) . Yes, I do want the authentic flavor. How long, any meat needs to be cooked? Why pointing me?
Then those words in my mind confirmed that the meat is tough/overcooked not raw, and none of those complained fingers knew that the meat gets harder and harder the longer and longer you cook, its protein guys,it hardens when heat is applied, never overcook. I smiled timidly and turned to see humble George trying to cook the overcooked meat with a new cooking/handling method. What’s on the menu George “Hand roasted leg of lamb”?
Change the menu to potatoes next time.... how many loves carbohydrates?

5 comments:

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Raviraj said...

Method of Cooking?? - potatoes
"When I was twelve, I along with my village mates, roam around the dry empty fields .......................................................................................... hungry mouths, we never worried about those black skin and muddy flavor, its smoky smell is an elaborate appetizer.
I AGREED

sathish vasudevan said...

@ ravi raj
Now its hard to see people cultivting potatoes inside the village..new buildings and houses ocuupies those empty field now..

Fazin said...

hahahahaha....wat the hell is george doing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!ultra innovative ways of roasting.....lol

ccplmaihs said...

oh...i remember this dreadful dae......it was rainnin...like hell!!!...