Becoming a Four Hour Chef
Four Hour Chef has to be one of the most beautiful books I ever purchased. It's full of color and amazing photographs, somewhere between a cookbook and a Choose Your Own Adventure story. I can't say enough good things about it.
Today, one day after buying the book, I jumped in. It didn't feel intimidating: each recipe only uses four main ingredients, plus a few spices or flavors. They're also all compatible with a low carb diet other than the desserts at the end of the book.
That's awesome because as much as I would love desert right now, I try to only eat sweets and most other carbs on the weekend.
The author recommends that readers share their progress in the book on the internet through social media. This helps create more motivation because it's fun to share, and sharing turns into social accountability. Nobody wants to be the person who failed to learn to cook after talking about it on social media.
Lucky therefore that I am a member of Steem, a great place for exactly that kind of content!
So let's do this.
What the Heck is Ossobuco?
Ossobuco is traditionally a veal dish that translates literally to "Bone With a Hole," referring to the hole in a veal shank bone. In my case I'm using lamb instead - lamb rib chops to be exact.
No hole in the bones, but that's ok.
Here's how the recipe works:
I preheat the oven to 350.
I quickly prepare the carrots and garlic: carrots scraped with a knife and broken in half, garlic minced as finely as I can do.
Into the pot:
Carrots (base)
lamb rib chops
Whole tomatoes, squeezed before putting them in
Garlic and Olive Oil
White Wine & Black Pepper
Cook for two hours in the oven... and then it's done. Does not get much easier than that.
The Final Results
When you're hungrily waiting for the two hours to be up, and you have no idea what to expect from the dish... you must accept whatever comes. There is no guarantee.
Yet I felt optimistic as I marched towards the kitchen. The ingredients were simple and high quality. On top of that I followed the recipe to the letter. All signs were good that the food would be great.
There wasn't much left to do except to plate the food and give it a taste..
Drumroll please...
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Success!!!
I'm happy with how the first dish came out. It is surprising how legitimate of a meal you can make with so few ingredients and such simple methods. The lamb was delicious, tender and with a good flavor. The tomatoes were pretty good especially in combination with the lamb, adding a tanginess.
The only part of the dish that I didn't enjoy were the carrots. For some reason they had an extremely heavy wine flavor, like they soaked up a ton of the wine which the recipe calls for. I'm not sure if I used too much wine, or if it's just not my preferred flavor profile.
Regardless of the carrots this meal was enjoyable and nourishing.
Food is Fun
The cool thing about cooking a meal the right way is that the whole process is fun. It's relaxing to prepare some ingredients, toss them in the pan, and apply the heat. Then there is the anticipation and the delicious smell wafting through the kitchen.
By the time you eat, it may have been hours of anticipation leading up to the meal. It's awesome.
I've always been a big fan of eating and enjoying food. This new journey to improve my food skills is off to an exciting start and I'll keep sharing the new meals as I make them.
Has anybody else used this book, or another food skills / cookbook, to learn to make great food? What was your experience like?
