Sequencing steps for making meals
Aug. 31st, 2019 09:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mtbcMy mentioning of cookery shows lately correctly suggests that I watch a few of them and have for years. For example, given that it seems to keep coming up, on
A couple of days ago when making the evening meal for myself and my children I was intending that we eat together so timing mattered. I noticed that I have a clear habit that, while consistent, I hadn't made consciously explicit. Sure, I may preheat the oven, or for a dish that needs something to sit or bake for a long time then that is a separate step, but otherwise I do all the preparation I possibly can before moving on to heating food or whatever it is that starts the clock on the meal.
To the extent possible, I find and lay out pans, implements, measured ingredients, napkins, etc. on the counter, I may place some convenient side dish in the microwave already, so that when I start frying or whatever other act defines the serving time, just about everything afterward is adding, mixing, heating. That way, as much of my cooking time as possible is relaxed and reflective, the minimum amount of it being the hurried, clock-watching last phase. Our kitchen is small but even if that means the food has to come out sequentially at least the time difference is minimized.
Perhaps the critical path analysis folks have a term for that strategy. Just as I want that
Beat Bobby Flay(2013) I sometimes recognize judges, such as Madhur Jaffrey whose
Flavours of IndiaBBC show back when I was an undergraduate may have been the first real revelation to me of how regional India's cuisine is. When they demonstrate how to make the foods I try to notice the sequencing, often more explicitly a topic for shows aimed at those who are squeezing cookery in around real life.
A couple of days ago when making the evening meal for myself and my children I was intending that we eat together so timing mattered. I noticed that I have a clear habit that, while consistent, I hadn't made consciously explicit. Sure, I may preheat the oven, or for a dish that needs something to sit or bake for a long time then that is a separate step, but otherwise I do all the preparation I possibly can before moving on to heating food or whatever it is that starts the clock on the meal.
To the extent possible, I find and lay out pans, implements, measured ingredients, napkins, etc. on the counter, I may place some convenient side dish in the microwave already, so that when I start frying or whatever other act defines the serving time, just about everything afterward is adding, mixing, heating. That way, as much of my cooking time as possible is relaxed and reflective, the minimum amount of it being the hurried, clock-watching last phase. Our kitchen is small but even if that means the food has to come out sequentially at least the time difference is minimized.
Perhaps the critical path analysis folks have a term for that strategy. Just as I want that
keep out of the kitchen, don't interrupt mephase to be brief, I imagine that surgeons want to keep the patient open for as short as possible, soldiers do not want to emerge from cover for long, nuclear industry workers want minimal radiation exposure, etc., certainly not wasting time with what could have been done in advance.
