Secret decoder ring not needed

I started this entry a few days ago thinking I was going in one direction just knowing what I was going to do then I read an article on Marion Cunningham. Who is Marion Cunningham well to be honest I know very little about her only what I learned in this article over on Saveur.com.

Why did this article cause me to pause in what I was doing and begin this blog entry over? It was just one small comment from Marion Cunningham quoted in the article. She said after offering free cooking lessons to those in her neighborhood that it was no wonder people are so confused when it comes to cooking…she said “I gave one man a recipe for a tossed salad, and he put the bowl on one side of the room while he stood on the other, heaving the lettuce in. Watching him, I realized that we’ve turned cooking into a secret language.” It gave me cause to stop and look at what I do. Do I, in my zeal to light the smoldering passion to push oneself to create the best dish out of the best ingredients you can obtain keep things at a level that is accessible to a wide host of readers? Or do I in my excitement jump right into the deep end of the pool as I am want to do (..a LOT) leave behind the number one reason the WikiJan world came into being, giving that cooking neophyte who is looking for some plain-spoken direction what they seek while holding the interest of the more experienced cook…

I have this annoying (to a lot of people) habit of easily picking up a new basic skill set then racing off from first base to sliding right into a complex highly detailed project just for the challenge. Thankfully 99% of the time things work out well and I come out with just few scuffs and scrapes. Its like when I started knitting lace I thought I have knit a sweater so lace should be no problem…uh huh…righhttt. Granted I did work things out after LOTS of frogging and fussing but in the end I loved the challenge. But I digress…

Thinking about all this while I read though this article I decided to take a step back and return to a few basics for a while. Things like comparing, then choosing the best way to thicken a stew or sauce to what over whipped egg whites look like. How much of a difference replacing one form of milk for another will make. What the difference in flavor is between various mushrooms. To should I really fork out THAT MUCH money for item “X”. As well as hopefully keeping things out of the “secret code language” arena or if I do stray into “secret code language” I will supply the decoder ring.

So bring it on the “what the…?”, “I have to do What?”, “Use what technique?” questions. Let’s start decoding cooking together as well as pushing to gain more skill and knowledge in the kitchen.

…lesson #1 Mushroom Gravy!