Want to learn how to cook but donโt know where to start? Miss the last 600 posts on Dinner: A Love Story and donโt know how to catch up? Looking for something to read while anxiously awaiting dispatches from the Supreme Court? Look no further. Herewith, a list of one hundred definitively DALSian (which is to sayย totally unofficial,ย ridiculously subjective) rules of dinner.
1. โAcidโ is usually the answer when you taste a dish and wonder โWhatโs missing?โ
2. Always cook more spinach than you think youโll need.
3. The quickest way to enrage me is to start eating before the cook has sat down. Even if Iโm not the one cooking.
4. The juiciest limes are the small ones with thin, smooth skin.
5. Being cooked for in someoneโs home is one of the finer pleasures in life.
6. But Iโm pretty sure Iโd skip that invitation if someone offered to take me toย ABC Kitchen instead.
7. There is nothing sadder than a piece of warm pie without ice cream.
8. Improvising with herbs or vinegars? Yes. Improvising with baking soda or baking powder? No.
9. There are very few problems in a kidโs life that arenโt momentarily solved by a stack of chocolate chip pancakes on Saturday morning.
10. There are very few problems in my life that I canโt momentarily forget about when Iโm cooking dinner with Andy.
11. No need to sift. Whisking is just as effective.
12. Herbs in the salad.
13. Horseradish in the mashed potatoes.
14. Cinnamon in the chili.
15. Resist the urge to apologize when youโre cooking for people. Most of the time your dinner guests wonโt notice anything is wrong until you bring it up.
16. There is no more fun question to put forth at the dinner table than โWhat would you do if you won this weekโs Powerball?โ
17. Dessert should be cake.
18. Kitchen chairs should be red. Or at least fun.
19. The term โ100% All-Naturalโ when it appears on food packages: 100% meaningless.
20. If you have to unwrap it, itโs not going to be good for you.
21. Itโs not wise to store your drinking glasses in the shelf above the dishwasher, the shelf that wonโt be accessible until you shut the dishwasher.
22. Two words for those of you who havenโt switched from (iodized, metallic-tasting) table salt to (easy-to-handle, clean-tasting) kosher salt: Why the f not?
23. If my house were burning down and I could only save one thing from the kitchen, it would be my Master Copy of Dinner: A Love Story that Iโve had event planners, bookstore owners, morning show hosts, party guests, guest-posters, and family members sign as if itโs my high school yearbook.
24. Or maybe my Dutch Oven.
25. Slice a baguette on its side instead of right side up. That way you donโt end up smushing the loaf with your hand and knife.
26. Freeze soups and stews in flat bags so they thaw more quickly under running water. I know Iโve told you this one a thousand times, but it bears repeating.
27. The best way to seed a cucumber: Peel, halve horizontally, then use a spoon to scrape out the seeds.
28. The best way to get the conversation going at the table is by saying โWhich kid got in trouble at school today?โ
29. The best way to prepare scrambled eggs is with freshly grated Parm and snipped chives.
30. The best way to prevent tearing when chopping an onion is to wear contact lenses.
31. As far as I can tell, instructing your children to โplease, dear Lord, pleaseย use your napkinsโย every night for ten straight years is not the best way to get your children to use napkins.
32. Learning how toย Deconstructย my family dinners saved my family dinners.
33. Itโs counterintuitive, but the sharpest knife is the safest knife.
34. When entertaining: Bo Ssam for the Boss;ย Short Ribs for the Neighbors; Minestrone for the Vegetarians.
35. When entertaining: Chicken is kind of a bummer.
36. When you use a knife to scrape food off a cutting board, use the dull side so you donโt ruin your blade.
37. When someone says they drink โone to twoโ glasses of wine a night, you can pretty much assume itโs two.
38. If you have to ask โlime or lemon?โ when making me a gin and tonicโฆIโll make my own gin and tonic.
39. My new Holy Trinity:ย Rice Wine Vinegar, Fish Sauce, Grapeseed Oil.
40. When you throw shrimp into lightly boiling water, it takes exactly three minutes to cook.
41. If youโre gonna use storebought pizza sauce, Don Pepino is the one to buy.
42. There is no such thing as owning too many little bowls.
43. Without some crunch (nuts, celery, snap peas, radishes), salads can only reach half their potential.
44. An immersion blender is just not as life-changing as everyone promises it will be.
45. Everybody should know how to properly chop an onion.
46. Most everybody should know how to roast a chicken.
47. Establishing a post-dinner alternating lunch-packing schedule goes down as the smartest thing weโve ever done as parents.
48. Great Grandma Turanoโs meatballs are better the next day.
49. Itโs not chaos. Itโs richness.
50. You end the day with family dinner.
51. When making pasta, be sure to salt the water.
52. The proper cocktail construction: First ice, then booze, then mixer.
53. Nobody uses enough ice.
54. You very rarely feel worse about yourself after cooking dinner.
55. You very often feel worse about yourself after going out and spending $68 for four soggy pepper jack quesadillas, some rice and beans, and a couple of Shirley Temples.
56. The simpler the recipe, the more likely I am to cook it.
57. People who say bribery is not a good way to get kids to eat have never had kids.
58. When eating grilled stuff outside in the summer, there is no shame in cold, pink wine.
59. When cooking steak on the grill, get a nice char over hot coals and then move it to a less hot part of the grill โ i.e. over indirect heat. Test for doneness by pressing down on the meat with your finger. When itโs ready, it will have the consistency of the flesh at the base of your thumb. Once itโs firm, you have overcooked it.
60. The best grilling steak is a well-marbled ribeye.
61. The least healthy grilling steak is a well-marbled ribeye, which tells you something re the relationship between fat and flavor.
62. As Julia Child once said, โThere is nothing worse than grilled vegetables.โ
63. Clean as you go. Seriously, I canโt stress this enough.
64. Eggs can become difficult to eat if you think too hard about them.
65. We never invested in a decent blender, and I rue that sh*t to this day.
66. We did invest in a big, expensive Le Creuset Dutch Oven and, 300 pork ragus later, I am so happy we did.
67. When roasting potatoes โ or any vegetable, really โ cook five minutes longer than the recipe says. And then cook five minutes more.
68. If you want to get something crispy, the pan needs to be hot. And so does the oil.
69. The ideal weeknight side: Baby carrots simmered for 15-20 minutes in a little water, a squeeze of honey, a couple of sprigs of thyme, salt, and curry powder.
70. Let us stop for a minute and consider the taste of a fresh ear of corn, rolled in butter, sprinkled with salt.
71. Performance enhancing drugs are to sports as butter is to cooking. Which is not to say that butter is evil. But it is cheating.
72. I canโt think of a single meat or fish that does not taste better on the grill.
73. Salt the water again.
74. Raw spinach does nothing for me.
75. If someone cooks dinner for you and that dinner is delicious, and you enjoy eating it, say so. Say, โOh my god, this is so good. This is INSANE.โ
76. If someone cooks dinner for you and that dinner is maybe not the best thing youโve ever eaten in your life, but still, it clearly required thought and time and work and, yes, love, say, โOh my god, this is so good. This is INSANE.โ
77. If you cook dinner for someone, and that person is not super forthcoming with his or her expressions of happiness or gratitude, you must (a) fight every urge to ask them if they like it, and (b) think twice about cooking for that person again.
78. Cooking is to baking as pleasure reading is to chemistry homework.
79. Salted butter for toast and bagels, unsalted butter for everything else.
80. Season your meat generously before you cook it, and then season it again while itโs cooking.
81. Everything in moderation, but particularly garlic.
82. I have a lot of regrets, but one of them is not substituting boneless chicken thighs for boneless chicken breasts in a recipe.
83. Three secret weapons of salad dressing: Teaspoon of sugar, dash of Sriracha, chives.
84. When making a hamburger, pack it loosely, and use lots of salt and pepper. And never ever ever ever press down on it with your spatula, for crying out loud. That is, unless your goal is to make it taste less good.
85. I serve turkey burgers. I know turkey burgers. Turkey burgers are a friend of mine. Turkey burgers, on your best day, you are no hamburgers.
86.ย Anything + Broccoliย = A meal you can feel pretty good about.
87. If you care about what other people think about you and your parenting abilities, it is important that your kids only ask for their water โon the rocksโ at home.
88. My ideal summer lunch: An open-faced heirloom tomato sandwich, on white toast smeared with mayonnaise and sprinkled with sea salt.
89. If I could keep only one cookbook, it would be Marcella Hazanโsย The Essentials of Italian Cooking, followed byย How to Cook Everything.
90. Afterย Dinner: A Love Story, I mean.
91. The only acceptable mayonnaise brands are Hellmanโs and Dukeโs. It is a testament to how much I love my father that I can still accept him even though he puts LOW FAT MIRACLE WHIP on his sandwiches.
92. When I was a kid, my favorite meal was breaded pork chops that had been marinated in white vinegar. My mom would make them for my birthday, when the report cards arrived, and when I came home โ with forty pounds of dirty laundry (and a gold hoop earring!) โ from college. That smell, of the vinegary pork chops coated in Progresso Italian breadcrumbs, browning in olive oil in the Sunbeam electric frying pan, is burned so deep into my brain that, if you did the deathbed montage of my life, itโd be in there, right near the beginning. Not sure what that says about me, but itโs true.
93. More vinegar, less oil.
94. The ideal summer dinner: Fresh clams with pasta and a raw kale salad with pecorino romano and red onion.
95. Egg salad is a perfect food that is made even more perfect by the addition of dill, a handful of chopped pickles, and a dash of Dijon mustard.
96. The older I get, the less I like beer.
97. My ideal dessert: Jennyโs Mexican chocolate icebox cookies with cinnamon or vanilla ice cream. Or a fresh Mallomar, eaten in total quietude, so as to fully appreciate the sound of teeth cracking pristine chocolate shell.
98. Dredging the chicken or flounder before frying is an excellent task for a kid who is eager to help. Peeling a beet with a sharp knife is not.
99. Make friends with the fish guy at your farmerโs market.
100. Salt the water again.
From Peg Bracken: when entertaining, โFlowers in the powder room get you more points than flowers on the dining room table.โ
Andy: #88 โ Put a top on it, the mess of mayonaise and fresh tomato juices as you eat with your hands screams summer
# 96 โ Less beer of better quality keeps up the interest.
Just found your blog through Whole Foods โ new fan! I LOVE โWhen entertaining: Chicken is kind of a bummer.โ HAH! So true! When you go over to someoneโs house you want to eat something different and exciting! Everyone makes chicken at home. Unless itโs prepared fantastically.
First time here โ fun list. But donโt you mean โridiculously subjectiveโ NOT โridiculously objectiveโ list??
Errr, how do you properly chop an onion?
Oh man, Janet, you are RIGHT. Thank you for pointing that out. All fixed!
#37.. if someone says they drink one or two glasses of wine and they are a guest at your house, you may want to plan on a bottle.. ๐
Love this list.
A few thoughts:
1) Roast chicken, chicken piccata and waterzooi are all non-bummer chicken entertaining meals. Especially if youโve cooked tiny potatoes in the chicken fat. Who wouldnโt love that?
2. Have you tried Trader Joeโs Real Mayonnaise? I was a lifelong Hellmanโs/Best Foods devotee and now I am a convert.
3. Capers in egg salad.
A Facebook comment war that ensued upon my caption, โI 90% love this list,โ resulted in my scoring each rule. My revised score is 53%. But I 90% love your post.
Andy, you scored 67% (Nice job. Had you not oversalted your pasta, you would have done even better!). Jenny: 39% (I see where youโre going here, but Iโve chosen a different path.)
Line item scores here: http://is.gd/dLUCUT
The rubric was: 1 pt = โlove,โ 0.5 pts = โlike,โ 0 pts = โhuh?โ Enjoy.
Other than #71 being the wrongest thing anyone has ever written maybe ever, this was a really fun and eerily accurate list.
Why is 71 so wrong? Few would argue that to this day cooking the perfect fried egg/rolled omelet is the mark of a seasoned cook. The secret to both? Butter.
Why iodized salt? Goiters are caused by iodine deficiency. Plus, worldwide, iodine deficiency affects two billion people and is the leading preventable cause of mental retardation.
I was JUST at ABC Kitchen on Friday! It was absolutely amazing! I would totally skip a dinner invitation as well. The food was amazing and the atmosphere was fantastic!
If itโll fit, you should keep your copy of Dinner: A Love Story in the Dutch oven.
A few thoughts on this list.
Your dutch oven will survive any fire.
Grilled vegetables are delicious. Pinapple marinated in brown sugar and tequila is rediculously good though I know its not a veggie.
I agree on the beer thing, but I enjoy buying a half gallon beer from local breweries, the complex hard to drink stuff, and nursing that all night.
It may seem like sacrilege, but veganaise is really good. My ideal crab cake sauce: veganaise, sriracha, and pickle relish.
I hate eggs in any form and love grilled vegetables, but this list is awesome. My dutch oven and I are kindred spirits.
How am I just finding you? Love this. Hooked.
just wonderful! I love them all, especially the limes in gin and tonics. So happy to have found your blog.
To avoid tearing while cutting/chopping onions, first halve the onion and rinse thoroughly under running water. No tears!
I completely endorse #93! (I thought I was the only one!)
Jennyโs #3 is right onโฆIt sorta goes hand -in-hand with Andyโs #75, 76 & 77. Unfortunately 95% of American men do not know how to act in regard to someone cooking them a meal.
Jennyโs #2 is a no-noโฆ.spinach never touches my stove.
Andyโs #91 is debatable: Hellmannโs mayo and Kraft (regular) Miracle Whip are like comparing,โฆdare I say, apples and oranges. BOTH are excellent products with each their own uses. Iโm never with both.
A must read tips for dinner. Keep it up. XOXO
#1โhow did I not know this? THANK YOU.
Salting pastaโreally? I mean, it seems like since there is pretty strong agreement that salt is not great for us, leaving the salt out of pasta water makes sense (because the salt in the sauce has a stronger effect). ?? I wish youโd explained. Feel free to write an entire post on this.
Put the book in the Dutch Oven . This way when you grab it you are only grabbing the Oven. No rule about something in something.LOL
Loved loved loved this post. I adored the book and just started reading your blog. Your tips are great and your writing always makes me smile. ๐
Andy,
Please tell me that you mean โa [whole box of] fresh Mallomar[s];โ that you are actually one of us. I did share with my kids, but it is a good thing they only go on sale once a year.