Happy New Year, everyone! It was good to have a little time off to enjoy the holiday with family and friends, but it's always good to be back here talking about home cooking with you all, too. To start off the new year, many of us make resolutions. Maybe yours include reading more novels or running a half marathon. Perhaps you want to learn a new language or stay more organized. This year, my boyfriend and I decided to set kitchen goals together: things we wanted to learn to make and create together at the dinner table and beyond.
First on my list is something quite embarrasing. Something, as a food writer and recipe developer, I only admit to my closest friends (until now). I'm going to roast a chicken. I've never roasted a chicken! I think this is because I was a vegetarian for fifteen years and, while I eat meat and fish today, I don't cook much meat at home largely because I'm simply not as good at it. So I know that roasting a chicken is simple, and I have no clue why I haven't yet tackled it. But this month, we added it to our list.
Other small kitchen goals include learning how to make a mean mole sauce, perfecting pavlova, making marmalade, and braising more meats. My boyfriend Sam wants to bake more bread and learn to make his own cheese and beer. We have a big basement that we use largely for storage but there's plenty of room to dabble with brewing experiment, and Sam makes a great honey wine that he's going to start up again.
Some of our kitchen goals are simple and, realistically, we could do tonight. Others are more involved in terms of time and effort. But each encourage us to break out of our kitchen ruts, work on something that interests us, and gain support from one another throughout the way. Do you set kitchen or cooking goals? Do you have any you'd like to share this year?
Related: Happy New Year! What Are Your Cooking Resolutions?
(Image: Sara Kate Gillingham-Ryan)
How to Cook Moist & Tender Chicken Breasts Every Time
How To Cook Tender, Chewy Wheat Berries on the Stovetop
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Straw Mat from The ...
Must-See Small Cool Homes: Week Two
Beth's Romantic & Retro Residence
I'm not much of a resolution-maker, but I've been mulling over making one this year--for us to eat dinner at the table most nights. We have a long living/dining room and have somehow ended up eating the majority of our meals on the couch, watching the simpsons. While that's fine now and again, I'd rather we don't do it most every night! So tonight, soup and spinach/artichoke grilled cheeses, maybe a bottle of red and some candles, all at the table.
Brewing beer and cheese making are on my list too. I've made goat cheese in past, but want to dabble in other cheese varieties this year. I also want to make some savory jams (caramelized onion, bacon, roasted tomato, etc.) and make my own pasta. And finally, I have a ton of recipe ideas in my head, but have never taken the time to write them down or completely think them through (all ingredients, preparation, etc.) so I'm going to spend some time doing that this year too.
I just roasted my second chicken ever...try the Jamie Oliver chicken-in-milk recipe that was posted here last week, it was fantastic. Cassoulet is on my list for this winter.
I don't have any major resolutions other than I want to be better about cooking during the week--ever since I started grad school, I've been half-assing my meals, either just eating PB+J, ordering in, or microwaving stuff. Sometimes I'll have too much produce (I get weekly deliveries from local famrs) that I just end up roasting a whole ton of veggies and subsisting on that for a few days. I'm looking to TheKitchn to provide me with some easy, healthy, vegetarian meals that I can make quickly, while still reigniting my love for cooking.
I want to be more efficient with my freezer. On days when I feel uninspired to cook, it would be great to pull out a frozen meal I thought to make a double batch of earlier. This past year I got better at freezing specific foods or ingredients (a CSA box will do that to you!), and now I'd like to step up my freezer game.
My kitchen goals this year (this is the first time I am setting them) including baking better bread and adding more meals to my repertoire.
I am going to try going cheese and pasta-less for as long as i can hold out....my two favorite vices, but it's a big attempt to lose a few!
Cooking less meat
This year we're focusing on braising, roasting and slow-cooking. We're letting the oven do the work. And, we're making it a priority to buy meat only from our local butcher.
Good luck on that chicken!
You can do it! :)
We'll be roasting one soon in our series, "Low, Slow and So Worth it!
My goal is to eat fish once a week. I don't really know how to cook fish but I am going to learn. I can bake a salmon and sometimes make shrimp but thats about it.
More kale/veg based meals, less meat. Meatless Mondays and improving how I cook tofu.
Beer brewing and cheese making are on my list this year too. I like the idea of savory jams. Sounds like you have a delicious year ahead of you!
Also going to learn how to properly roast a chicken, prepare fish, make a perfect pot of coffee in the bialetti, find reasons to use every attachment we got for the stand mixer three years ago, master 3 new desserts, and freeze sauces in small cubes so we can easily reheat and therefore will be more likely to use. Zero food waste is my big goal, which will include mindful shopping, a little meal planning, and creative use of leftovers and random ingredients.
I want to try baking bread.
Last year at this time I set a goal to get better at stir-fry (I know I know, it should be so easy!) and pie, among other things. I'm only marginally better at either of those things, but I did end up getting pretty good at homemade pizza, ice cream, whole wheat sandwich bread, and tofu. So while the exact goal wasn't accomplished I feel like the spirit of it was. I may try again for pie this year. A few months ago someone posted a good question here about their challenge to make a different pie every month, and I may steal that idea.
I love marmalade, but it is a lot of work. My fave is lemon ginger. Somehow that one seems worth the effort to me where others don't always.
Good luck on your resolutions, everyone!
Brew more beer is one thing on my list - we have a pretty good partial-mash homebrew setup and have made several batches in the last 5 years, but usually we make 2 batches in quick succession, then lose interest for 6+ months. Our leftover grain gets stale, and we get cranky when we have to buy it all over again.
I've been dabbling in food fermentation for the last few years, so I want to add new ferments to my skill set, like sauerkraut and other fermented vegetables. I can do yogurt and kombucha pretty well, but I haven't yet ventured into solid foods, and kefir still vexes me - I can't get it to taste like anything but vomit.
Can you tell I'm a biologist with a PhD in microbial cell biology? :)
I have a to-do list!
- Make three different variations of pesto. (Different greens and different nuts.)
- Make Nutella.
- Make two different nut butters (I'm thinking macadamia for one of them).
- Make sorbet.
- Make bread.
- Make olive bread.
- Make cashew cheese.
- Make caramelised garlic.
- Make jam.
- Make roasted nuts. Without burning them, this time.
I dub this list, "Why yes, I did just get a Vitamix."
In the past few months, I've also successfully done a vegan Christmas, made mayonnaise (vegan), and made a damn good minestrone.
I want to learn to make fabulous perogis, tamales, and home made bread.
I have never roasted a chicken either! And that was the biggest resolution I set for myself this year! I told all of my coworkers and I actually ended up getting "50 shades of Chicken" as my Secret Santa Gift! lol (Luckily it was a coworker who is also a close friend of mine!!)
I too am hoping to accomplish some things in the kitchen that normally intimidate me, or are too intimidating to try during the week for the first time. I hope I can make use of my weekends better so that I can try the "scary" items out and implement them into the week once I see they're not so scary after all..! --Or so I hope :)
'So glad I'm not the only one who hasn't roasted a chicken before..!!
I love the idea of kitchen goals! I haven't thought about it until just now, but Mine are:
- Roast a perfect chicken with brown and delicious skin -- I have never roasted my own whole chicken, either!
- Perfect my pie crust
- Master biscuits (that rise)
- Get better at cooking meat. I don't eat a ton of it, so don't cook a ton of it, but I'd like to feel confident about cooking it when I'm feeding other people.
- Document my cooking so I can a) remember what the hell I've done and b) share with my sibs, who are getting into cooking.
In the last couple of years, I've focused on making my own bread (so easy and fun) and stocks (great use for veggie butts along with, of course, meat bones/scraps), and canning (mostly jams, pickled veggies, and, my fave, citrus curds). It was awesome and fun to build those things into my repertoire!
Sweet Peacocks, I love the goal of eating at the table more instead of in front of the TV. We fall into that trap around here, too, but having the table and 100% engaged human interaction is so much nicer.