Foodie Fun Poll

[marmalade]

I guess most of us are foodies because we enjoy it, but what particular aspects of food preparation do you think are really FUN?

Do you like going all Ginzu on veggies?

Do you like pureeing things in your food processor?

Are you enchanted by making a roux?

Boiling water?

etc...

My answers later...

[silverwhisper]

i gotta confess that the food prep that i actually enjoy the most is using my v slicer, esp on cukes. man, i sometimes think i could go all day making happy little discs of cucumber. then i realize that i've actually read anthony bourdain's memoir, and realize that i don't really mean that.

but i might be tempted to try it...

[TinSoldier]

Hmm. I don't really have a food processor.

I can't think of any one particular step (except maybe taste-testing). I'm not much of a foodie, but when I cook there's kind of an intensity to it, a kind of a focus. There's a zone I get into.

Yeah, it's kinda like that.

I could never do a cooking show because I doubt I would be able to communicate very well while I'm in that zone.

[COTSBOE]

I like making pasta. It's a great activity for a lazy Sunday; and can be therapeutic, social, and fun all at the same time.

And then you get to eat it.

[Stephane]

I like the rythmic activity of chopping away on vegetables. A nice sharp knife and there I go chop chop chop chop..

I also get full faux-fillets (french, can't remember the english name). I prepare them myself. Cut off the excess fat, put them in steaks or roast size for freezing. It usually takes me a lot of time as I'm not exactly a butcher, but I know enough to get in trouble.

[marmalade]

I like making pasta. It's a great activity for a lazy Sunday; and can be therapeutic, social, and fun all at the same time.

And then you get to eat it.
I agree. It has to be fun to balance out the mess. Maybe it's just me, but I get flour everywhere.

Making ravioli with my mom, using my grandfather's cannella (ravioli rolling pin (http://www.fantes.com/images/120624ravioli.jpg)) is the best pasta fun.

I also have to admit that every time I make a roux, I think, "Wow, this is neat!"

Making paneer (http://www.indianfoodforever.com/basic-preparations/how-to-make-paneer.html) (Indian cheese) is fun too. Watching the hot milk curdle when the lemon juice is added is neat.

But my favorite has to be using the meat mallet to make schnitzel & such.

[BattleNymph]

My favorite part of cooking is the actual cooking. The application of heat that changes one thing into something else.

[Amso]

i gotta confess that the food prep that i actually enjoy the most is using my v slicer, esp on cukes. man, i sometimes think i could go all day making happy little discs of cucumber. then i realize that i've actually read anthony bourdain's memoir, and realize that i don't really mean that.

but i might be tempted to try it...

Is a v slicer like a mandolin?

[silverwhisper]

yes, except the cutting surface is 2 pieces of metal fashioned at a 60 degree angle or so, such that it resembles, well...a "v". :>

i'm sure there's an actual difference b/n what a mandolin and v-slicer can do, but honestly, i don't care: it helps me make dinner more quickly so me loves it. :>

[Amso]

My mandolin had lots of interchangeable blades so it can do all sorts of fun stuff. I wish I had more opportunity to use it.

[TinSoldier]

You know, I thought you guys were talking about the musical instrument until I wiki'd "mandolin". It said "for the cooking utensil, see mandoline". (I saw both spellings in the article).

Huh. Never heard of it. I think I do have one of the cheap plastic similar slicers somewhere but I don't use it.