I will admit, I like watching baking shows and competitions. It’s not a new thing. I didn’t just discover the joy of sourdough over the past year. Cooking and baking has been something that has been ongoing for many years with me. I don’t always have the time, but when I do, I like to play in the kitchen a bit.
In a way, it’s a bit like a lab experiment. So much of this ingredient, so much of that, put them together, do this and hopefully something edible appears.
It’s always a bit of fun to figure out what flavours will work together. As long as you don’t expect it to look exactly like the picture in the recipe.
I will admit, as much as I like to prepare food, I don’t always take the time and patience that is needed to make the dish look pretty. You keep hearing that presentation is important. My stomach doesn’t really know that part. Taste is king. How it looks is secondary.
So when it comes to baking, I am not the person to trust with a pastry bag full of icing. I may get some fancy decorating done by accident. But I will admit I’m not very good at it.
Then there was a recent episode of the Great Canadian Baking Show. I like the show. I could maybe replicate some of what they do, but most of it is way to fancy and artistic for my abilities. Then there was the contestant who said he makes his own brie.
I know ingredients are important. You should always have the best you can. But making your own cheese is going a bit far. Something like ricotta, I could probably handle. A half hour, a bit of milk and some lemon juice… I could probably figure that out and my attention span could probably last that long.
But when you start talking about using gallons of unpasteurized milk and a couple different yeast cultures and days and weeks of caring for your cheese, I’m out. I could probably do it, but that’s why they have shelves full of cheese in the stores. So we can just walk in and pick it up. You don’t need a field full of cows and a temperature controlled cave in the back yard to age your cheese.
I’m sure it was good, but you’re talking a whole different skill level. I can handle a basic loaf of bread. I think I’ll stick with that.
