Kaizen Cuisine Manifesto
Ah, my poor, neglected blog. It was a roller-coaster fall, most of which is documented at Christine’s blog, so I’ll spare you all the details.
One of my challenges for the new year is to improve my eating habits. I’ve slipped over the last couple months of the year, and while decadence might be immediately gratifying, it’s not sustainable. So, at least for the time being, I’m going to try and eat healthier, cook more, cook better, and blog about it (semi-)regularly. It’s a lot easier to fall behind in private than it is publicly.
A wealth of information is available on better/healthier eating, ranging from exotic diet plans (South Beach, Atkins) to balancing food intake (Weight Watchers, glycemic index plans) to more holistic approaches to food (Slow Food movement, Locavores). My issue with each of these is that, to varying degrees, each represents a fundamental and abrupt shift in habits. This is very difficult to overcome and sustain. My experience has been that I become obsessive about following "the rules", don’t think about anything but food, and eventually slide into familiar routines.
My own philosophy, then, is to make continual changes for good. The Japanese term for this is Kaizen - admittedly, this is a common English slight misuse of the actual term, but it fits. By focusing on what I believe about food and trying to live it in small ways every day, I aim to eat better and feel better:
I believe in foods prepared from raw/base materials, where I have real control over what goes in the dish.
I believe mainly in classical preparations and food that has an evocative history or culture over modern adaptations or replications.
I believe that having solid technique lets me adapt and work with the ingredients at hand.
I believe that good quality food is paramount, but that skill can overcome mediocre ingredients and a little thought informs me when I can compromise and when I can’t.
I believe that practice makes me a faster, more efficient cook.
My goal is to be more conscious about meals and balancing out the protein, carbohydrate, and vegetable content of meals. This won’t happen overnight, but each day I should try and make one more decision for the better. Gradually, I’ll improve.
With that, I couldn’t write a manifesto-lite such as this without including some sort of dish. Dinner tonight was a Leek and Potato Soup. I’m a big fan of leeks in soup, and hadn’t made this in a while. Winter is the domain of warm soups and braised, slow-cooked meats that take an afternoon to prepare but make the whole house smell inviting. This idea was running around in my mind for a while, but seeing Clotilde’s pictures sparked my creativity. This was also a good way to use up the duck stock I’ve had in the freezer for the last month or so - homemade stocks almost always work better.
- 2 lb. leeks, cleaned and trimmed (1 bunch from the Wal-Mart - mutant large, but the only ones I can get nearby)
- 1 lb Russet potato (about 1 1/2 large spuds)
- 4 Tbsp butter
- 4 C duck stock (chicken would be good here, too)
- salt
Thinly slice the leeks, white and light green part, reserving some of the light green for garnish. (I ended up, after trimming and cutting, with about 1 lb. of leeks from the 2 lb. batch to start.)
Melt the butter in a Dutch oven or medium size (3 qt) pot over medium heat. Add the leeks and cook until soft, 10 minutes or so. Meanwhile, peel and dice the potato. Add the potato cubes to the pot, then add the stock. Season to taste.
Bring the soup to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Adjust seasoning as necessary. Remove from the heat. Using a stick blender, puree the soup until smooth and silky. Serve, garnished with the reserved leek slices.
Serves 4.
Jan 11th, 2008 at 6:55 am
Gah. Mike, how are you coming along with that clone? I would love to find a guy who likes to cook, because it is not of interest to me. (A major chore!)
My doctor wants me to work on cutting down the fat. I did really well the first month, but then slid. Now I’m going to try to just make small changes and I like your idea of making one small change each day. I think that will help.
Looking forward to reading about your culinary adventures.
Jan 11th, 2008 at 8:02 am
Nice to see you back again! It’s interesting, when I made a decision around this time last year to change my diet, I actually found that changing it pretty drastically worked well for me. (Though, granted, I’d been studying with a yoga teacher for over 6 months in a way meant to specifically lead up to that decision, but still.) I switched to a whole foods diet, which I don’t do perfectly, but do close enough that packaged, processed stuff has stopped being appealing to me. Which is neat.
I like Michael Pollan’s take on the whole thing: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly fruits and vegetables.” (Which he of course elaborates on by saying that by “food” he means not packaged, processed stuff, but real food.)
Good luck with whatever methods work for you. And keep posting recipes.
Jan 11th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Glad to see you back on the air.
I believe mainly in classical preparations and food that has an evocative history or culture over modern adaptations or replications
Could you explain this a little more? I’m not sure why you would be against modern adaptations or replications.
Jan 11th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Erm, what’s a Dutch oven? I may live here, but I haven’t the foggiest about what is meant by the term…
Jan 11th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
Geoff - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_oven. It’s a cast iron pot, although I admit I typically think of them as oval and enameled. Excellent for making soups, braises, etc. - the heavy iron holds heat evenly and quite well.
blurker - That’s one of the hardest to articulate. Basically, I find that many adapted recipes become a shadow of what they really should be. I’ll work on some examples and get back to you.
Amy - Glad to hear from you, and good to know that it worked out for you. I think 6 months of yoga training probably helped make a fundamental shift and stick to it.
laanba - Hm. I think I’ve got a few cookbooks you might be interested in; I’ll look and let you know the next time I see ya.
Jan 11th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
Laurie, I’m still working on that clone. So far, it hasn’t worked out well. I’m going to have to kick it up a notch.
Mike, I noticed you didn’t include the major curve ball in all of this … the fact that I’m such a picky eater. But I want to go back to Weight Watchers again, where the premise isn’t so much sticking to the rules but rather watching what you eat, knowing what you eat, and portion control. All of which I think are really important, and also adhere pretty close to what you’ve talked about here. Because even if you make something from scratch (which I am for 100% - no high-fructose corn syrup!) you still need to watch portions.
We just need to work together to find what works for both of us.
Jan 12th, 2008 at 6:31 am
Oh - you mean a casserole dish… “Dutch Oven” must be an American term - I’ve never come across it. Actually, in the UK, we often default to just calling them a Le Creuset pan - rather like calling a vacuum cleaner a Hoover…
Jan 12th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
glad you’re back.
making me hungry.
Jul 12th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
[...] second point I’ve been thinking about is a statement I made in a post in January, when I kicked off this food blogging [...]