Cooking with Technique over Recipe as a Life Skill – Epi-3135
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I have always said cooking is a prepper skill because we all have to eat quite often. However the real reason is cooking is a life skill and all life skills are prepper skills. The people with the worst diets in our country today generally share the following characteristics.
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- They eat a lot of food from restaurants, usually a lot of “fast food”
- What they do prepare at home comes in a bag or a box
- They use a microwave more than a stove, oven or grill
- They have very poor or even no actual cooking skills
- They have very poor or even no knife skills
- If they cook anything that doesn’t come prepared, they need a recipe
- They spend more money to eat bad food that good cooks spend to have great food
In fact one reason I love gardening and raising your own livestock is it forces you to learn how to cook said food. Veggies from the garden do not come in a freezer bag, blanched, frozen, cut to size with instructions to cook for a specific time. You have to think about what compliments what, do the cutting yourself.
Today’s episode is the first in a series we will be doing on and off though out the rest of 2022, we start today with core gear and technique.
Join Me Today to Discuss…
- My Core Kitchen Gear – Stuff I Use Multiple Times a Week/Day
- Good Knives – Shun is one of My Favorites
- Chef – Santoku – Pairing – You don’t need to go as high end as me
- This Amazon Premium Basics Knife Set is actually damn solid for being so cheap
- A good sharpening steel
- Carbon Steel Pans
- Lodge 12 Inch – Does Almost Everything – 8 Inches for Sides (smaller burners) – Full Write Up Here
- Get a ringer for cleaning – link
- A least one high quality, thick bottom, stainless steel, stock pot – We got this one free with Shopping at Albertsons
- For a large stock pot consider this one from Ikea or this one – they don’t make mine any more
- A Good Cutting Board
- For value and lasting results this bamboo one is great if sold out this one is the same in a smaller size
- This one looks to be the exact same construction as my big one under a different brand
- Make sure to take care of it with mineral oil
- If you want hard wood, take your pic just be really good with maintenance and get an end grain board
- A Good Spatula that doesn’t Cut Into Steel Pans – this one is the best
- A simple mortar and pestle like this – if sold out get something similar
- Kitchen Shears – Fiskars Are the Best Value
- Meat Thermometers – Quick Check & Remote – I like the Meater – Single – Quad Block
- An Aluminum “Press” – Closest Modern Thing to my Antique One
- Redmonds Salt and Good Black Pepper
- Good Knives – Shun is one of My Favorites
- When you watch TV chefs focus on how they do a thing over what thing they are doing
- The Skills to Master for Basic Solid Cooking
- Using a knife
- Slicing veg
- Slicing meat
- Breaking down birds
- Searing Meat
- Bone dry meat
- Salt/season a day in advance at least a few hours
- Let it come up in temp for about an hour
- As little oil as needed in the pay
- Maximize surface contact
- Hot pan, don’t crowd it
- Turn onto an unused area
- Making Veg Bases (Mirx Paux, Holy Trinity, Sofrito, etc.)
- Use some salt
- Take your time
- Garlic near the end when using it
- Deglaze at the end
- Sear and Oven Finish
- Get a good sear
- Have the oven at temp
- Strait to the oven cook till internal temp is reached
- LET IT REST before slicing
- Soups – Its all the Same
- Brown your protein, remove
- Make your base, deglaze
- Add long veg, saute
- Return protein and add broth/liquids
- Simmer till veg is soft meat is tender
- And finishes (creams, fresh herbs, etc)
- We will cover more in future episodes, this is enough for today.
- Using a knife
Resources for today’s show
- Follow Life With Jack on Instagram
- Join the Members Brigade
- Join Our Forum
- Walking To Freedom
- TspAz.com
- TSPC on Discord
- TSPC Group on Telegram (group chat)
- TSPC Telegram Channel (just messages from me)
- Jack on Flote
- Jack on MeWe
- Join Me on Odysee
- SOE Tactical Gear – Where I get all my cool shirts
- All the Bitcoin/Crypto Tools & Gear I Recommend
- Lowry’s Season Pepper – I don’t know why this stuff is so good, it just is!
Sponsors of the Day
- JM Bullion
- Live Free Academy – Self Reliance Festival Videos
Video Version of Today’s Show
Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon.
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Another fantastic episode. My hat is off to you. Thanks for sharing your abundant knowledge in so many things. This one was a surprise. As someone who got into cooking during CovAids, I found this really helpful.
Thanks man!
Also, your follow notes n links are the best. Nobody does that.
All the best to you and yours,
Geoff
Please recommend a manual knife sharpener (not a stone) for someone who doesn’t have a lot of arm strength but can’t stand having less than a sharp knife. My knives are old Cutco and Henkle.