The Exchanges

Q Thank you for that question. Um, this is, this is a question from Jackie Levine. She says, we've found ourselves with a lot of salmon and cabbage, presumably frozen salmon. Any quick and easy advice for those ingredients, salmon and cabbage?

A Yes. Ok, cabbage. Lately, I've been doing this thing where I take the whole head of cabbage, and I slice it into Slices maybe an inch and a half thick and roast them on a sheet pan with, um, whatever flavors I'm feeling. So the original way I had it, someone made it for me. He put a ton of butter and like coriander seed and poured some white wine over it and roasted it in the oven at about 300 degrees for maybe an hour and a half. And what happens is I think we forget, we consider cabbage this like really boring, Depression era thing. But if cabbage spends time cooking, it turns into something completely different. It gets so sweet and silky and tender and wants to melt in your mouth. And so I have been making that and with all sorts of different flavors, I made one that was like kind of Japanesey with rice wine. And sesame seeds and soy sauce that was super good. And I think you can reflect whatever's happening on the cabbage on the salmon. I do a slow cooked salmon where I put it on a sheet pan on a piece of parchment skin side down, just do the whole big piece. And I stick it in the oven typically at like two 25 or two 50. But if you want to just cook the cabbage and the salmon at the same time, it'll be fine at 300 degrees also. The salmon will take less time than the cabbage will, so get your cabbage started if you're doing the roasting version, and then get that salmon in…

AI assessment note: “if you want to just cook the cabbage and the salmon at the same time”

Q Yeah, that's my total go-to. Um, I love this question. It's from Lucas Matias, um, when this crisis is over, what dish are you gonna order at a restaurant that you miss?

A Oh man, my favorite restaurant is a Korean restaurant nearby that, um, makes hot tofu soup in, like, a stone bowl, and they also have these, like, thin kimchi pancakes that are so crispy and delicious. I haven't really been ordering any takeout, but what I miss is all of the kinds of foods that taste totally different than what I make for myself. I rely a lot on olive oil and lemon and vinegar, so kind of my food almost all tastes in that Mediterranean, you know, flavor palette, which is fine and delicious, but I look forward to eating stuff from other parts of the world. Yesterday I was really craving Mexican food. I think I'm gonna probably make some beans. In the next day or two, and maybe some tortillas and stuff.

AI assessment note: “makes hot tofu soup in, like, a stone bowl, and they also have these”

Q How are you getting ingredients? I mean, a lot of people are, you know, talking about having a hard time getting butter or flour, eggs, um, you know, Wait, a lot of people don't want to wait in line forever at grocery stores. Um, are, do you have any, like, hacks to just get stuff?

A I wish I did. I definitely have been waiting in my fair share of lines. Um, I mean, and I know that this is tricky, but on my street, we share a lot of resources. I know this is definitely not what everyone has, but across the street, for example, somebody has chickens, and then we have many fruit trees, so we're just constantly sharing stuff, and also cooked food. I live by myself, but when I make a big pot of soup, or a big pot of beans, or You know, big lasagna. I'm constantly sharing that. And at first I think there were a lot of questions about if sharing food was safe, but it seems, you know, on the research, based on the research that I've read, this really is not transmitted through food. It's, you have to be careful about the container you're using and people wiping off the container once it comes into the house. But, like, yesterday somebody texted me and said, do you have any cardamom? And I said, yeah, come over. So there's a lot more sharing.

AI assessment note: “I wish I did. I definitely have been waiting in my fair share of lines.”

Q Yeah, it's great. Um, we're getting tons of questions. Um, this is from, um, Patricia Murrell Act. She asks, like, how has your personal cooking changed in, in recent weeks? And like, for example, are you having to change ingredients that you're used to just having?

A Well, I have always been a champion of the pantry. And so I had a pretty rich pantry, like pretty well stocked pantry before. So I don't actually feel like I have changed a ton. I'm not, I will say like, I don't have the plentitude of fresh vegetables that I always have. And so there's a lot more like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and the kind of stuff that can last a long time that I sort of worked through over the course of the week. But the other thing I will say that's been very strange in my life, one of the ways I've been affected is I have historically been known for my huge appetite. And the way that the coronavirus has like probably emotionally and physically affected me is I don't feel like eating that much right now. As much as I cook, I sort of just give stuff away most of the time, but I'm not like drawn to eating. So I'm trying to wrap my mind around how I can Can share substitution information with other people. I've been working on a recipe for cake. Where you can use whatever you have, you know, but it's hard, like, it's hard.

AI assessment note: “I don't have the plentitude of fresh vegetables that I always have.”

Q Okay. Here's a question from Marin Olin Jacob Oviatt. What advice do you have for people who want to bake bread, but can't find flour or yeast anywhere?

A Change your desires. I don't know what to tell you about if you can't find flour. I mean, if you're specifically referring to all purpose flour or bread flour that you can't find, but say you're able to find whole wheat flour. There are recipes for hundred percent whole wheat bread online. In terms of yeast, I think a lot of people have yeast that, um, who are hoarding, so look for somebody to borrow from, but you can also, you know, it seems daunting, and I myself never wanted to do it, but I have, like, I have over there now my sourdough starter that I feed every day. It took me 10 days to get it to come to life, And now I'm able to make really beautiful bread. So if you want to commit to the time commitment, that's a way to sort of, um, do it without yeast. But then the tricky thing is you have to feed starter flour. So it's complicated. Yeah. But now I have endless time to stand there and baby my dough, so I've started doing it, and it's actually a really wonderful way to pass the day.

AI assessment note: “In terms of yeast, I think a lot of people have yeast that... look for somebody to borrow from”

Q I mean, there is definitely is something to like, there's like a connection that I think Millions of people are, are kind of making with their, with their homes, right? Like, we are in our homes. We have to cook. A lot of people are baking bread. Um, I mean, in some ways, like, the stuff you write about is to kind of encourage people to make their own food.

A Totally. I actually think one of the greatest things that will come out of this is, I think a lot more people will have confidence in the kitchen and feel like they can Take care of themselves and they can because now sort of overnight we were all forced to. So people are practicing, which the only thing that makes you a better cook is practice. It's not, you know, fancy tools or like going to some culinary school. It's just practicing. So now that we all have to make meals, you know, multiple times a day on end for ourselves and for the people around us, we are all getting better. The other thing I think Is kind of the invisible, um, force that helps us become better that a lot of us don't even realize is constraint. Total freedom is often overwhelming. You know, when you can have any ingredient, when you can do anything, when you could make any recipe, you don't know where to start. You don't have like a path, but when we are constrained by our space or our ingredients or our time or, you You know, what our kids are gonna eat, or if they're gonna lose their minds. Like, all of those things help us decide what to make, and sort of Make better choices within our confinement. And so I actually think if people can become more comfortable at identifying the constraints and working within them, that that also will help later when you go to the farmer's market and you're faced with …

AI assessment note: “I think a lot more people will have confidence in the kitchen”