Since I discovered that Earl wants to help in the kitchen I’ve taken advantage of his sous chef par excellence skills. I don’t even know what a sous chef is responsible for, but in my kitchen it’s all the things I don’t like to do. Like chopping veggies. Like opening umpteen cans. Like creaming ingredients together. Like making rubs for ribs and sauces for steaks.
These might seem like no-brainer tasks, but you’d be amazed at how much help they are when the chef herself is moving on to re-reading the recipes, thinking of things Earl can do, and doing the assembly or additional preparation of a dish.
A recent creamy chicken soup recipe is a case in point. It required dicing onions, potatoes, mushroom and carrots to be sautéed. Earl did all this and then combined the herbs and butter for the actual sautéing. No, he’s not allowed to cook . . . yet. But I bet he would do a great job.
He is conscientious about following instructions and particular about exact measurements. If I tell him I need a half teaspoon of oregano, that is exactly what I get.
These skills encourage me to try more difficult recipes, since I don’t have to do all the grunt work myself. I’m not sure Earl realizes, but perhaps he’s created a monster. Still, we eat well. And . . . he does all the dishes in the deal.
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