Cooking and Canning in the Current Climate
Strange times.
The world is experiencing something novel at the moment with the recent arrival of Covid-19. We are all learning how to safely be social from a distance, implement digital technologies in our everyday life we may not be used to, and try to find new ways to fend off boredom as we are told to stay indoors as our communities shut down.
Many industry folks who depend on waiting tables, pouring drinks, and cooking your dinner are being hit the hardest.
There is always a silver lining when times are hard though, and there has been a lot of inspiration over the last week being passed around in the food community both online and locally here in NYC. The local eateries who are staying open for takeout and delivery are coming up with new and creative ways to drive business. I just read this morning about a local Queens restaurant that is selling steamer baskets with orders to make Soup Dumplings at home.
I have also noticed a lot of chefs speaking out on social media about how the people being hit the hardest by these imposed shut downs are the first ones to be getting online and teaching recipes and sharing tips. I think because everyone is staying at home and not dining out we are at a weird time where learning to cook is becoming imperative, and learning to cook restaurant quality food is perhaps something that people are interested in to expand their skill set. I caught a great video by Bon Appétit yesterday with all the folks from the test kitchen making the appropriate accommodations to work from home, which, aside from the quarantine dropping high quality YouTube channel videos back into a 2009 era blog format, I thought was a fantastic and interesting way to teach in the current environment while perfectly portraying the new difficulties that come with living in isolation both alone and with a family.
I for one have had to make some adjustments since needing to postpone Supper Club for the foreseeable future. The concept of a social dining experience that encourages interaction with new people while trying to limit the use of technology unfortunately isn’t a great format at the present moment. I do love to feed my friends, and am especially concerned with everyone at home who may be new to cooking. Although this is a great time to learn, I also want to make sure the people I love are getting a good home cooked meal. So I have adapted to a new kitchen hobby: canning.
I went out a little over a week ago and bought a bunch of supplies to make soups, sauces, salsas, and pickles and spent an afternoon in the kitchen cooking up recipes and jarring them to give out. It is a learning process and there are plenty of people on the internet that already have canning processes available to research on your own, but the safety tip is if whatever you are canning isn’t high in acidity -freeze it. Otherwise, this is a great storage method for current times.
I made a bunch of country style roast chicken and kale soup with root vegetables (with a 1 week expiration, keep refrigerated), a batch of spicy red wine Arrabbiata sauce, some homemade salsa, and a batch of garlic dill pickles. Once everything cooled off and all the jars were vacuum sealed, I took a trip around town to Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Long Island and made deliveries. That’s the bottom line here. As we are all getting through this together, make sure you are supporting your local businesses, try and help industry folks that may be struggling during this time if you are able to, learn a new cooking method or recipe you have been avoiding due to a busy schedule, and most importantly, feed the ones you love. Stay safe and healthy, and best wishes from Reebz Kitchen. We hope to seat you again soon.
