Prep time versus eat time
The mathematics of food preparation are skewed. Think about it. Other than a bowl of cereal, where the pour time is much shorter than the spoon it down time, most meals require a larger effort in preparation than the actual meal merits.
This afternoon, I had a roast of beef to prepare. A nice roast; not too big, not too expensive. The liquid dripping from the container was a sign that this wasn’t a dehydrated product. In fact, the poor girl at the cash was so offput by the signs of blood that I had to bag it and ring it through myself. Truth!
Not wanting to waste such a fine specimen, I went all scientific on the cause. Verified the weight. Checked various cooking suggestions on YouTube (where I learned the wonder of “oven searing”). It bears mention that the other way, where you drop the cut of meat into a hot, oily pan just long enough to char the surface, before going on to complete the other five surfaces of the cube is error prone and long.
Anyhow, I followed the suggested temperature changes, and made use of the new meat thermometer I had purchased. I said scientific, right? My previous technique of cutting into the roast and trying to see if the pink had gone away was not designed for the colour-blind. Ask my family.
Everything came together, after hours of care. Even had the gravy “firm up” on schedule. And we sat down to eat. Fifteen minutes, tops. Including filling the dishwasher… No, we didn’t scarf it down, as my friends used to say. It’s just that cooking does not equal eating, time wise.
Unlike the dog, who manages to stretch his bowl of food out through a day (with interludes of input from our plates).
