In our world, I mean Africa as a whole, the kitchen is secluded to the female gender. Most people here home the belief that a man is to sit in the living room and watch while his wife sweat in the heat of the kitchen to prepare meals.
Growing up, I came to like staying more in the kitchen. My dad was a chef. He made several dishes, intercontinental dishes are inclusive. So, I stayed close to him in the kitchen, first not because I loved to but when clients, prominent clients come to seek his services.
My Hobby
So, I grew up liking to cook, bake and design kitchen stuff. My hubby is cooking, no doubts. I hope to take up cooking as a retiring career later in the future. Right now, I am a professional but my hobby is cooking. My first dose of cooking was when we had a guest in our home and dad was on special duty, I was to make breakfast of tea and eggs. As a young lad, barely eighteen at that time, I was so happy that I had the privilege.
I pounced on the ingredients and make them like dad taught me. To make tea was a big issue but the eggs, came out very nice that mom patted my back.
Cooking Is Not Punishment
As felt by many guys there, to be asked to cook should not be considered punishment. As said elsewhere, my siblings and I enjoyed our dad's meals, and each time he does to the kitchen to make something for the family, we were super elated.
Though mom's meal tasted motherly, dad would ask her to step aside while he does the cooking. He did enjoy cooking.
That's the one thing I learned from him. I like cooking too. When I do it, it is with my whole heart.
Processes
In cooking, there are a lot of skills that must me learn. One of such is time management. Some Ingredients must not be overcooked, others not undercooked. So, learning goes for what is very vital.
There is also the skill of attention. To avoid the food coming out with questionable taste, your whole mind must be centered on the preparation. I learned this the hard way though. Watching football on television and maintaining the food on the cooker.
It is a different ball game when you have to prepare food for a large number of people. Here, what is required is to cook using firewood and custom pots for the preparations.
Image source
Whether you are using the conventional kitchen strategy or the local firewood, what is important is that the food comes out tasty. While doing all that is needed, health and safety tips must be considered. For health purposes, I suppose, the hair must be covered and the chef must talk less.
You Can Discover Your Recipe
In the course of cooking, I have come to discover that there is no limitation as to bow to go about the whole process. There was a time I prepared a local but popular vegetable soup using local condiments. I needed to make it have a minor sour taste to compliment the morsel, I had to apply cherry juice to the soup. In the end, it was top-notch.
Need I say you can discover your recipe? You know, I had to ask my dad in one our busy periods in the kitchen. I have heard a lot of people talk about chicken peri-peri, it was so popular in the early 90s. My dad simply said:
Some chef must have just named it
So, I tried out one by myself. I made a pie with veggies. It was during dad's retirement. Everyone that for it, liked it. That's cooking for you.
I am still learning new tricks and upgrading my knowledge about cooking. I hope to learn Chinese recipes 🤣😥😥. That wouldn't be easy though because I learnt that the Chinese add a lot of herbs and roots to their meals. So, learning Chinese recipes would warrant that one learns the language too.
So, this all about my hobby.
Oh! Sorry, I didn't add that baking cakes and cookies, chinchin, chips and fries are also part of this whole thing. It's a complete package.
Thanks for the post on #blurtafrica. You have been manually curated by @leifasaur.
If you want to support my curation further, please delegate and vote for my posts that you find quality also.