Lessons from Anne

Anthony gave me Anne Burrell's new cookbook for Christmas. This is how I felt when I opened it:

"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Mere and I both idolize Anne. She has a cooking show on the Food Network and we were reallllyyyy hoping she would win The Next Iron Chef. She is a natural teacher and is incredibly funny; the humor makes her lessons memorable and fun. I learn something new every time I watch her. I've only read the first few pages of her cookbook, but I'm already obsessed. I have to share some of these quotes with you:

"Food is like a dog; it smells fear. If you're nervous, scared, or bunched up when you're cooking, your food will sense it. But if you embrace cooking with a sense of confidence and an air of fun, your food will taste SOOOOO much better. If you change a recipe, the recipe police are NOT going to be on their way over. if you want to use three cloves of garlic instead of one, knock yourself out" (pg. 15).

"If you don't cook with salt, you will NEVER be a good cook. Salt is a flavor enhancer; it makes things taste like what they are [...] Salt is not something to be scared of. If you cook from scratch with good-quality fresh ingredients- meaning seasonal produce and high-quality meat- and you steer clear of prepared, processed, frozen, canned, and of course fast food, then you can salt your cooking with reckless abandon. As a home cook you'll never get close to using the amount of salt found in most processed and packaged foods" (pg. 16-17).

"Sale (salt) and Pepe (pepper) are not married. they are only dating. Sale makes the party; she's the life of the party. But Pepe isn't usually invited to my party- he's too strong, so I tend to leave him home" (pg. 17).


I love the term "reckless abandon". More quotes and lessons to come. I hope you all had a very lovely Christmas and a fun New Year. Perhaps Meredith and I will be more consistent bloggers in 2012 :)