The Dord of Darien

Food!

Let’s face it: everybody eats. The claims of some peculiar bullshit artists aside, everybody does in fact eat. Another fact: everybody reading this – which is to say, everybody wealthy enough to have access to a computer and the run of the internet – has access to what is, by the standards of the history of man, some truly damn fine food. Of course, by those standards, all it means to have damn fine food is that it’s not putrid and infested with maggots, but I’d say we’ve done a hair better than that. We here in the future have not only safe and hygenic food, but also easily-available delicious and attractive food. We have garnishes, sauces, herbs, spices, and spirits available off the shelf at what are frankly amazing prices. In the context of the sixteenth century, do you have any idea how staggering and ridiculous the concept of black pepper being a table spice is?

That said, what bothers me is how many people in this day and age have access to good food but eat bad food and don’t even realise it. There’s a whole world of cuisine out there, and for so many people it begins with frozen dinners and ends with Domino’s, which is a great definition for "tragic." So part of what I do here is going to be to introduce people to good food – and I don’t mean "HAY GUYZ LOOK AT THING U CAN GET IN PARIS FOR $500 A PLATE!!" but, rather, I mean to point out delicious things that are affordable, accessible, and easy to make (I may allow myself the occasional foray into the truly grandiose, but it’ll mostly be reaosnable). I will provide recipes and tips and instructions, but with one caveat: my recipes are all Darien-style. Which is to say, they’ll be somewhat impromptu and utterly lacking in exact measurements or temperatures. If you’re not comfortable working like that, there are plenty of places that will make up numbers to suit your specifications, but here you’ll get more general terms. That’s how we work in my kitchen, and we’ve been known to produce some excellent dishes. So buckle up and enjoy the ride, and please do try some of this stuff out.

September 25th, 2007 Posted by Darien | Food | one comment