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Tuesday, August 24, 2004
When I started cooking four or five years ago, I was frustrated because I kept looking for general principles behind food preparation. Recipes only tell you how, they don't you why. I've found some little ones through watching the cooking network and experience (salt brings out flavors, oil needs to be hot to cook properly, etc...), but I think I've only become slowly aware of the most important thing: the freshness and quality of the ingedients one uses is the single most important thing in cooking. Of course, when you think about it, it's obvious, but as often happens, the most obvious things are not immediately apparent.
Examples? Fresh garlic is about a million times better than ground. Beer without preservatives is nearly always better than with preservatives. As I discovered today, pitas bought at a Lebanese bakery, fresh baked, are in a different class than any bought at the grocery store. How about last week? I bought cabbage grown locally, and it was infinitely more appetizing than the usual stuff I buy from god-knows-where. I am always amazed by the difference in taste between fresh ingredients and those which have preservatives, are or shipped from far away, or in general are mass-produced. Eating fish out here by the ocean is just a completely different experience than eating in Ontario, after it has travelled for two or three days.
Of course, you've probably heard all this before, and I have too, from chefs on tv and other people who cook. I guess one has to actually taste the stuff to see the difference. Even as I am writing this, I'm thinking of more examples (fresh bread, fruit in season, home-made pizza dough, extra-virgin olive oil, local wine....). So if you cook, try to start using more real ingredients, seeking out small independent grocers, and always try to avoid preservatives.
More on UT2004, as I've been thinking about the bots today. I mentioned yesterday they were great, totally forgetting one of the best aspects: they actually play an entertaining, thoughtful game of 1-1 Deathmatch! Ever since the inception of bot play, 1-1 DM has been pretty bland. The bots essential run in circles, and often ignore the big powerups. A brief digression: contrary to what most people seem to think 1-1 DM requires a ton of thought. As opposed to free-for-all DM's, 1-1 DM becomes a game which is highly dependant on both guessing your opponent's location, and controlling the map's main resources (double damage, shields, etc.). Thus, when previous generations of bots did the same route over and over, and ignored the resources, 1-1 DM with a bot became an exercise in boredom. So I was pretty surprised when I realized today that I'd already played quite a few 1-1 DM's in UT2004 which I had enjoyed and been challenged in. My hat is off to Epic.
Examples? Fresh garlic is about a million times better than ground. Beer without preservatives is nearly always better than with preservatives. As I discovered today, pitas bought at a Lebanese bakery, fresh baked, are in a different class than any bought at the grocery store. How about last week? I bought cabbage grown locally, and it was infinitely more appetizing than the usual stuff I buy from god-knows-where. I am always amazed by the difference in taste between fresh ingredients and those which have preservatives, are or shipped from far away, or in general are mass-produced. Eating fish out here by the ocean is just a completely different experience than eating in Ontario, after it has travelled for two or three days.
Of course, you've probably heard all this before, and I have too, from chefs on tv and other people who cook. I guess one has to actually taste the stuff to see the difference. Even as I am writing this, I'm thinking of more examples (fresh bread, fruit in season, home-made pizza dough, extra-virgin olive oil, local wine....). So if you cook, try to start using more real ingredients, seeking out small independent grocers, and always try to avoid preservatives.
More on UT2004, as I've been thinking about the bots today. I mentioned yesterday they were great, totally forgetting one of the best aspects: they actually play an entertaining, thoughtful game of 1-1 Deathmatch! Ever since the inception of bot play, 1-1 DM has been pretty bland. The bots essential run in circles, and often ignore the big powerups. A brief digression: contrary to what most people seem to think 1-1 DM requires a ton of thought. As opposed to free-for-all DM's, 1-1 DM becomes a game which is highly dependant on both guessing your opponent's location, and controlling the map's main resources (double damage, shields, etc.). Thus, when previous generations of bots did the same route over and over, and ignored the resources, 1-1 DM with a bot became an exercise in boredom. So I was pretty surprised when I realized today that I'd already played quite a few 1-1 DM's in UT2004 which I had enjoyed and been challenged in. My hat is off to Epic.