Purposeful Cooking for Novices: Even Mere Males

By Graham R. Arnold

This book reflects the author's lifetime experiences with, and love of, a good nosh. It takes the novice would-be or have-to-be cook on a cooking odyssey. It does not simply present a collection of recipes, although the chosen 100 are an eclectic enticement presented in a novel how-to-do format. Rather, it guides the novice on how to begin, how to
shop, how to build a pantry and kitchen toolkit to even completing the challenge of planning, preparing and hosting an elegant home dinner party. It takes a novice cook to a purposeful one who can truly walk the walk from their kitchen to their table with confidence. In so doing, it can transform cooking as a chore to cooking as an enjoyable hobby. It did me, it can do you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tellwell Talent
• Release date: Sep 20, 2022
• ISBN: 9780228876533

Graham R. Arnold

Graham Arnold is not a celebrity chef, not even a trained one. As a single-again dad with three children to feed, cooking became a necessity at a mid-age period of his life. Progressively, he ventured from truly basic meals to more adventurous ones. To guide him he drew upon his lifetime food experiences: from an inspiring homecookmother to a military career with postings throughout the world, including active service tours in Malaysia and Vietnam, then an academic career wherein he took his university higher-degree management programs to be conducted in host countries, extensively in Asia and to Europe. On retirement from the university, he was engaged in similarconsultancies. He also travelled privately to many parts of the world. As well as tasting his many food experiences, he was an astute observer, researcher and continuous learner on anything to do with food.

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Purposeful Cooking for Novices

Copyright © 2022 by Graham R. Arnold

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Tellwell Talent

www.tellwell.ca

ISBN

978-0-2288-7652-6 (Hardcover)

978-0-2288-7651-9 (Paperback)

978-0-2288-7653-3 (eBook)

To all the people I have noshed with throughout the world over the years.

Acknowledgements

It’s impossible for someone writing about food to give a full account of indebtedness to all those who had an influence, as there were just so many.

Foremost to be acknowledged is my wife, Maxine. Without Maxi this book would never have been written. It was she who suggested it and the concept, pressed for it to be started, and encouraged it throughout the entire process. On another note, she was more than happy for me to take over the majority of the home cooking and content for me to reap compliments of dining guests. She was, no less, an accomplished hostess.

My late mum, a housewife and loving mother. The kitchen was her domain. Meals, whether just for our household or for a larger contingent of the wider family on many special occasions, were by an intuitively gifted cook. I am sure I developed a subliminal appreciation for food at home in my early days, even allowing for the few items of food that I didn’t like and for which Mum encouraged me to sit at the table until I did like them. Some of those I now do.

Thank you, daughter Sal and stepdaughter Fiona, who both reinforced the importance of family and social dining.

Thanks goes to my brother Malcolm, who did some proofing of the book and clicked his camera a bit in Bangladesh. His wife, Halima is a market-to-plate person who treated me royally when I visited them in Khulna.

A special thanks to photographers Heidi Wolff and Ilia Starkovsky; their skills made words come alive.

Without doubt the most profound influence has stemmed from Asia. There I was not only introduced to the tastes of many foods and cuisines by so many different people, but I was exposed to behavioural practices associated with ordering, shopping for ingredients, preparing food, and dining in numerous cultural settings. So thank you, dear friend Chen Chew Yen, Andrew, with whom I ate in so many places in so many countries and who mostly ordered. Thank you, Thu Thanh, for your exquisite dishes, but also for what I learnt from observing how you ordered food at restaurants, how you shopped, and how you prepared food.

Preface

There are so many cooking books on the shelves, and they just keep on keeping on. This at a time when an endless array of recipes and cooking advice is freely available on the internet and where televised cooking shows abound. So could a non-chef, non-celebrity add another? It would have to be different.

This book is about home cooking for a defined purpose. Whether it be for a casual meal or the challenge of an elegant dinner party, purposeful cooking is fundamental. The book targets the novice, be they single again or recently retired males or professional females or males who never went through the learning-to-cook phase. We work our way through all of the elements of purposeful cooking: planning the event, choosing the menu, shopping, preparation, cooking, table setting, serving, and so forth. We predict successful outcomes, even for kitchen novices.

Circumstances forced me to confront necessity cooking. It was pretty basic stuff with the occasional more adventurous dish attempted. Over time my adventurism progressed, and I found that I derived enjoyment from delivering an appreciated meal. With retirement I got more involved with cooking. It grew into something like a new hobby. I hunted out appealing recipes, tried them, discarded or modified them. I discovered different and more enjoyable ways to shop, established my own little pantry, and added to my tools of trade. Soon I was no longer cooking just for my partner but for family and friends.

When the idea of a book was suggested, it took a while to take hold. As I thought more about it, I knew I didn’t want to do another compilation of recipes. Rather, it would reflect my own self-learning experiences. This would be something that interested novices could identify with and derive similar sorts of enjoyment and satisfactions that I have.

If it helps anyone discover the satisfactions that come from purposeful cooking, that will be truly rewarding.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Preface

Part One

This Book And Purposeful Cooking

This Book

Purposeful Cooking is a Holistic Concept

PART TWO

The Lessons

Our Learning Approach To Purposeful Cooking

Lesson 1

The Culinary Start Line

Lesson 2

Let’s Go Shopping

Lesson 3

Building Your Pantry Efficiently and Effectively

Lesson 4

Preparing for Cooking (Mise en place)

Lesson 5

Hands-On Cooking

Lesson 6

Systematically Building Your Toolkit

Lesson 7

Planning an Elegant Home Dinner Party

Lesson 8

Looking After Your Table

Lesson 9

Dining Etiquette

Lesson 10

The Action Learning Cycle

PART THREE

The Food

My Lifetime With Food

A Gastronomical Autobiography

Recipes—My 100

Soups

Hot And Sour Fish Soup (Canh Chua Ca)

Hot And Sour Soup—Chinese

Pho Bo—Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup

Tom Yum Goong

Tom Kha Gai

Tomato Rasam

Fish Chowder—New England, Usa

French Onion Soup

Croutes (Toasted Bread)

My Minestronie Soup

Chicken And Bok Choy In Ginger Broth

California Walnut Gazpacho (Southern Spanish Style)

Harira Chicken Soup—Moroccan

Pasta And Rice

Authentic Spaghetti Alla Carbonara

Spaghetti Alla Puttanesca (Whore’s Pasta)

Ragu Tagliatelle Alla Bolognese

Penne In Tomato, Garlic, And Rosemary Sauce With Balsamic

Lasagna Supremo

Marinara Sauce

Mussels With Orzo (Risoni) And Sun-Dried Tomatoes (Cozze Conorzo E Pomodori Secchi)

Prawns, Basil And Chilli Linguine

Cockles And Pasta

Nasi Goreng

Seafood Risotto (Risotto Alla Pescatora)

Lemon, Herb, And Fish Risotto

From The Sea: Seafood And Fish

Mussels In Tomato And Orange With Chilli

Mariner’s Mussels (Moules Mariniere)

Thai Steamed Mussels

Creamy Garlic Prawns

Peppered Prawns

Garlic Prawns Supreme

Skewered And Grilled Italian Prawns

Salt And Pepper Squid

Sea Scallops With Sauce Meuniere

Fresh Tuna, Algarve Style

Crispy-Skin Salmon

Thai Steamed Fish

Cantonese Steamed Fish

Whole Crispy Fish

Crispy Red Snapper With Spicy Tomato Sauce—Vietnamese

Salads

Chickpea, Feta, And Olive Salad—Moroccan

Aragula (Rocket) And Endive Salad With Pine Nuts And Parmesan

Authentic Greek Salad

Insalata Caprese

Mum’s Salad

Green Papaya Salad

Tamarind Beef And Cucumber Salad Bo Thau Me Dua Leo—Vietnamese

Warm Vietnamese Beef Salad

Vegetables

Mashed Potatoes Creamy Supreme

Olive Potatoes

Roasted New Potatoes

Triple Cooked Chips

Chinese Spinach

Asparagus With Herbs And Parmesan

Stuffed Vegetables

Shakshuka (Shahk–Shoo–Kah), My Version

Meat Dishes (Steak Is Included Separately)

Meat Temperature Chart

Beef Carpaccio Cipriani

Beef Rendang

Beef Wellington—British

My Chicken Cacciatore (Pollo Alla Cacciatora)

Amritsari Murgh Makhani

Kadai Chicken

Chicken In Balsamic Vinegar With Asparagus Salad

Braised Lamb Shanks

Lamb Koftas With Mint And Yoghurt Dressing

Lamb Backstrap With Moroccan Salad

Rack Of Lamb With Cabernet Sauce

Rogan Josh: Kashmiri Mutton Curry With Yogurt And Spices

Saltimbocca Alla Romana

Osso Buco

Twice Cooked Pork Belly - Dong Po Rou

Stir-Fries

Sweet And Sour Chicken With Lemon

Sweet And Sour Pork—Chinese

Stews, Tajines, And Slow Cooker

Boeuf Bourguignon

Beef Daube

Hungarian Goulash

Vietnamese Aromatic And Spicy Beef Stew

Beef Stroganoff

Coq Au Vin

Doro Wat (Spicy Chicken Stew)—Ethiopian

Lamb Stew (Navarin)—French

French Rabbit Stew In Red Wine With Mushrooms

Portuguese Fish Stew (Caldeirada De Peixe)

Lamb Tajine

Slow Cooker Moroccan Chicken Stew

Slow Cooker Jambalaya

Grilling Steaks

Thick Steak (Bone-In Rib)—Alain Ducasse Method. Pan On Stove Top

The BBQ

How To Grill Steaks: For Thick Steaks—The Reverse Sear Method

How To Grill Skinny Steaks—The Turntable Method

Grill Roasted Leg Of Lamb (Bone In)

BBQ Pork Ribs

Lime And Lemongrass Skewered Prawns On The BBQ

Grilled Swordfish With Rosemary

Grilled Zucchini

Grilled Mixed Vegetables

Traditional Xmas Fare

Smoked Xmas Turkey

Making the Gravy

Xmas Ham

Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder

Christmas Roast Vegetables

Deserts

Berries With Mint Cream

Moroccan Coffee And Date Desert

Red Berry Soup

Cheese

Menus

Part One

This Book And Purposeful Cooking

This Book

"I keep six honest serving-men

(They taught me all I knew)

Their names are What and Why and When

And How and Where and Who"

Rudyard Kipling from The Elephant’s Child

Let me introduce my honest serving-men:

WHY this book?

I have long had a passion about food and dining. Home dining in particular has been one of my preferred social occasions. It’s only more recently, though, that I have discovered the pleasure and satisfaction that come from purposeful cooking.

While circumstances took me away from the BBQ and into the kitchen some time ago, my history as a purposeful cook is quite short. It has involved a transition from me being able to manage a reasonable one-dish-meal to putting on a full dining event for guests. It didn’t take very long, and the rewards along the way have been considerable. I continue to derive enjoyment from exploratory, purposeful cooking. It is now a hobby.

When my wife, Maxine, suggested that I write something about cooking, I thought the idea fanciful. Me, a self-taught novice, trying to put something out there with the likes of celebrity chefs. How pretentious! After the idea gestated for a bit, I thought that I might give it a try. I reasoned that there must be many men like me who are interested in food but have never gotten beyond the BBQ; others who, through circumstances, are called upon to cook; and others, of either gender, who have never gained the satisfactions that come from purposeful cooking. So I decided to share my experiences and set out what I had learnt for others.

WHAT this book is about

This is not a book for aspiring chefs, nor is it just a book of recipes, although the recipe section is quite important. The book is about taking novice, would-be cooks on a journey that empowers them to successfully implement purposeful home cooking. It addresses the challenge of putting on an elegant home dinner party, but that isn’t the necessary end objective. In the process it aims to develop the skill of thinking how to think and the skill of learning how to learn in the context of purposeful cooking. These are skills that ensure continuing lifelong growth and development for the cook.

HOW the book is set out

The book is set out in various sections.

I first describe purposeful cooking as a holistic process. This is intended to help us keep the whole in mind, even though at times we’ll be concentrating on a part of the process.

An instructional section of the book is set out in a series of lessons—lessons that I believe embrace the essentials of what makes for a purposeful cook.

Then there is the food section.

I start this section with a bit of self-indulgence—a sort of a gastronomical autobiography wherein I briefly traverse across my lifetime affair with food. This lets you know a little more about the writer and what influenced the book. It might also serve to provide readers with a template for reflecting on their own food-associated lives. Food, in some respects, can be a little like music; a particular dish or particular food experience can cue a whole set of memories.

Then follows my selected one hundred recipes. These are mostly my adaptations. They reflect my experiences and choices and include recipes from a variety of cuisines.

WHO is this book for?

This book is written for the novice kitchen cook.

If it’s a male, he might be a recent retiree, a single-again guy, or a youngish bachelor. He’s most probably someone who, paradoxically, when put in front of a BBQ confidently grills steaks, chops, sausages, or even kebabs, prawns, and other seafood. But when put in the kitchen, he becomes almost comatose.

The novice cook could equally be a female, probably a youngish one. It’s no longer automatic that daughters grow up learning how to cook from their mothers. Many have busy professional lives.

But, in reality, the novice cook is YOU—the reader. This book is written for you.

WHEN can you start?

After reading the book, and it won’t take you all that long, and a bit of thought, you can start pretty much immediately. Pick a recipe and start running—or, more accurately, cooking.

WHERE will your adventures take place?

Your purposeful cooking adventures will occur in shops, in your pantry, in your kitchen, and at your table.

WHAT this book will achieve

I believe that in a reasonably short time horizon, you can become a confident purposeful cook.

Will this book turn you into an intuitive cook? Of itself, no. You may develop this capability, but not directly as a result of the book.

Will it make you an adaptive cook? Decidedly.

Will it make you an adventurous cook? I believe it will.

Will it make you a purposeful cook? YES.

Purposeful Cooking is a Holistic Concept

In almost any human endeavour, it’s useful to keep the whole in mind, even though you might be concentrating on a part of a whole. This holds true for purposeful cooking. Purposeful cooking is a whole event made up of a number of different activities, or parts—all of which are important.

Cooking isn’t done in a vacuum. It has a purpose—or, more correctly, the cook has a purpose. That purpose dictates everything that follows: why you are cooking, who you are cooking for, what you are going to cook, and when you are going to do it are fundamental to purposeful cooking. How we go about it is the essence of what this book is about.

Your purpose might be to try out a new dish on your partner, or it might be a casual lunch or a dinner party for friends or family. Once you’ve determined why you will be cooking, who you will be cooking for, and when you will be doing it, you can proceed to planning for that event effectively.

Your next activity will be taken up with what you will be cooking—in other words, your recipe or recipes. In this book we will assume that we’ll be concerned with the written recipe. Your choice of recipe will naturally be a personal one that is compatible with your purpose and your diners. Bear in mind that the choice you make will be one that is made on behalf of your diners.

Good recipes provide lots of important information. They inform you of the ingredients you will need, timings you’ll have to take account of, and some of the tools you’ll need in your preparation and cooking. They will also reveal what you know, or more importantly, what you’re unsure of. For novice cooks, some knowledge is required to interpret recipes. For instance, some ingredients go by different names: what Americans know as cilantro is more familiar to us as Australians as coriander. Many measures can be confusing too. How much is a cup, a tablespoon, etc.? Thus, an important deciphering process is involved.

Armed with the ingredients you’ll need and following an inspection of your pantry to see what’s on hand, you’ll be able to compile your shopping list. But, as we shall explore later, good shopping is not an automatic process. You can add value to the recipe by determining when and where to shop and in your selection of produce. Keep in mind that