“The Conversation” by Forrest Gander (who won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry with his collection Be With)
All the while he talks to the boy, their son, on the phone, she is interrupting, telling him something to say, not to say, indicating that she needs to talk to the boy herself. Rather than dampening her enthusiasm or trying to listen to both at once, finally he hands her the phone. And rather than resentment, what he feels inside himself is the primordial upwelling of tenderness.
Ah, yes; somehow I feel that Gander was observing us when he wrote this, though I’m not absolutely certain that Andy feels “primordial upwelling of tenderness” when I grab the phone from him. You’ll have to ask him. Or better yet, go to today’s Andy’s Corner and find out about his phone-chat disability.:)
“The Conversation” is also the title of another good read. I have been a fan of TheNYTimes Gail Collins for a long time. Gail is impressive (and I feel I can call her by her first name, since she’s just about my age). For example, she was the first woman to edit TheTimes editorial page and did that for 6 years; she wrote the well-received 2009 book The Amazing Journey of American Women; and in 2017 she joined with Bret Stephens to have “The Conversation” which appears every Monday in TheTimes…a written conversation – usually about politics – which I always enjoy.
The appeal of “The Conversation” is that both the participants are always very civil to each other, even though they may have wildly diverse takes on the political scene. Obviously, I’m not the only one who follows them. Their April 3 column had 1,300+ comments.
Maybe I’m also unusually interested in the two-some since their age difference is almost identical to the age difference between me and our son, Travis. In fact, Stephens – who has written for The Wall Street Journal and The Jerusalem Post, as well as TheTimes – was born the same month and year as Travis – November, 1973.
Gail Collins and Bret Stephens in conversation – May of 2017
Personally, I would like to have a conversation with some very dear family members (“hello, Brooklyn!”) about chicken thighs vs chicken breasts. It may be just as tense as a conversation between liberals and conservatives, but I’ll try to incorporate Gail’s approach. If she can do it, I can do it. Rather than lambasting the family with “who in god’s name eats dry, flavorless chicken breasts?!,” I will take the high road. I will say that maybe there is a solution to our differences and let us strive – together – to find this solution.
And, in fact, the solution IS a solution. A solution of warm water and salt. OMG – if all solutions were so easy.
If you have a vintage pressure cooker you want to get rid of, take note: this just sold on eBay for $75 – with $89.35 SHIPPING CHARGES (how could that possibly be?)
Last week we put a lot of pressure on some of our BigLittleMeals contributors to give some instant feedback on their use (or non-use) of pressure cookers and instant pots. Here’s Charlie, our friend and former LSU colleague, with his take on the subject. And Charlie’s remarks are followed up by 9 other BigLittle Meals contributors – all letting their steam off on the subject. And if that’s not enough, Andy in today’s Andy’s Corner takes pressure cooker ambivalence to new heights. The only consensus appears to be that there is no consensus.
Confessions of a Pressure Cooker Snob – by Charlie in Houston
“I loved my pressure cookers (large and small). Don’t tell me you only had one. I loved the way the valve on top rocked back and forth and spewed merrily along. I also loved the way pressure cooking speeded up tasks like making broths, stocks, soups, and stews. As long as I was nearby and vigilant in regulating the temperature, all was well.
In the fullness of time, along came multi-cookers. Every young cook I know discovered cooking under pressure with these new contraptions. But, they were only learning what us veteran cooks had known for years. And, we sure didn’t need some fancy electronic thing to carry on with our traditional method. Who needs all those bells and whistles?
My daughter, one of those young cooks, gave me an Instant Pot for Christmas. I smiled politely and planned a possible home for it in our storage unit. But, she also gave me a very good recipe book. The book saved the gadget (more on the book below). In following the book’s instructions, I discovered the ultimate advantage: one can walk away from this electric pressure cooker—it regulates temperature itself and will turn off after a set time has elapsed. And, you can tell it to keep the contents warm (or not). The jargon that we old pressure cookers had used (e.g., “quick release” vs. “natural release”) was now common language among 20-somethings doing it all quickly in a single vessel. Many related tasks were simplified, if not automated. The younger set was sauteing (over various heat levels), steaming, boiling, baking and, of course, cooking under pressure. All was not perfect, though. The multi-cooker was not a very good slow cooker, and it did not do rice nearly as well as my rice cooker. That left me heading to the storage unit to retrieve those devices when needed. Rather than exiled to storage, the now indispensable Instant Pot occupies prime in-house cabinet space.
The latest generation of multi-cookers has new features that substantially improve on the early models (see the America’s Test Kitchen January 2021 review on YouTube). If you remain Instant Pot-less, it is time to take the plunge. A few enhancements are tempting enough for me to consider replacing my trusty first-generation multi-cooker and maybe also letting go of the slow cooker and the rice cooker. We shall see.
Hardware aside, the difference maker for this snob was Melissa Clark’s Dinner in an Instant. Her status as a food writer for the New York Times was legitimating enough to get my attention. But, the recipes cleverly showed a range of pressure cooking applications that goes way beyond making stocks and broths. Shrimp in the multi-cooker? Really? Stand by for rubber shrimp! Nope. See why Clark’s recipe below is a favorite.“
Our tried and true BigLittleMeals helpers do not all support Charlie’s views on this controversial topic. Even his own daughter has some caveats. And a practically universal response is that these multi-cookers take up too much room. (Editor’s note: each contributor’s approximate age is included since we thought it would be fun to see if age impacts reactions to multi-cookers.)
From Rachel in Houston (age 40+ and daughter of Charlie in Houston age 70+):
I like my instant pot but find that I need to choose recipes carefully so that they are flavorful and the ingredients are not just cooked to smithereens. I appreciate that it can hold things at warm temps for a long time (it’s great for mashed potatoes for a crowd). I think it works best when you are planning to shred meat, like in this recipe for salsa verde chicken: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020670-pressure-cooker-salsa-verde-chicken
From Nancy in Santa Rosa (age 70+):
I don’t have either of those appliances and really can’t comment because of that. I’m even too lazy for convenience appliances and I’m short of counter space, but have been thinking of trying an Instapot.
I’ve become a spoiled prepared foods purchaser 🙂
If Nancy is concerned about counter space, here’s CNet’s recommendation for a 3-quart one. It measures 11.4 x 11.2 x 10 inches. Kohl’s has it on clearance sale for $39.99.
From Sara in San Francisco (age 50+):
I’ve never had either! But I did use an Instapot once and found that the whole experience of cooking was lost, no matter that it was easy. I like to smell things, I like to stir things, I like the process. So the romance of that is replaced with convenience.
Simultaneously I’ve always thought a pressure cooker seemed like a cool thing to have because I love braises so much. Just not ready for more things to put on my counter.
If Sara wants a pressure cooker, Food & Wine recommends this 6 qt Presto – which can be purchased at Home Depot for $79.99 (and free shipping)
From David in Albuquerque (age 76 and almost 2 months):
I don’t have and have never used an Instant Pot. These sound like something that might be useful for someone who doesn’t have a kitchen, maybe, but I have no place for one and no confidence that I’m smart or patient enough to figure out how to use the electronics. I have been tempted to get an air fryer because though fried air doesn’t sound especially tasty it must be very low cal, but I don’t have a place for one. And a friend recently talked up a sous videoutfit, but I figured that would meet the same fate as the vacuum sealer for leftovers that fell into my cart at Costco a few years ago, now out of bags and lost in the back of a cabinet somewhere.
I do have and sometimes use a pressure cooker and often a rice cooker, both of which have homes under the counters. My mom used a pressure cooker, so that seems normal to me. She used it to save time, but I cook mostly to get away with wasting time. Sometimes I’ll use it to cook the bejesus out of a dried out ham hock or some other kind of gnarly meat or bones to make stock, and sometimes to cook beans, but the fact is that I use it seldom and could get along fine without it. As in so many endeavors, less is more. It looks like I’d pay heed to that principle when it comes to writing, eh?
From Moss in San Francisco (age 17+):
I’ve never used either one! They seem very cool to have. I know you can make yogurts and soups. Some have searing options (InstaPots). You can make things very quickly In pressure cookers. I think it’s so versatile and interesting. If I had my own place and more money I would get one! I know you can can stuff and also sanitize things. It isn’t only limited to cooking. You can grow mushrooms in a sterile environment with the help of a pressure cooker and start seedlings in an InstaPot. Very fun.
With spring on its way, a new and different approach to starting seedlings sounds like fun.
From Deb in Glen Ellen (age 65+):
As for pressure cookers, my mom had one, and I remember not so much the meals, but the sound and rhythm of the mechanism that released pressure, I loved it! Thinking about the food/meals that were actually produced from the pressure cooker, other methods of cooking, roasting, sautéing, even steaming made the food way more individually authentic and delicious, instead of the seemingly homogenized single taste of one pot cooking. These tools might be timesaving, but create food that is just not as interesting.
I did own a pressure cooker for cooking legumes early in my cooking career, after having the regulator blow off and coat the ceiling with pinto beans, I was done with it. Lastly, the storage space required for either of them, weighed against the food they create, does not justify a place for them in my kitchen!
From MountainWestBob in Albuquerque (age 75+):
We use an InstaPot and have had it for maybe 4 years. We love it for its slow-cooker features, for the sturdy stainless-steel liner that’s so easy to clean, and so-on. It’s doing chili con pollo for tonight right now, and there will be copious leftovers to enjoy later this week. (Note: here’s a link to Bob’s acclaimed instant pot recipe for Chili con Pollo.)
As for the pressure-cooker feature, fuggeddaboutit! We’ve ruined beef short ribs, a couple of beef roasts and some chicken. Even though the meat is standing in juice and veggies, it comes out dry and tough. We haven’t used the pressure cooker function since those tragic early experiences.
The pressure thing is too much for too little.
From Hannah in Brooklyn (age 35+):
I wish I’d appreciate the instant-pot more, but I’m not a gadget person, so I haven’t taken the time to experiment, and in turn lack the confidence to take advantage of its full functionality. It does make homemade broth and soups incredibly easy/efficient, which alone makes it worth keeping it around.
From Diane in Los Altos (age 75+):
Cooking is my hobby as well as my favorite pastime. A few years ago, I bought an instant pot, because it seemed to be the thing to do, and it was about the only kitchen tool I didn’t have. I’ve never used it. There isn’t room for it in my kitchen, so I would need to get it from a shelf in the utility room. And I never think about it. Now that I’ve been asked my opinion, maybe I should try it. Not for cooking rice, steaming, warming, or sautéing. Maybe as a slow cooker, probably not as a pressure cooker. I think I shouldn’t have given away my crock pot.
If Diane is shopping for a new crock pot, Target has this 4.5 qt one for about $25!
True confession: Andy and I (ages 78+) have neither a pressure cooker nor an instant pot. And though Andy grew up knowing about all the trials and tribulations of a pressure cooker, I don’t even share that. My mom never used one (and my dad didn’t cook). I even had to look at a YouTube video to hear the much-mentioned ominous sound of the pressure releasing.
I guess it “boils” down to how many kitchen tools do we need. And what are the must-haves. If you’ve decided to move ahead and update your current pressure cooker or multi-cooker or buy your first one, here’s a good recommendation:
Serious Eats and J Kenji Lopez-Alt pick this 8-qt Instant Pot Pro 10-in-1 as the best multi-cooker for most people. It was released in 2021, so it’s a “late generation.” You can get it at Crate & Barrel for $169.95. A 6-qt version is also available and Epicurious recommends that size.
And here’s the recipe that our guest blogger, Charlie, loves – and so do we. D-lish!
“To understand a man you’ve got to walk a mile in his shoes.”
That common phrase is actually a twist on what Mary T. Lathrap, a Michigan minister and suffragist, wrote in 1895. The last line from Mary’s poem “Just Softly” reads “Take the time to walk a mile in his moccasins.“
We can all agree that’s good advice – whether it’s moccasins or shoes.
But Mary might also have suggested that we “take the time to wear her apron for a day.” She touches on that timely subject in her poem “A Woman’s Answer to a Man’s Question.”
You require your mutton shall always be hot, Your socks and your shirt be whole; I require your heart to be true as God’s stars, And as pure as heaven your soul.
You require a cook for your mutton and beef; I require a far better thing. A seamstress you’re wanting for socks and shirts; I look for a man and a king…..
Is your heart an ocean so strong and deep, I may launch my all on its tide? A loving woman finds heaven or hell On the day she is made a bride.
It’s hard to be a wife/mother/woman, right? And not always easy to be a husband/father/man either, right? Also, as you’ll find in today’s Andy’s Corner, it’s not easy to be a pet/human companion/dog either (and there’s another great video).
You get the point. We need to be sure that men and women get equal amounts of compassion and empathy. And that’s admittedly hard to do – at least until we’ve “been” him or her.
But there’s a twist to that. Sometimes we want badly to BE some other person…someone whose life seems more fun than ours.
Which brings me to a blog title I’d saved a long time ago: I Wanna’ Be.” I had planned to write about how I wish I could be…Ina Garten.
My least favorite cookbook title: Cooking for Jeffrey
I quit following Ina’s Instagram posts after the 62,500 “likes” she routinely gets became too overwhelming – and slightly depressing – compared to BigLittleMeals 2-3 “likes.” 🙂
A recent post from Ina stated she needed to get back out and work in her garden. Looks like it needs work 🙂I’ve been out working in my garden too – but it will never measure up to Ina’s.
If Ina isn’t threatening enough, now there’s Tik-Tok’s “senior” cooking star, Barbara Costello. “Babs aka Nona” has 1.9 million followers. Celebrate with Babs, Barbara’s recently published cookbook, has 800+ 5-star reviews on Amazon.
Wow!! It’s never too late. First time author at age 73. My NEW & first cookbook, Celebrate with Babs ✨ Available everywhere books are sold #nevertoolate
So what’s my point? Social media allows us to present a persona that isn’t reaI. I don’t think that either Ina or Babs is probably as happy and in control and carefree as they portray, though if they are – more power to them! And yet we casual observers see these ladies and can’t help but be slightly envious. But I remind myself: we should “wear her apron for a day” before our “I wanna be…” grips and consumes us.
