Good as Far as It Goes, But It Doesn’t Go Far Enough: Nigella Lawson’s Defense of Home Cooking
Nigella Lawson, for readers who do not live in the English-speaking world or who do not follow cookbook trends, is an extremely smart, capable and hardworking Englishwoman who for the past twenty years has worked enormously hard to promote home cooking as a rewarding, accessible, and life enhancing activity. I’ve learned from many of her cookbooks and am eternally grateful for her comment that salmon cakes freeze beautifully and can be cooked from frozen. I now always have a stash in my freezer for times when my husband wants comfort food and I want quick and easy.
I’m with her almost all the way.
Yes, cooking in a restaurant is repetitive and yes, restaurants are all too often as much about theater as about food.
Yes, no one should have to apologize for being a home cook in order to distance themselves from days when cooking was unpaid domestic drudgery.
Yes, those who engage in nostalgic musings about home cooking being grandmother’s food probably don’t themselves cook. Those who do take advantage of new ingredients and new implements.
Yes, feeding oneself and others is satisfying, and yes, many of the physical sensations in the kitchen are sensuous.
And yes, home cooking can be wonderfully creative.
My kitchen in Mexico. Learning to make salsas.
No, when Nigella Lawson resorts to the cliché that getting dinner on the table doesn’t require any “abstruse skills, arcane knowledge, or even dexterity.” Sure, lots of meals can be pretty straightforward. Her own books have enticing recipes for such meals, encouraging novices to plunge in and get going.
Nigella Lawson is the teacher who encourages someone who expresses an interest in photography to get a point and shoot camera, or the budding musician to go ahead and strum on the guitar, or aspiring writer to submit a blog post or two. They will certainly enjoy themselves and may even be lucky enough to create a great image, pleasing sound, or write sentences that move their readers.
Soon, though, beginners who want to progress will want to learn how to compose an image, or increase their repertoire of chords or explore new genres of writing. That means venturing in to the labor and difficulty that Nigella waves aside. It means practice, paying attention to others who are more skilled, developing techniques, refining your eye or your ears. The work is not necessarily unpleasant, indeed it’s often very rewarding, and the difficulties can be overcome. Creativity in any field is helped, not hindered, by mastery.
Just so with home cooking. Following an individual recipe does not a good home cook make, any more than snapping pics makes a good amateur photographer, or picking out tunes a musician, or posting on Facebook a writer. That, I realize, is why Nigella’s books are no longer on my shelves. I picked out the recipes that I found useful. Then because they offered no progression in, say, techniques, I was done. It’s all very well for her to say that home cooking is “not technique-driven but taste-led” but since technique creates taste that’s a false dichotomy. If I want to know how to create taste, I need to know, say, what difference browning meat or onions will make.
Becoming a good home cook means learning as the ages of the family change, as new implements and ingredients become available, as you change from one kitchen to another, as entertaining changes, as you experiment with new techniques or foreign cuisines, as you move to a new town or country. Although there’s some overlap, it does not mean the learning the same things as a chef. The ways you shop, the ways you prepare (mise-en-place is usually a waste of time in the home, for example), the dishes you chose to cook, the uses of leftovers are all different in the home.
In short, Nigella Lawson’s right that home cooks should not defer to chefs. She’s great at encouraging beginners. She’s right about home cooking being creative. Good as far as it goes.
She does not go far enough, though. The way to defend home cooking is not to rabbit on about how it’s neither difficult nor work. Quite the reverse. To change the belief, neatly skewered by Lawson, that it is “unwaged and taken for granted, sentimentally prized but not essentially valued or respected,” home cooking has to be treated as skilled work that is a real contribution to the household economy, as a demanding and honorable job that demands thought, learning, time, and attention, and that, only then, can be profoundly creative.
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The title of Nigella Lawson’s piece is, rather confusingly to me, “Home Cooking Can be a Feminist Act.” I am always loathe to place too much emphasis on titles which are often wished on authors without their consent. I assume it means simply that women should not be ashamed to be home cooks. With luck, now it’s not just a women’s issue.
I agree with all your “yes” comments; and your “no” comments as well! Before I went to China (long ago!) I’d learned a bit of French home cooking, and some Italian home cooking. In China, one of my colleagues was a superb home cook and he taught me lots of stuff. What I discovered happening afterwards speaks, I think, to one of your points, namely, some of the techniques used in one style of home cooking got integrated into one of the others, and vice versa and so on. So my general home cooking style over the years has come to integrate things I’ve learned from all the various home cooking styles I’ve appropriated. And this growing synthesis becomes more and more sophisticated because of this integration.
Plus, new things get learned from watching the likes of Ming and Jacques; and reading Kenji cover to cover; and subscribing to things like Serious Eats, Woks of Life, etc etc. Is the result still a home cook, me?? I don’t know. But I’m most certainly NOT what Nigella seems to be describing.
On an ironic note, I’ve just now realized how many of my ethnic cookbooks are “X Home Cooking”, where “X” can be “Thai”, “Vietnamese”, “Mexican” and so on and on!
Hmm, so many points here I hardly know where to dive in. Let me just go with the last for now. As you know there’s a lot of worry that ethnic restaurants are not given enough respect as high cuisines. In most cases, even where there is a high cuisine in the country (Mexico), most Mexican restaurants in the US are home cooking.
Which is why I like them. I prefer home cooking.
It’s time to go back to La Cuiisine de Madame Saint Ange.(Paris, Larousse, 1927)
Absolutely, Barbara. I met an old school friend a few months ago (just retired from Linguistics at Stanford) who told me that the summer she was fifteen and her sister was fourteen, their mother handed them Madame Saint Ange and said they would be responsible for dinner throughout the summer holidays. She’s still a fine cook!
I had no idea about the frozen salmon cakes, thanks for the tip!
Not exactly Mexican home cooking. But if you can get away with it, all power to you!
I agree with your point about progressing in skill taking work — but I do know that a large percentage of the population is never going to want to progress — they just want something pleasant on the table but without too much effort (hence all those companies now selling boxes of pre-measured ingredients). But that means there will always be room for Nigella as well as for those who take us further.
Yes, agreed. Cooking takes time and energy and not everyone wants to spend it there. I hope we can find alternatives. But I doubt this is the group that is turning to Nigella. What do you think?
Hi Rachel, Agree with .comments. Have seen Nigella on tv tnd realised that any can whip up a meal at home when a full range of precut, prepare d ingredients neatly packed in little boxes from the super are available as in London and the US. That is not really cooking to my mind. Handy for working folk perhaps but the real flavor and beauty of a meal made from scratch will reveal the difference and give the cook a real sense of pride! As far as implements go, a pair of kichen scissors is my tool of choice. When I taught greek cooking a Japanese lady told me hiw clever Americans are to think of using scissors to quickly chop and cut! And we know how proficient they are with their knives! Grear article. Linda
Thanks Linda (and I owe you a letter). Love the idea of kitchen scissors. I use them but I will try and think of new ways.
But I do totally agree that cooking is an aesthetic pleasure, a feast for a sensual person.
I grew up at a time and in a place very uninspiring for a sensual cook. No Internet, no guaranteed ingredients to shop for, an Iron Curtain between me and world cuisine, and a Mom who has some five dishes down pat but could never cook her way out of a paper bag even equipped with a good cookbook. So I started out muddling, mucking, sometimes lucking.
Cooking has helped me to understand and appreciate chemistry. You need to know some basics unless you want to end up with inedible goo. Chemistry also helps a lot with substituting ingredients. Physics, I had some grasp of it before, just enough to know an oblong glass dish on a gas ring would make a nice explosion. (Two people I know managed to create those explosions in my kitchen. Never let a friend cook unsupervised!) But the microwave made me study physics, too. And of course the maths of doubling or halving a recipe, getting packaged or canned food match the amounts of other ingredients (and making sure it will have enough room in the pot), and switching between Metric and Imperial, OMG, I am no rocket scientist, I just cook and translate books!
And yes, when moving, a cook can find an entirely new type of stove and a very different variety of readily available ingredients. I have gone through gas, electric, wood, ceramic, and a weird two hotplates and a disgrace of an oven thingummy designed by mad Martians, each of them had its own quirks. So we have to keep learning, and relearning, and experimenting. And having some salmon cakes or instant soups for backup in case the experiment fails.
You have a story for everything, Ganna. And yes, adjusting recipes, coping with stoves!
PS:Years ago as a new Bride in Athens, my Greek mother in law would ask me what I had cooked for my husband. I would say pork chops and potatoes. Oh you didn’t cook today.. another time, hamburgers or ham steak s i,el etc. Again her comment you didn’t cook today. I thought maybe something was lost in translation as I didn’t kno okw much Greek then. Rather irritated at what I thought was a criticism, I asked my husband to explain. He laughed and told me that the Greeks differentiate between tis ores or fixing something just before serving literally of the moment as opposed to magirefto or cooked food like Greek moussaka or pastichio which are quite time consuming. Then I began to understand just what real cooking is in Greece! As they say
“The Greeks have. Word for It.”
That’s very interesting, Linda. WE could use some of these distinctions.
How different the dynamics of family life change one’s perspective on cooking. My father was a great gourmet who traveled all over the world for business. He loved to cook and was brilliant in the kitchen. My mother was in the nightclub business and she too was a great cook. My brother was the baker of the family and he loved to cook and so do I. In our family, we imitated the greatness of the chefs in the restaurants we patronized. We improved in the kitchen. We challenged each other. We argued over the best blend of flavors. We tested and we offered each other the results of the testing. For us it was sport and play. We patronized stores that sold kitchen equipment in the days before the famous emporia. Our kitchen was always well-equipped.
My goodness. What a way to grow up. Lucky you.
Diane Wolff: That sounds dreamy to me. I am always challenging myself in the kitchen but my family do not join in with me. I like the solitary work and like how appreciative my family members are, but I would love to have someone to really get into it with. Thanks for sharing. –Sue G.
Cooking for others in the home is the physical manifestation of caring for them, love put into action. I for one don’t like creative cooking. We have inherited so many great things from the past (at least here in Southern Italy). I also found it refreshing to hear that she sees home cooking as equal but different than restaurant cooking, rather than the home version as a lesser activity. I’ve never met her in person but anyone that sends people into the kitchen and around the table together is fighting on our side.
Agreed that she encourages people. Interested to hear you say you don’t like creative cooking. I tend to feel the same way. So many traditions contain wonderful ranges of things to prepare.
Hi Rachel,
First of all in response to your previous post, I am delighted that you and others continue to blog, despite the myriad ways in which people can share ideas online. I the blog format is the only one that makes sense for the wonderful deep thinking and expertise you bring to the topic of food!
I agree that the simplification of the tasks of a good home cook can be very misleading. I grew up cooking and it’s a strong value in my family. It is easy to take for granted how little those who are not experience know. They have not developed the instincts that a lifelong cook takes for granted. Often times recipes are too vague for beginner cooks (e.g. the common directives of “until softened” or “until browned” or “until just combined” mean nothing to a beginner). Also, many home cooks find chopping vegetables to be utter drudgery. Despite the ubiquity of food processors, they do a poor job for most purposes and themselves have to be hauled out of the closet and cleaned when done. Interesting that a nearby grocery store has implemented a “chop shop” where they will cut up your vegetables for you for the week. I think it’s a genius idea! It reminds me of the centralized molinos in Mexico, where the village could bring their soaked corn to be ground every day. Everything old is new again!
Thanks for encouraging me to continue blogging, Lillian, and for your very enjoyable blog. Yes, anything that makes it easier for people who want to cook, the better. BTW, my food processor now languishes in a the closet, used chiefly for breadcrumbs!
I agree with waltzinginaustralia that many people will go no further than Nigella, but at least she encourages people to start. Those who want to advance will do so, and those who don’t will at least be able to prepare some palatable meals.
Exactly.
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I love my mise en place. It’s what means I’m not frantically searching for a tablespoon when the egg whites are already whipped. It saves me from being partway through a recipe and realize that we’re out of that one ingredient and I need to make a quick run to the store now.
Recently I made a cake while my mother-in-law was over (these things are usually done behind the scenes). I gathered all my ingredients together (my mise en place), all the work bowls I would need, and then I set to work, never stepping away from the counter until the cake went into the pan.
She was amazed how easily it came together, but it’s easy when you never have to break for an ingredient.
Well, that must have been fun. Delighted you were able to amaze.
Back in the days before smart phones, when I taught photography, I did so with point and shoot cameras. The idea was to help students develop an eye and not get sucked in by ƒ-stops and equipment. My favorate way to teach cooking is without recipes, especially if the students have zero experience. That’s partly why I wrote a framework for a new ciricullum for cooking schools (http://tinyurl.com/oafoj6f). I’m now thinking about starting a series of “master” classes that will not only not have recipes but also no kitchen.
I absolutely love this Peter. I’d missed it. May I repost on my blog?
So many recipes nowadays include prep time – but that omit time for pre-prep – i.e. ingredient lists will specify “chopped onions” or “grated garlic” – and the time needed to chop, grate, etc., is not included in the prep time. I think this is false advertising!
Whether you call it mise en place or not, it obviously makes sense to have everything you need for your recipe at hand before you start making it.
This post inspired me to think about the emotional skills attached to home cooking. When you touch upon how home cooks must adapt to different countries, kitchens, and changes in their families, I started thinking about the role of immigrant home cooks in preserving culture. I wrote about how a TV character, a Chinese immigrant mother, confronts pressure to assimilate through her kitchen. I believe that many home cooks perform emotional labor that warrants serious respect.
Lots to think about in your interesting post, Anthony. Give me a couple of days and I will respond at more length.