Mark Bittman wrote in the New York Times Sustainable Food - Three Recipes.
"But perhaps most important, a cooking repertoire of three basic recipes can get anyone into the kitchen and beyond the realm of takeout food, microwaved popcorn and bologna sandwiches in a few days.
One could set off a heated argument with a question like, ‘What are the three best basic recipes?’ but I stand behind these: a stir-fry, a chopped salad, and the basic combination of rice and lentils, all of which are easy enough to learn in one lesson. (‘Lessons’ might be called ‘recipes,’ and need no ‘teacher’ beyond the written word.) Each can be varied in countless ways. Each is produced from basic building blocks that contain no additives, preservatives, trans fats, artificial flavorings or ingredients of any kind, or outrageous calorie counts; they are, in other words, made from actual food. The salad requires no cooking; the stir-fry is lightning fast; the rice-and-lentils, though cooked more slowly, requires minimal attention. The same can be said for other recipes, of course, but not for all of them, and certainly not for the food that most Americans rely upon most of the time.
These recipes offer other benefits: They’re nutritionally sound and environmentally friendly. They’ve sustained scores of generations of societies worldwide, using traditional farming methods and producing little negative impact on the earth. (Almost without exception, your ancestors relied on something like one or more of these dishes.) All of them can be made with meat, poultry or fish, but they can be satisfying and delicious when made vegetarian or even vegan. In fact, if you cooked only variations on these three dishes you’d be well on your way to becoming an intuitive, fluid cook (the fanciest pilaf is essentially a rice-and-bean variation), eating more healthfully and with a lighter carbon footprint."
1 comment:
This is an interesting idea. I would certainly argue with his "recipe" choice though. I think I would toss the salad, both because it is encompasses too little unique technique (it's just a stir fry where the cooking time moves to 0), and because, as anyone who's tried to use a salad as a core meal would likely agree, it probably will leave you unsatisfied and looking for supplemental food. In its place I would put a dish highlighting baking/roasting. Perhaps a casserole which is more adaptable to the authors pantry recipe line, or your basic chunk-o-meat with chopped veggies. Of course, as someone who was taught to cook, my view of what is simple and nonthreatening may be skewed.
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