In Defense of Home Cooking

In the last month I have read the results of two surveys on the subject of home cooking. One survey reported that only about 40% of the population cooks at home. The second survey said only about 30% were cooking at home. One thing we know for sure is that fewer and fewer people either don’t know how to cook or just don’t cook.

I think this is a loss greater than we realize. Home cooking is a catalyst that helps to bring people together at the table. We are losing the daily ritual of being seated together (without the intrusion of television), of having the opportunity to learn to interact and share our experiences and concerns, to listen to others.

Home kitchens, despite the increase in designer appliances and cabinetry, are mostly quiet and empty today. Strangers are preparing much of our food. And our supermarkets, which once considered restaurants and fast food places the enemy, have joined the trend by enlarging their delis and serving ready-to-eat food they call “home meal replacements.”

Why are fewer people cooking at home? There are, of course, a multitude of reasons. But there is one reason above all others: Home cooking in America has always been considered menial drudgery.

This sentiment is not hard to understand. Struggling immigrants did not want to see their children, in this land of golden opportunity, spending their lives hidden in kitchens and cooking for others. They had big dreams. Neither did many women, denied privileges in other areas, want their daughters to be defined by housework.

It was easy, then for big commercial food companies to sell their goods with the promise that their boxes, cans and bags of food could be ready to eat in minutes. Later, microwaves promised even quicker results with almost no clean-up necessary.

There’s been almost no counter-argument. We home cooks have never gathered in force to speak on behalf of home cooking, and so the image of cookery as drudgery lives on.

I know first-hand, however, that home cooking can be simple and it can be rewarding, as well as being healthier and more economical than convenience and take-out food.

For most of my life I raised a family, and my favorite pastime was baking at home. I baked so many cupcakes for the PTA over an eight-year-period that if I had sold them, I could have retired years ago a millionaire. And I still love to bake cookies. I bring them, unsolicited, to my accountant, to friends, to just about everyone I meet.

Even if one lives alone, as I do now, it’s so pleasant to cook and eat something that one is fond of. Many home cooks feel as I do. Cooking at home is therapy.

Another of the pleasures of home cooking is exchanging recipes. I love to get a recipe that somebody is passionate about--it’s a real connection to that person. There are cooks who ignore recipes and only improvise, but I think there’s something wonderfully communal about having shared recipes, about passing down flavors from friend to friend and generation to generation.

I also love to talk about cooking. At farmers markets I’ll talk to growers and other shoppers about how to prepare a vegetable. I talk to friends about the best way to make pancakes. Talking about food is wonderful because it rarely provokes arguments--and it’s such a cheerful topic.

I should point out that my conception of home cooking may not match that of other food professionals. Home cooking is not about daily shopping and always starting out with the freshest and best of ingredients. That is what chefs do.

Home cooks shop once or twice a week and try to cook more than is needed for one meal. Home cooks think creatively about how to make good food from leftovers. And home cooks don’t always get every dish perfect.

Indeed, a joy of home cooking is the knowledge that even if you flub a dish you can usually eat your mistakes. I advocate the ingenious Pennsylvania Dutch style of putting all kinds of pickles, relishes and condiments on the table with each meal so that if the food isn’t great it can be repaired with some lively preserves.

As for the excuse that there’s no time to cook, I know women and men with young families who work and they cook several hours on a weekend so they can fill the refrigerator with good meals for the week. Some might think spending time cooking during the weekend sounds like work, but it doesn’t have to be. Young children love to help, and when families cook together it can be a magical time.

Not long ago, I found a small paperback I’d forgotten I had, called “Notes From A Scandinavian Kitchen,” by Morry and Florence Ekstrand. It is a fine collection of home recipes, plus personal stories. The following paragraph summarizes many of my thoughts.

“We want to do more with less. World hunger is appalling. Plastic throw-aways glut our valleys. Convenience foods give off no warming kitchen aromas. We don’t long for the past, but we ache for that part of it that can enrich our living today. A heritage is preserved, it’s nourished. It grows from bits and pieces told and written. But it lives through use.”

I remember my grandmother’s delicious stuffed artichokes, and my mother’s tender oatmeal cake with walnut topping. My grandmother spent most of her waking hours in the kitchen.

When she wasn’t cooking she sat at the kitchen table knitting sweaters or sewing. She never learned to speak English, but her cooking spoke for her and it was wonderful. As a child, my grandmother’s remedy for ailments, both physical and emotional, was to drench a piece of bread with olive oil and have me eat it. It always helped to cure what was ailing me.

My grandmother’s recipe for stuffed artichokes is easy to prepare, the dried bread crumbs, mixed with garlic and olive oil, are stuffed between the leaves of the cooked artichokes, simple, but very good.

My mother’s oatmeal-maple-flavored cake has a tender, moist crumb and a walnut, coconut topping. This recipe makes a large 13x9-inch cake so it serves about 14, plenty for sharing.

GARLIC CRUMB-STUFFED ARTICHOKES

Many people serve these warm, but I like them cold. I usually prepare the artichokes up to a day ahead, wrap them well and refrigerate until serving time. They work well in place of a salad. Note that each slice of bread makes approximately 1/4 cup when crumbed. Each artichoke takes about 1/4 cup crumbs to stuff. And don’t detach the stems from the artichoke until after cooking; they are very good.

4 artichokes

4 slices bread

2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped

3/4 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons olive oil

Bring large pot of water to boil.

Peel coarse fibers from artichoke stem. Remove tough bottom leaves, then slice off about 1 inch from top of artichoke. With scissors, snip off prickly tops of remaining side leaves.

Place artichokes in boiling water, and boil them gently until bottom of choke is tender when pierced with fork, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove artichokes from water and turn them upside down on large plate to drain.

While artichokes cook, prepare crumbs. Tear each slice of bread into 5 or 6 pieces. Put bread pieces into blender and blend few seconds until pieces are crumbs. Spread crumbs on baking sheet and dry them in 250-degree oven until lightly golden, about 15 minutes.

Toss together crumbs, garlic, salt and olive oil in bowl to mix well.

Stuff crumbs between artichoke leaves (you don’t have to stuff between each leaf, the flavor spreads). Serve warm or chilled.

4 servings. Each serving:

309 calories; 690 mg sodium; 1 mg cholesterol; 21 grams fat; 27 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams protein; 1.57 grams fiber.

OATMEAL CAKE WITH WALNUT TOPPING

CAKE

1 1/2 cups quick cooking (1-minute) oatmeal

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter plus additional for greasing pan

1 1/2 cups boiling water

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon maple flavoring

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

TOPPING

6 tablespoons butter, melted

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup milk

1 cup coconut flakes

CAKE

a Combine 1 cup oatmeal, butter and boiling water in large bowl. Set aside for 15 minutes.

Stir oatmeal mixture and add granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, maple flavoring, flour, remaining 1/2 cup oatmeal, baking soda and salt. Stir briskly until well blended.

Pour batter into 13x9-inch baking dish that has been greased with butter or shortening. Bake at 350 degrees until toothpick comes out clean when inserted in center, 20 to 30 minutes. Remove cake and turn on broiler.

TOPPING

Stir together melted butter, chopped walnuts, brown sugar, vanilla, milk and coconut in bowl. Spread topping with spatula all over top of cake. Put cake under broiler and broil until topping bubbles all over, 3 to 5 minutes, remove. Serve warm or cold.

14 servings. Each serving:

345 calories; 316 mg sodium; 62 mg cholesterol; 17 grams fat; 44 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams protein; 0.44 gram fiber.