I have been thinking about what it means to be labelled or label yourself as a foodie lately. Often I see people say they are a foodie but they mostly eat fast food or frozen pizzas followed by Hamburger Helper. To me that doesn't really seem very foodie. Neither does making everything from scratch, necessarily. For me it's not so much whether you make the things or not, as if you explore the world of food.
I kind of stop short of saying it's possible to be a foodie and eat fast food, but what do I know. Maybe there are people who honestly consider themselves fast food finicky and can tell you the subtle flavor differences between one place and another. Maybe they even know the ingredients or cooking process that makes them different.
I guess, then, for me the definition of a foodie is a person who loves food enough to do more than just shovel it in, to care enough to learn about flavor profiles and cooking methods and how that effects the ingredients.
I'm not sure I would consider myself a foodie, really. I like to cook. I like to try new things. I like to try to push myself in the kitchen and I often make stuff up as I go along. But since I know people who have an almost scientific understanding of the cooking process within their favorite genre (baking, soup making, etc) I think I will admit that I am not that knowledgable. Nor do I really seek to be. I want to understand how to get things to turn out well, and understand what caused something to go awry. But that's sort of my limit.
On the related topic of food, tomorrow I am making our CSA turkey finally. There were so many family and friend things going on and then holiday shopping, decorating, making, traveling that we just didn't get around to making it. Until now. I've been refrigerator-thawing it out all week and it's finally ready to brine.
Like last time I'm using the Alton Brown brine recipe, only this time I'm making some tweaks recommended by my friend Katie (who made a lusciously delicious turkey for Thanksgiving). Additions of apple cider versus the cold water, using ground ginger instead of crystalized, and ground allspice instead of berries. My bird is currently sitting in the special 'brine trashcan' we purchased for lack of something the turkey would fit last time. It is totally immersed this time because it's a smaller turkey by about 6 lbs.
Hopefully it will turn out well, we've already invited both sets of my inlaws over for our first ever hosted big family dinner (and the first time since our wedding the two have shared a meal).
PS. I made butternut squash soup last night before we ran out to see the latest opening at my fil's art gallery and it was A-MAZ-ING. I'm pretty sure I've shared the recipe before but just incase I did something different this time (always a tweaker) I'm going to share the latest version here.
Butternut Squash Soup
2 medium butternut squashes - peeled, seeded and chopped
4 cups of stock (I used poultry but I don't see why veggie wouldn't work)
1 Xlarge yellow onion - cut into chunks
1 tbsp basil
2 tsp rosemary
2 tsp thyme
salt to taste
1 cup heavy cream
Put squash, stock, onion, basil, rosemary and thyme in pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer until squash is cooked through. Turn off heat and slowly process in batches in your food processor (or use one of those hand-held puree wands right in your pot). Add the cream and salt to taste.
A-MAZ-ING
I'd show you a picture, but there were no leftovers.
well, I don't know if I'm a foodie, either, then. I do know how things change a recipe. I follow an awful lot of recipes before I tweak them. But I appreciate food, even if sometimes I *do* shovel it in. Maybe for me, that's how I've defined a foodie ... someone who really appreciates good food in whatever form, even if it's really damn awesome mac and cheese. (Not that I make or eat much mac and cheese, but well ... you get the idea.) ???
ReplyDeleteI totally understand. And really my definition is just my ideas about myself more than anything. Also I was just rambling to get my mind off food so much. ;)
ReplyDeleteI hope this isn't me, only because I used the term the other day. And sometimes I do eat fast food, mostly because Mr. Autism Pickypants loves his french fries. And frozen pizza has to do when life gets in the way, and I don't have time to cook something with more than 2 ingredients.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, I don't know. I think in order to be a foodie, you just have to appreciate a good meal whenever & wherever you can get one. I don't know that I agree with you in that you have to learn about different methods, in order to just appreciate the beauty of a great meal.
For example, I kinda like Taco John's every once in a while. A "true foodie" would never admit such a thing. Oh, no. They want organic, corn-fed braised beef fajitas on stone ground, hand rolled freshly made corn tortillas and tomatoes just flown in from Italy this morning with hydroponically grown lettuce that germinated in Evian. Er, wait. Maybe that's a food snob. ;)
I think you're a foodie. Embrace it, woman! Again, IMHO, it all comes down to appreciating the greatness whenever & however you find it.
And you're so much better than I am, with trying to find the root case of a recipe flop. Remind me to tell you about my disastrous brownie/cookie bars some time. They were horrible, and I don't even want to think about why they went wrong. Sugary, grainy, yukky, inedible. I should send you the recipe link, so you can deconstruct it for me. :D
No, It's not you, Kris. I don't tend to talk about specific people when I go into a ramble on the old blog. I've been kicking around thoughts about foodies and whatnot for a few months, ever since a friend went into overdrive over how you can't do X or Y to a hamburger and call it a hamburger. *eyeroll* And my sister-in-law gave me some sweet spices straight from Africa and I've been thinking "WHAT AM I GOING TO DO!? CONSULT THE FOODIES!!!" so, no. Not you. ;)
ReplyDeleteAlso, It's not that I think a person can't appreciate food or a good meal, it's more about what the term implies specifically to me. For me, when I think of who a foodie is I think it's a person who isn't a professional chef, isn't culinarily trained anywhere, but is perhaps as interested in the process of food making as someone who is. Kind of like being an armchair archaeologist you read a lot and have plenty of theories, maybe even get involved in digs, but you don't have the degree. That's all I was rambling about.
I still don't think I'm a foodie. Often me investigating why something didn't work is because I spent hour(s) on the process and GOD DANG. *grin*