A Cook is not a Chef

So declares Julia Child, America’s most respected culinary guru who has been active in her kitchen for the last 30 years and who has authored a lot of books on cooking, the latest being "Kitchen Wisdom". Recently she celebrated her 90th birthday and even then has not given any indication that she would be retiring. She made the distinction between a cook and a chef in a recent television appearance, saying the former is one who does recipes and actually executes them while the latter is one who cooks and is, at the same time, some sort of manager for the whole operation in a kitchen, such as in big restaurants and international hotels. She cites Emeril, Bocuse, Puck and her TV partner Jacques Pepin as some of the today’s great chefs.

The hefty lady, who calls herself a general cook, does not believe in "depriving" oneself of the good food available, meaning she never goes on a strict diet, instead takes "a little of everything" and as a testimony to her kind of moderately-controlled eating habit, she asks everybody to "look at me". She loves bacon for breakfast and is excited about Jewish and Egyptian cuisine, citing falafels. Organics? She is a bit non-committal, adding fresh is fresh and one should go for that, with regard to vegetables. For her, gourmet shops don’t have an edge over markets if the shopper knows what to look for. She marvels at the microwave and food processor. Going back to the topic of chefs, she mentions their biggest problem would be how to put each and every dish ordered on the table on time. When that is achieved, the chef will know how well he has done.

We would like to reiterate some tips from the professional chef in the family. Do not buy perishables (meat, seafood, vegetables) on a Monday because stocks are not fresh since there is hardly any delivery on weekends. Since it is often less expensive to buy by bulk, specially in warehouse-type outlets, clean the lot, cut/separate into portions (according to the requirement of the dish you want to cook for a specific number of people), store in styrofoam, wrap tightly or place in plastic bags, then freeze. This way you do not double/triple the de-frosting which could be harmful due to bacteria.

Recently we had a date to have lunch at Zong on the corner of Mayon and Magalindan in Quezon City. Because traffic on the highway has improved (the inner avenues remain clogged), we arrived rather early and got attracted to the store across the street, the Welstar. This is a very good membership one-stop shop. They used to have two sets of prices but have reverted to single pricing recently, meaning members and non-members can buy any item at the same price. Most of the foodstuff are unique to the store, basically imported from our Asian neighbors Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and China. Julie’s collection of biscuits include Cottage Crackers (P44.25), Coconut Biscuits and Wafer Rolls at P42. Among the items we got were Wan Ju seasoned vinegar made of pineapple juice and honey, which was sweetish and gave our beef adobo sa gata a new taste. It costs P88.50 for a bottle of 10 oz., Vegetarian Oyster Sauce at P76, chilli paste for P54. They also have lugao condiments–fish flakes at P42 a pack and Hondasai seaweed for P58.

At that time they were having a sale and among the good buys were power-saver bulbs at P29 each, China stoneware in today’s colorful designs from P10 per, Kitchen Queen set of apron, hand towel and glove for P156.

New from Nestle–tasty snack packs including Maggi Milky Noodle Soup which reminds us of how our late mother would add milk to her chicken soup, making it richer; spaghetti with hotdog bits, an alternative baon for school kids, and Goya snaps which would be good to take in the car.

As expected, the price of rice has gone up. From our neighborhood dealer, the special Sinandomeng is now tagged at P1,200 a sack from the previous P1,100. We dread the day when a lot more foodstuff will follow the upward trend.

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Lydia D. Castillo’s e-mail address: [email protected]