American Abundance
Energy and time are our two most dwindling resources ~ can we use them in a better way?
I am very excited to tell you that I have finally landed on a subject, very close to my heart and to my cooking that I want to make the central premise of this Substack! I’ve written about many things…from table settings to baking cookies and while I will continue to wind this in, the emphasis will be on something else. Something far more important. Cooking is in my lifeblood, has been since I was 13 but even after all these decades, I still learn new things. Every single day.
Deep in my heart, I am a conservationist ~ waste driving me CRAZY. Bonkers crazy. When people order too much food, don’t want to take it home, basically throw away food ~ I want to go lecture them on starving children in Africa and India. And remind them that they are partly the reason why 40% of food in America goes to waste! At least, at Pondicheri, that food goes into a compost pile, not the trash.
While cooking, I am always tinkering with ideas on how to cook better. How to cook with less time, less energy, less water and less hassle. Here in America, we live in a world of such abundance, limitless access to food, energy and such that it does not even occurs to us to question ourselves. Is there a better way? Do we want to contribute to consuming more energy, electricity or gas or be part of the solution? If so, keep reading. No doubt, people in other cultures have come up with energy saving ideas out of necessity. We can too.
A few weeks ago, I was preparing a special lunch at Pondicheri’s Bake Lab during a busy service and had to jostle with other cooks for stove space. The rice pilaf was almost done, but there was still a little water left in the pot, about two to three minutes shy of when I would normally take it off the stove. To make room, I removed the pot early, set it aside and moved on to other tasks.
An hour later, I returned, gently ran a spoon through the rice. It was the most beautiful, flaky rice I had ever made. Still hot from all the steam it sat in. Every long grain was perfectly cooked and separate. Not a single kernel broke as I fluffed it. Even as a seasoned cook, I was amazed. The best part? Not only did I get a perfect pot of rice, but I also saved time and energy.
This really got me thinking. What if we used ambient or residual heat from an oven or a pan to finish cooking without active heat? All the cooking we do? I want to get on an exploration path with this. And I really want to invite you, my dear readers and subscribers to try this in your kitchen! Post comments, responses, pictures - anything you do that was a little revelatory.
Last night, I made myself a piece of fish. I heated up some oil in a frying pan, lay the marinated fish (garlic, turmeric, salt, pepper and olive oil) on top, put a lid over it and within one minute, turned the gas off. Walked away for 10 minutes - came back and placed the fish on a plate. It was perfectly cooked, moist, flaky and just beautiful. Normally, I would have cooked it for 3 to 4 minutes then turned the heat off. So, I did use more time but less energy. But the time was passive, I was doing other things - not hovering over the fish.
On an immediate level, this does not seem like much saving. In our affluent world, who cares about a few pennies worth of gas or electricity? But think bigger picture. Imagine, just imagine, what if even 50% of people in this country did this? Or realistically, even 1% of folks did it? It requires a different way of thinking about cooking but I’m sure, as you cook, you will find little things you can do to save energy. I plan to rethink everything I cook with more efficiency in mind.
So, starting today, I plan on writing to you every 2 weeks. Every other Friday, I will share my 2-week revelations and what I learnt about the nuances of less oven or gas use. In the meanwhile, do share what you have observed during cooking! What tricks did you land on? I will continue to recant on how it made my food better and my life just a little easier. Did I say how excited I am about this? Over the moon is an understatement. See you in two weeks….
Warm regards,
Anita
Anita, this post sings to me!
When I first set up my apartment in Lima, Peru, getting a propane delivered to the apartment wasn’t so easy because they spoke so quickly on the phone and my Spanish was not up to that speed. So I learned to conserve gas while cooking so I could prolong how long it would take to get a new gas tank. The propane would be delivered by motorcycle!
I often poach fish, after making a curry or moist sauce for noodles or rice. I put the fish on top of the boiling liquid, turn the heat off and put on a lid. I have learned what thickness works for this method. Also no fish smell!
I often cook veggies this way too if I’m already making soup. Lately I’ve been blanching nettles and drinking the blanching water as a tonic.
I make perfectly boiled eggs with NO ice. I boil refrigerated eggs in water (with a little bit of vinegar because super fresh eggs can be hard to peel) and go for 6 minutes. I take the eggs out and let them finish cooking at room temp for an hour or so before I put cold water over them to peel. I’m not sure how this would work in a restaurant because there can be some inconsistency with a larger thermal mass and eggs in the center being hotter longer than the outside ones but it works well at home for 6-8 eggs
When roasting veggies in the house, especially something forgiving like sweet potatoes, I’ll cut the time almost 10 min short and let the residual heat do the rest. I might go to the store or bakery and come back to take the things out.
Growing up, my family made congee in an insulated thermal “cooker.” You have a pot that you heat up the water/stock and rice in and when it’s at a boil, put the lid on and put the pot inside the insulated “cooker” and let time do the work. We would heat this up at night and by morning have breakfast.
Now I really cook this way all the time, mostly because with two little ones under 4 and making ALL our meals, I am efficient so that I can find time for myself.
And not really cooking, but cooking related, because we do all our dishes by hand, I have found ways to not wash extra things. I store prepped items in the bowls we eat our meal in, so we don’t have anything extra to wash (though I would rinse and not use soap on things that aren’t greasy anyways.
Cheers. LOVE this exploration for all of us who have lived in imbalance of unchecked, un appreciated abundance too long.
I love this, Anita! I am a hater of waste also. My mother-in-law was always trying to find ways to save on gas and oven time and I used to pooh-pooh her because I thought those savings were negligible. Now, I have come to realize that every action counts and we all have to do our part. Besides, like you said - it's fun to find new ways to cook that also help conserve energy and food costs! Bring it on - I'm looking forward to this series.