Hello once again and welcome to the Practice Podcast! Today's episode is about something that we all have in common - our love of food. And with the outbreak in place and restaurants closed, we need to make our own food unless we want to order takeout.
In this episode, we're going to talk about some of our favourite new dishes that we've all cooked recently, our specialties and most importantly whether any one of us is good at cooking.
Practice Podcast Episode 2 - Food from Around the World
Ben: Hello once again and welcome to the Practice Podcast! Today’s episode is about something that we all have in common - our love of food. And with the outbreak in place and restaurants closed, we need to make our own food unless we want to order takeout. I don’t mind ordering out occasionally but t’s often not very healthy.
In this episode, we’re going to talk about some of our favourite new dishes that we’ve all cooked recently. One thing not many of my students know about me is I actually used to work in a Spanish restaurant. While I was at university, my housemate was working there as a manager, as a deputy manager and managed to get me a job. My cooking skills were reasonable but they really improved after being, like, a professional chef for about a year. It was a job I really enjoyed, it was hard work, but everyone really just got together and it taught me a lot about working as a team, as well as some really delicious Spanish food as well. I haven’t been able to cook much of that recently. I hope I get a chance to soon, actually.
But, enough about me, we’re here to talk to our three guests. So, let’s start with Natalie.
I happen to know, though, that you’re not a huge fan of cooking, is that fair?
Natalie: I’d say that’s fair enough. I have a very…you might say, relaxed relationship with food. I don’t enjoy cooking all that much and I don’t really care too much about the food I eat, as long as is not mouth-burning spicy. So, yeah, I’d say that’s fair enough.
Ben: Well. In that case, then, I’m interested to know what your go-to meal wouldbe if you just have to rustle something up quickly?
Natalie: Whoo, to be honest, for me that is a bit of a challenging question. Ehm…a sandwich? Well, in all seriousness, if it was just for myself, probably something very simple, maybe like a sandwich or fruit salad. If someone else were to join me, then, possibly, something more filling, dumplings or noodles or even chicken drumsticks.
Ben: Speaking of dumplings, have you ever tried cooking any Chinese food yourself?
Natalie: I must have, right? Considering how long I have been here already. It might’ve been something fairly simple - like fried eggs and tomato - I’d include that into my go-to dishes, by the way. Well, actually, thinking about it, I definitely tried making dumplings. So, yeah, done that.
Ben: So, how did that turn out? Were you able to make them successfully?
Natalie: I’d say so! Mainly because I was not doing it alone and also because we pre-ordered the skins and I had my friends help me out with the filling, with the meat mix. So it turned out quite delicious. On top of that, I was actually able to teach my friends something new, cuz you know, in Russia dumplings are pretty big too, but we fold them in a slightly different way, so I got to share that with everyone. I’d say that’s the part I enjoyed the most about that process - teaching them a new skill!
Ben: Well, that’s good to hear. Well, do you think you’ll learn to cook in the future? Maybe you won’t need any help next time.
Natalie: 😅 I feel like that is a bit of a tricky question, but, frankly, no. It’s…it’s not at the top of my priorities list and I’m quite happy with the level that I’m at at the moment - I’ve surpassed the survival level. But, you know, never say never, if we get into any other big lockdown, I might, I might consider that. Why not…
Ben: Well, thank you for your honesty. And I honestly hope that you do improve your cooking skills in the future. I think it’s a skill that everyone needs. How about you, Kim, would you say that you’re a good cook?
Kim: I’m not sure. But I can cook several dishes and my family appreciates what I cook.
Ben: As long as your family appreciates it, I think that’s the main thing. How would you rate your cooking skills, personally?
Kim: If I would rate it from 1-9 and 9 being the highest, I’d say around 6. I’m still learning after all these years since we’ve switched toa plant-based diet almost 5 years ago.
Ben: I’m also trying to include more plants in my diet, actually. It’s amazing what’s…what dishes are out there! There’s see really amazing stuff! Do you enjoy cooking, generally, or do you prefer to eat out or just order takeout?
Kim: I definitely enjoy cooking and baking. But sometimes I have a packed schedule so I order takeout. We also enjoy eating out to try plant-based options in different places. It’s wonderful to see a wide variety of delicious plant-based options available out there.
Ben: Yes, plant-based options are definitely more common than they were even 10 years ago. So, how did you learn to cook?
Kim: I’m glad that I grew up in a household who loves cooking most dishes from scratch. I learned a lot from my parents, and then when I lived in Thailand, I attended a couple of cooking workshops with my daughter. Every now and then, I would spend some time watching tutorials, it’s what I do when I get some down time.
Ben: That sounds quite productive. I don’t know all that much about Filipino food. Do you have, like, a national dish or any really famous or popular dishes?
Kim: Many Filipinos consider adobo, the national dish of the Philippines. The perfect adobo lies in the delicate balance of soy sauce, vinegar, garlic and spices like bay leaves and ground pepper corns.
Ben: That sounds delicious! What’s it like?
Kim: Adobo is the most popular stew in the Philippines. It’s prepared by marinating and cooking your vegetable or meat in vinegar, garlic and soy sauce. The method of cooking adobo in vinegar is indigenous to our country and it may have originated as means of food preservation.
Ben: Wow, that sound fascinating! I hope I get to try it one day! You mentioned it requires a delicate balance of ingredients, I bet it’s not that easy to cook.
Kim: It’s really easy to cook. It’s traditionally cooked in small clay pots and served with steamed rice.
Ben: Oh wow! Maybe you can teach me then!
Kim: Definitely! It’s one of the easiest dished you can make.
Ben: Fantastic! My mouth is watering already. Thanks for sharing, Kim. Now, form one plant-based dieter to another, were going to maven to Ian. I seem to remember that last episode you said you were vegetarian. Am I correct?
Ian: Yes, that’s right.
Ben: Do you mind me asking, have you alway been vegetarian?
Ian: No, not at all. Actually I haven’t been a vegetarian for all that long - only for the last 5 years or so. So, as a child, I grew up eating meat, as most people in the UK do, but to be honest I was never a huge fan of meat – and as I got older I started eating less and less meat, but I never considered becoming a vegetarian until around five years ago.
Ben: So, what made you decide to take the leap then?
Ian: There’s a few reasons, but the main one, originally, was to try and lose some weight. It’s a bit of a long story, but when I first moved to China—so this was around 10 years ago now—I realised eating out in China was really cheap, provided that you choose the right restaurants. This is unlike the UK, where it can cost an arm and a leg to eat out, so when I first moved to China I used to eat out pretty much every day, often both for lunch and dinner.
And it was great - I never needed to cook, and the best thing about it was I never needed to wash dishes. But as time passed, I found I was putting on more and more weight. And it reached the point where I thought I was going to have to do something about it.
I figured the best course of action was to cut out the restaurant food so I set myself a challenge to start cooking all my own food for one month. Now, because I didn’t know much about cooking, I started out cooking just vegetables. I had planned on learning to cook some meat dishes once I’d picked up some simple vegetable dishes, but, to be honest, after a month or so I realised I didn’t miss meat at all, and just decided to cut it out completely, and I’ve been vegetarian ever since.
Ben: Wow, that’s quite an inspiring story. It makes me want to maybe consider trying to introduce some more vegetarian dishes into my diet. So, do you usually cook for yourself?
Ian: Yeah, most days. I still do my best to avoid eating out or ordering takeout too often. Of course, I’ll still eat out with friends from time to time, and if I’m working all day, I’ll have lunch in the canteen, but otherwise, I try to eat homemade food as much as possible.
Ben: That definitely sounds pretty healthy. So, what kind of things do you usually cook? And..I’m also interested to know if, perhaps, you use any meat substitutes.
Ian: To be honest, I can’t spare that much time for cooking. By the time I get home after work, it’s usually already quite late, so I tend to stick to simple recipes like stir-fry dishes—things I can rustle up quickly.
In terms of meat substitutes, I guess things like tofu and beans are a good source of protein, so I’ll try to include plenty of those things in my diet, but apart from that, I don’t pay much attention to it—I just try to eat a variety of different things.
Ben: I..I never really got on with tofu myself, but recently I tried shredded tofu which I hadn’t had before, and that’ actually quite nice, I really prefer that. Now, would you say your’e a good cook?
Ian: No, I wouldn’t say that at all. But I think I’m getting better—or at least my cooking seems to taste better. Though, I guess, it’s difficult to say if that’s because I’m getting better at cooking or just because I’ve just got used to the taste of my own food.
Ben: My own food tends to be a little hit-and-miss. I’d say it’s mostly pretty good, but I do like to try new things and add new ingredients to..to see if I can come up with something new. so, I often make, what you might call, mistakes and create a dish which isn’t so good. But, I also do create some new dishes that are really good at the same time. so it’s all swings and roundabouts. Which brings me on to my next question for you, Ian: Do you have a specialty and would you mind sharing a recipe with us, if you do.
Ian: Sure. I don’t know if it counts as a specialty, but one of the first things that I learned to cook as a child was an Italian pasta dish called Bolognese. It’s traditionally made with ground beef, but it’s quite straightforward to make a vegetarian version.
I’ll try to walk you through the recipe.
So, first off all, you’ll need to fry some onions and garlic in oil for the base flavours. I know you’re not a big fan of onions, Ben, so you could just leave those out.
Then, once the onion is soft, add some finely-chopped vegetables, whatever you have to hand – I’ll usually use mushrooms, celery, carrots, zucchini, maybe some bell peppers, things like that. Fry the vegetables for a few minutes and then add some chopped tomatoes – if you’re in a hurry, you can use canned tomatoes and it’ll cook a bit quicker.
Then all you need to do is turn down the heat and cook it on a low heat for around 15-20 minutes until the flavours have mixed together. Don’t forget to stir it from time to time, and season it with salt and pepper.
While you’re waiting for the sauce to cook, you need to boil the pasta – I usually use store-bought pasta, which takes around 10 minutes. Then, once the pasta is done, you just need to drain it and serve it together with the sauce.
It’s a simple dish, but it’s quick to make, it’s cheap and it’s pretty healthy.
Ben: Thanks for sharing, Ian. And yes, you’re right, I’m not a big fan of onions. And, to be honest, mushrooms are not that far behind. Bit there’re lots of substitutes I could use instead. So, once again, thank you for joining us.
Right, that brings an end to this episode of Practice Podcast. I hope you've enjoyed it and you’ve learned something and I hope you'll join us next time. Until then, bye bye.
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I am really not good at cooking. My wife always says that cooking is just like doing experiments. As a good chemist, why can you not cook well.
In my opinion, doing experiments and cooking are totally different things. when I run a reaction, I know how much starting material I should charge. I know the exact equivalents of catalyst and exact valume of solvent I will use. I know the exact reaction temperature and reaction time. In order to repeat an experiment, all parameters should be precise.
But whenever l want to cook by myself and open a cookbook. it usually says that add a spoon of vinegar and two spoons of soy. it really makes me crazy, because there are 5 different spoons in my kitchen, which one should I use？
I used to try to cook a dish by myself for several times, but I ended up cooking several different dishes. Unfortunately none of them is delicious.
so I usually order takeout or ask family and friends to help with the cooking
Generally, I am not good at cooking, and I don't always cook unless the opportunity present itself. So, I am not able to cook as delicious food as my wife. Hehehe… But I am not say I like cooking. Don’t forget that I am a chemist—actually—who is called “cooker” and they call the running experiment as “cooking”. Some of you may know a famous Movie “Breaking Bad”
On the other hand, I think I have an insight about cooking, since I am good at “cooking” – running an experiment. It doesn’t like common Chinese good cooking, when you may be told to add SOME seasoning, such as, table salt, sugar etc., but no one will give you an accurate amount of those things. Also, you may be told to heat with a big or medium fire to cook, but no one provide an accurate temperature and time. To run a chemistry cooking, we have the accurate amount of every “Cooking seasoning” and the “cooking” temperature and “cooking” time. So that I can make a good experiment.
Getting back to the real cooking, in my opinion, cooking is just one inaccurate experiment. I think if give me enough time and materials, that I can try enough time to confirm the accurate amount, temperature and time. I am confident I can provide a repeatable, robust way to cook delicious food for everyone who follow procedure I found, lthough that may be a quite long and complex procedure. By all accounts, cooking could be easier for people who isn’t good at.
ZhiweiGuo replied at 2022-6-5 18:32
I am really not good at cooking. My wife always says that cooking is just like doing experiments. As ...
Maybe you need a kitchen scale, measuring glass and a timer to quantify everything in your kitchen. In my experience, these are really helpful. You might as well give it a try. After all, a man doesn't cook well is not a good chemist.
As for me, I think there is no totally same dish in the world, we don't need to cook it as others say, just follow my heart, if i don't like green pepper i will rule out it from my dish, then i get a personalization dish for myself.
Before cooking i always think about myself first, such as for this meal which do i need, which do i like and how can make myself more health, more happy.
So i think cooking is an interesting thing and it can make me pay more attention to myself.
(And i always think cooking by myself is more delicious, maybe due to the fact of that it's cooked by me.)
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2022-6-5 22:51:24
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