Well Done
By Evelyn Grosvenor-Smythe
DEAR DAME EVELYN,
I love to cook and do it whenever I can – three or four evenings
a week, usually. (Not bad for a married guy!) Even better is the fact
that my wife actually likes the food I cook as much as I do. Well, maybe
not that much, but a lot. She's also really good about setting the table
and clearing it. But she's told me I have to clean all the pans. She thinks
I use too many pans (I don't agree with her, but I do see her point),
and she says she can't get that crusty stuff from the bottom of the sauté
pans. The sad thing is, neither can I. Which is odd, in a way, because
it's so easy to make it happen there. I've thought about getting rid of
all my pans and switching to nonstick, but I like my present set –
most of them were wedding gifts, too, so there's a sentimental issue –
and besides, nonstick seems like cheating. Is there a solution?
Tempted
Stickums,
Dame Evelyn certainly feels your conflictedness about wedding
gifts – and for that matter gifts of any kind. Don't get me started,
please, on Sir Evelyn, who once presented me with a turnip on
my birthday! A hint, apparently, which I took, though perhaps not in
the way he intended. And to complete my digression, let me wish you
the best in your matrimonial journey. I am encouraged that you eat together
and enjoy what you eat. That is promising. I can only encourage you
to take great care with the tricky turnip.
Dame Evelyn's own motley assortment of pans does include a few
of the nonstick variety. They are especially useful when making omelettes
and tartes tatins, and when striving to reduce cooking fat. But there
is something ... petit bourgeois about them, unquestionably. Moreover,
conventional cooking surfaces, whether of cast iron or stainless steel
or anodized aluminum, do facilitate browning in a way nonsticks don't,
and that brown crust, if properly deglazed, adds oomph to many a sauce.
So: deglaze, with lemon juice or stock or vinegar or even plain water.
And if, when all is said and done, you still have intractable crud at
the bottom of your pan (as Dame Evelyn always does after making paella),
add a shallow layer of water (say, 1/2 inch) to the pan, bring it to
a boil, and let it sit for 20 minutes or so. That should soften the
crud and make it easy to remove.
Panoramically,
E. G.-S.
Sauce for the goose? Sauce for the gander?
E-mail Evelyn Grosvenor-Smythe at welldone@sfbg.com.
