 Why You Should Learn to Cook
I was raised to believe that a gentleman should have certain skills. Things like changing a plug, balancing a bank account, polishing shoes, ironing and that sort of thing – the little things that allow a fellow to operate in the world without looking too much like an oaf. But my sainted mother took this a couple of steps further. I was taught to dance, to cook, the value of understanding good manners in another culture’s environment, how to sing, play a musical instrument and speak in public. Now while I admit that it’s perfectly possible to move through the modern world without any of these skills, they can make life a lot more interesting.
Imagine, if you will, that you’re at a party. A scratch band has got itself together and all the best-looking women are focussed very firmly upon the talents. You’re out in the cold, so what do you do? A few musical skills allow you to sit in for a couple of numbers, then step out again and enjoy the adulation of your audience. If the band’s playing something you can dance to, a few basic steps combined with a quick twirl’n’dip can work wonders. If you’ve got the attention of a few people, knowing how to talk to them as a group lets your wit and wisdom come across more effectively, leaving everyone with a better impression and more inclined to invite you to their own bashes than if you clam up or mumble when you see more than two people listen to you. This was the genius of people like Truman Capote and Oscar Wilde – they could work a room, hold court as necessary and leave the place knowing that people felt like they’d met someone.
I still sing occasionally, even though my instrumental skills were left behind long ago through lack of practise, I enjoy dancing with the right partner and I hold court as and when work puts me in that position. But there’s one skill from that extended package that gives me, and others, joy on a regular basis: cooking.
Cooking is easy. Really, it is. All you have to do is throw a pile of stuff in a pan and stir it. You don’t have to go to school (unless you’re a pro, then it really does help) but rather you have to play. The best way to learn is through experimentation, and that’s actually a lot of fun. Start with a recipe for something you like – not too fancy, though, we’re talking baby steps here – and make it. Follow the book absolutely. Once you’ve got the hang of that, you can try fiddling around with it. Add an extra ingredient that you already know you like, for example. See how the flavour changes. Try it with something else. Congratulations, you’re learning about combining ingredients to produce flavours. Repeat this process with a few more dishes and you’ve got yourself a repertoire. By then you’ll be ready to take ingredients you like, apply what you’ve learned from the recipe books and produce something original.
Since we at The Cad are keen to look out for our readers, you’ll even note that we have a handy-dandy recipe every month for you to try – although in my case the first instruction for roast pig should have been “Buy a bigger oven.”
So that’s how you can learn to cook without too much trouble. Why should you bother in a world full of high quality take-out, instant meals and expensive foreign restaurants?
That’s easy – because it’s cool.
Over at Club Cad, I recently posted a thread asking what the members keep in their refrigerators at home. The answers were… disappointing. Beer, cold pizza, year-old cans of fruit juice: not exactly a cornucopia of culinary delights. It was almost there was a reaction against cookery, which was odd because I know that a number of CC members love to eat.
So here’s another reason to cook: you get better at eating.
I’m not kidding here. When you know the difference between flavours, you order with more authority. You know exactly what it is about a dish you don’t like you can ask for that detail to be changed when your meal is prepared and as a result you’ll enjoy it more. You’ll also know which dishes go well together, building a dining experience greater than the sum of its parts. Best of all, when you have company you look like you know what you’re talking about – which is the authoritative part of being cool.
You need another reason? Fine: cooking is sexy.
A young lady has agreed to accompany you back to your garret. It’s not an occasion where the first and last order of business are the same, though: there’s still flirtation, conversation and the joys of seduction very much underway. Now you can crack open a bottle of something, sit on the sofa and slowly work your way toward physical contact as you talk, you can put on a little music and dance with her or you can take her into the kitchen…
The kitchen is clean, orderly and ready to go. You reach into the fridge, pull out some simple ingredients and turn on the gas to start a pan heating. A bottle of something is opened and you flirt your way through slicing, stirring and mixing elements together. You are cool, calm and in control, you look good and you’ve got something to do with your hands. You can even put her to work helping prepare things for the pan. All the time you’re talking to her, listening to her, showing her that you’re more than just conversation. It’s the age-old provider ritual turned into something more sophisticated – and a chance for her to see that you’re good with your hands. You get food to the table, you both tuck in and then the smile crosses her face as she experiences the pleasure of that first mouthful. After dinner comes dancing, and the rest is up to you.
Still not convinced? Then I’ll leave you with the slightly paraphrased words of one of my favourite film-makers: Robert Rodriguez….
'Not knowing how to cook is like not knowing how to make love. You’ve got to eat for the rest of your life, so you might as well know how.”
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