my food story
11 october 2018
My first conscious cooking memory growing up in South Carolina (go Cocks) has got to be making potato salad with my mom. Insanely simple but incredibly fucking delicious, this style of dish has and continues to shape my culinary identity. Using basic ingredients that can be found anywhere and making them into something that tastes great is what I like to do.
I learned a lot about cooking from my mom and every chance I got I would volunteer to be her sous chef. Even as my cooking has evolved I still use some of the same basic skills I learned from her to this day. I have still never tasted potato salad as good as my mom’s. I guess I’m a bit biased when it comes to this but can you fucking blame me.
The secret to this recipe is the absence of complication. You don’t need two pots to boil the potatoes and eggs, fuck that throw them both in the same pot. So the eggs are a little over cooked, you will never know when you taste it. That’s what’s amazing about food, there’s no one instruction manual that tells you how to cook. Sure there are recipes that you can follow to make certain dishes, but you can always make edits to create something of your own. In fact if you ask me, adding a little bit of yourself is a necessity in everything you do. It’s the key to truly be happy with whatever endeavors you choose to take on in life. Some choices may be shitty… Some choices may result in the most awesome of outcomes. But they’re your choices. Cooking has reminded me to live with no regrets and accept all perfect imperfections.
There is nothing better than the feeling you get when you create something from scratch, food or otherwise, that you can be proud of. What’s even better is the look on the faces of others when they enjoy the food you’ve prepared just for them. When the plate is completely cleaned and they’re reaching for more food, even if they are full. This makes it all worth it. Knowing those hours spent planning, shopping, sweating, chopping and cooking wasn’t done in vain. It’s a labor of love. Because it doesn’t always work out. Sometimes you really do create SHIT! I’ve created some shit in the last fews years. However, I learned from that shit. If you’re passionate about cooking, you have to be willing to make some happy accidents – you can’t make an omelette if you don’t break a few eggs. Amirite?!? If i didn’t love cooking shit there would be no reason to continue, no reason to persevere, no reason to get better. This is what I love. This is my food story.