Another Secret Ingredient

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We tend to take the best things for granted. But things are usually better when you savor them.

You know by now that I love soup. That I am deep into broth. To me, they represent an ‘honest’ way of cooking. You work your way through the flavors and ingredients and in the end you get one dish, one blended taste. Or, if you use a homemade broth, the dish you make will always have many more facets than if you just season the dish in the usual way.

The most important factor in all of this, the precious secret ingredient that is not on any list, is time. This does not mean that it will take you much longer to cook a meal, but time is part of making good food, not an obstacle.

For example, if you plan your cooking or baking and synchronize the parts, let time do its work while you prepare the next step. Or if you’re careful about the best sequence of preparation steps, so you don’t burn delicate flavors or lose the potential range of a well-blended dish by rushing.

Or when you don’t try too hard to impress your guests with an opulent meal. Instead you make the simple dish and let the smiles of your friends – who enjoy spending time with you – add the perfect finishing touches. Because time is what makes a shared meal truly precious.

Some people make ‘slow food’ or do ‘slow cooking’. I think there is a lot of truth in that, because taking it slow when making food means that you honor your time and effort, as well as the value of the ingredients. It shows respect for the importance of food. Not only as nourishment for the individual, but also in terms of the cultural significance of cooking.

And I think food and time have much in common – they are as good and as true as we make them for ourselves and those we care about.

Have a good meal! Have a good time!

Time is part of making good food, not an obstacle.

Side Notes:

  • Some people say: ‘Time is money!’ I would like to contradict that, because I believe that time is love. And that is what makes the big difference between a table of numbers on a sheet of paper – or a screen – and a sequence of moments truly lived.
  • Postscript: So maybe time is a sauce after all. Because consistency is key, and getting it right may require extending the sauce.
  • Post-postscript: The postscript was only a half-serious thing.